Ice Class Factoids and Rosie thoughts
In 1991 when Dorothy Hamill purchased Ice Capades one of her her goals was to recreate John's Ice Class as a warm up before every show, former Curry Company members Tim Murphy and Nathan Birch taught the class. Dorothy said her vision for this tour was to start out by hand picking a cast of the some of the most talented skaters in the world, I was one of those lucky skaters. The majority of this international cast could either land triple or quad jumps, however when this cast was put into the Ice Class format everyone felt like they were starting over as beginner skaters, it was that difficult!. By the end of a year long tour with Ice Class daily we had become a whole different group of skaters, we had seen the light, our skating was transforming becoming fluid, smooth and polished. Dorothy felt so strongly about continuing John's legacy, she always took the class with us. These teachings are now more important than ever with the loss of school figures, the detailed precision of manipulating an edge to make it do whatever you want, skaters who have never done school figures do not know the variations an edge is capable of, this affects every area of skating from jumps to spins to footwork to absolutely everything. With continuous training Ice Class puts a skater on a higher of level of skating quality, it is also a break in the constant pounding of jump training and has a calming and meditative effect on the skater.

My memories of John
John Curry was a mentor to me, we shared the same birthday Sept.9th. I met him while training at Sky Rink in Manhattan. He had just arrived from London and his sponsor was located in NYC. My Mom and John became friends, being the eccentric artist that she was, they clicked immediately, she took him around the city and introduced him to my legendary ballet teacher Maestro Vincenzo Celli, where he began taking classes. When my Mom asked him where I should go to train and who the best coach would be for me, he recommended his coach Carlo Fassi who was then teaching in Denver. I was only 7 years old, off we went to Colorado, John always kept an eye on what I was doing, scolding me for goofing off on my patch (school Figures sessions) which I really didn't care for. I watched John train for the Olympics which he went on to win. He was so disciplined and focused, he would get on a public session sometimes to practice when all the freestyles were over. He was always very gentle and kind to me. Later when he turned pro I went to stay with him in Vail as his company performed, the company seemed like a little family. This was such a moment in time, he was revolutionizing skating with his company and choreography. John was also close with my Grandmother, she would go see him skate when he came through Baltimore, he would always invite her backstage to visit with him, how she loved that. His 1976 long program Olympic performance was the most musical & perfect skating I have ever witnessed, every skater should watch it. My coaching will forever pass on his teachings.
Olympic Performance click to watch

About John Curry (1949-1994) John was a British figure skater who won the Olympic and World Championships in 1976. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating. Arnold Gerschwiler, coached him to his first British title in 1971. In 1972, Curry found an American sponsor who enabled him to study in the United States with Gus Lussi and Carlo Fassi. Fassi coached him to European, World, and Olympic titles in 1976. As an amateur competitor, Curry was noted for his ballet-like posture and extension, and his superb body control. Along with Canadian skater Toller Cranston, Curry was responsible for bringing the artistic and presentation aspects of men's figure skating to a new level. He redefined the sport with his elegant balletic style. Known as “the Nureyev of the ice,” he won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Curry turned professional and founded a touring skating company along the same lines as a traditional dance company. Besides choreographing routines for the company himself, Curry commissioned works from such noted dance choreographers as Peter Martins and Twyla Tharp.
"Afternoon of a Faun" by Debussy was one of his most spellbinding routines, he performed it with ballerina/skater Cathy Foulkes. I was always inspired by this particular routine and used the music for my Junior and Senior Ladies routines, I won my first International competition in Vienna, Austria with it. Later as a pro I competed with it in the pairs event of The American Open with my partner British Olympian Andrew Naylor.

More Rosie Thoughts
Ice Class gets to the core of what skating is. The organic flow of edges, how they take you effortlessly once you have mastered them. It has a simplicity about it just as John's skating did, going to the pureness of great skating. This style of skating goes beyond needing bells and whistles,it is so right, there is no need for more, so advanced that it looks simple, the movement is refined. It took me quite a long time to arrive at this line of thought. Along the way events happened that shaped my thinking. One such event was a terrible car accident where I almost lost my life. I was quite injured and didn't walk for sometime, after a while I could take little baby steps. One day I decided to go to the rink, all I wanted to do was to be able to skate again. The doctors were not sure but I was. I stepped on the ice and took little baby pushes until I got some speed, then I just glided.... and closed my eyes, the feeling was magical. Funny through all my years of skating I had never appreciated or even noticed the wonder of this feeling. I was so consumed with performing the tricks and satisfying my skating ego that I could not even see the beauty, the essence that was the foundation of the sport. The best way I can put it is to say John's class captures this essence. When you see skating that is so smooth it seems to float, then you can be sure this is the foundation that lies underneath. This is what judges adore to see and refer to as the quality of the edge.
All of my students learn Ice Class with me, they use it as a warm up. It makes me so happy to see the beautiful skating John Curry envisioned passed forward.

he lives on...