Photo above by Joren Romaniuk
Congratulations to Emily Murdach, our most recent graduate of the AIT Professional Mentorship Program!
Emily wrote a thesis on the legacy of John Curry, a pioneer in artistic skating and a leader in the formation of the ice class. Emily’s research traced the roots of this legacy, speaking on his artistic approach and desire to further ice skating as an art form. As part of the thesis, Emily created an ensemble piece dedicated to his style, which she performed at the 2024 American Contemporary Skating Festival alongside Nora Klein, Gabriel Martinez, and Victoria Harmon.
Congratulations Emily! Her work will serve as important landmarks of the artistic and contemporary skating’s history.
This AIT Professional Mentorship Program is a customized, one-on-one, online course for skating choreographers with the chance to build their choreography skills, resources, teaching vocabulary, and skating network.
Below is Emily’s final video project and thesis paper in its entirety.
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How John Curry’s Philosophies Revolutionized the World of Artistic Skating
by Emily Murdach
John Curry’s philosophies created a new approach to professional show skating, how to execute it, and was the first to implement the art of dance to ice skating to transform artistic skating. From an early age Curry’s motivation was to create art within figure skating. In the book Alone, by Bill Jones, they describe John’s energy as… “seemingly drawn from deep within the earth, Curry had flown and swooped while moving. His back peerlessly arched, the pencil-thin blade of his skates slicing a soundless masterpiece into the ice.” (Jones) He wanted to lift skating to a higher, artistic plane. “I wanted to skate better than I’d ever seen anyone skate before, in a different way,” John Curry said. (“John Curry : Legendary Ice Skater.”) John Curry, a catalyst in the world of artistic figure skating said… “It doesn’t only depend on triple jumps. It depends on artistry and the quality of the movement. Skating got to the point where the jump was the most important thing. What I do emphasizes the real artistic quality of skating, glide, form, style, musicality, and carriage.” (John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post) He emphasized the push of the blade, lines of the body, balletic technique, and how a story can be portrayed by the body while skating. When it came to professional ice shows like the Ice Follies or the Ice Capades which were the popular skating shows at the time, John said… “When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” He did not want his pieces to be forgotten in the mold of
other professional skating shows. He wanted to create something more vibrant, unique, and expressive. John wanted to create an outlet for skaters and dancers to create art together. He brought professional dancers to collaborate with skaters to build art pieces on the ice that no one had ever seen. John gave figure skaters a platform to become artists along with being athletes. John Curry created a lasting impact on the skating community that sadly, he wasn’t alive to truly see.
The Brief History of John Curry’s Early Career and Life
When John Curry was young, he had an extreme interest in the art of ballet. John Curry’s father would not allow him to participate in dance lessons because he believed dancing to be too feminine. John Curry’s father only allowed him to skate because he believed that skating was an athletic sport and people wouldn’t see him as a “feminine” dancer. “His father agreed and
financed the training because at the time skating was extremely popular. Skating was also known at this time for its upright rigid upper body position without interpretive use of arms, completely different compared to ballet. His father believed his son would be socially recognized as an athlete and not a dancer. (Blog, Skate Guard) Ironically, in years to come John Curry would break that notion of skaters his father had and be a visionary to create art on ice.
As an ice skater and an artist, John Curry never let anyone dictate his artistic choices even when he was competing. (Jones, 9) John Curry started to create his own way of thinking about skating and its relation to art. Not only was John displaying genuine artistic flare during his competition programs, but he was a seriously furious competitor. This translated into him trying to prove that there is more to skating than the shows that were mainstream at the time, Ice Capades and Ice Follies. This form of show skating had only basic upright body positions, crossovers, and easy skating skill exercises throughout the performance. The emotionality of
these shows had no deeper meanings. The emotions of the characters (if any) were very vague and did not give the audience any perspective on what the skaters were feeling and portraying. The purpose of this type of skating was the mere idea of entertaining audiences that have no background in figure skating. John Curry told his friends within hours of his Olympic victory in 1976… “ I shall never join Follies or Ice Capades.” (Jones, 155) As time went on, Ice Follies continually asked John to join their company for $6,200 a week and John kept refusing because he did not believe in their type of production. (Jones, 161) John was determined to change the show world from what Ice Follies was creating… “If he could somehow soften the calcified public perception of his sport; if he could somehow provide himself with a visible platform; maybe then he could take absolute control of a professional theatrical venue of his own; something bold; something to rattle even Holiday on Ice with its fists full of cash. ‘It wasn’t difficult to turn the money down.” John believed there was more for him than what was shown to him (Jones, 63)
John Curry’s itch for artistic freedom
When John Curry was a competitive skater, he grew tired of the same athletic program without meaningful artistic expression. However, show skating at the time did not satisfy his artistic itch either. When Curry would move, his poetic movement just happened naturally. When he first assembled a routine to Josef Strauss’s ‘Village Swallows’ his arms had naturally reached up and his fingers had fluttered like wings (Jones, 25). His arms would flow through space after he landed jumps and naturally wanted to use his body as a canvas to create. He wanted to create different shapes and positions with his body that competitive skating wasn’t rewarding (Jones, 25). For John Curry, it was all about the details in pieces… “Every skater choreographed their jumps. Curry choreographed down to his fingertips. Everything he wore and
every arm movement was meticulously prepared. Every piece of music he ever selected was chosen for a reason… He read thousands of things about his composers. He wanted to know how they felt and only then could he start to put things together.” (Jones 83) The strength of this type of insight is that it can engage the performer not only to the music playing but to the deeper meaning rooted within it.
His philosophies began to bloom during the times of his competitive skating and only grew stronger when he went to focus on his own company. “I always wanted to be able to present skating in a way I had not seen before.” – John Curry (Curtis). In the book Alone by Bill Jones, they say that… “On the ice, he was compelled by the same urge to marry movement to music, the same craving for dance that had so appalled his father.” (Jones, 24). John Curry used his ideas to challenge figure skating in the show world. He challenged the long-valued competitive athleticism with a mixture of musicality, ballet style, and athleticism. (Rolewicz). John Curry Company and John’s philosophies
After his competitive career, he established his own company, The John Curry Ice Theatre. His company had a significant contribution to the perfecting of ice ballet as an independent genre and the further development of artistic expression in figure skating. His company began in 1976 with the television production “The John Curry Ice Spectacular” (Blog, Skate Guard). In his company, he focused on classes that enhanced skaters’ skating skills during edge exercises. John believed in really focusing your body movements to become one with the music… “John Curry reversed the process of choreographing programs by first becoming inspired by a piece of music and building a story and skating elements around it”. John said… “When I hear music, I see movement.” (Rolewicz) John was creating connections between the skater, piece, and audience.
Another John Curry creation is the Ice Class also known as Edge Class. This creation of the Ice Class was first developed by John Curry and continues to evolve past his death. The focus is on attention to the details; clean edges that are well-defined, pointed toes in all positions, flow and grace through the movements, and ease of turns. He saw this as something that the figure skating community had lacked in his competitive days. In Alone by Bill Jones, it reads about how John Curry described skating… “It was an artless; a leftover of the pre-television age, which most skaters resented.” The detailed way of moving the body during Brackets, rockers, counters, loops, circle eights, and serpentines…Different feet and edges; different shapes; different directions. “Very calm, very skilled, very precise” said Curry, ‘It’s a beautiful form, with a very pure idea.” (Jones, 45). He wanted to create different shapes and directions and to John Curry, to teach and master these ideas, which had to start with Ice Class.
Ice Class was what the skaters would attend to right as they got onto the ice. He would begin each class by forming the skaters into various groups of lines. John would have the skaters glide together forward on two feet making sure the body is aligned. He would focus on the body position of the skater including proper knee bend, proper hips stacked and shoulders lifted. The overall goals of an ice class were to master the position of the body and port de bras, edge control, and to make the exercises as uniform as possible with your fellow skaters in your group. Every skater no matter which group they are in should be completely in line and on count. (John Curry on Ice) Ice Class at the time was an innovative way to bring body awareness onto the ice and incorporate dynamic movement into basic skating skills.
John Curry was not the last to do an edge class. Numerous skating companies have used John Curry’s excellent creation of edge class to benefit their skaters today and for more generations of skaters to come. Modern-day companies such as Ice Theatre of New York, Next
Ice Age, Ice Dance International, American Ice Theatre, Disney On Ice, Holiday On Ice, etc are all professional figure skating companies that use John Curry’s creation of the Edge Class in their own ways.
Another John Curry teaching philosophy was that every skater needed a modern dance/ balletic approach to their full-body warm-up. In the “John Curry On Ice” video by John Curry, John explains this important attribute to make sure your entire range of motion, from your head all the way down to your toes, is ready to move on the ice. He would have the skaters work on their port de bras during an off ice conditioning ballet class. These ballet classes would help the skaters have a mind and body connection between their arms, legs, fingers, head, upper body, lower body, and even to their finger tips. This directly translated onto the ice helping the skaters perfect their glide with their newly developed stability.
The Relationship Between John Curry and the Art of Dance
Throughout his professional company, one of his catalyst philosophies was bringing in professional dancers to help his skaters achieve the abstract movement and proper positions he desired during their pieces. John Curry was the first to bridge the gap between the two entities on the ice. “To further his knowledge and skill for implementing dance to skating movement, he sought collaboration with world-renowned ballet choreographers.” (Blog, Skate Guard) John never had the dancers put skates on, he only had them walk on the ice and just move their bodies.
Various dance pieces throughout history tried to incorporate the effortless ice glide within their choreography even though it was almost impossible on the floor. A dance piece called “Les Patineurs,” choreographed by Britain’s Frederick Ashton, had the dancers try to simulate the effortless glide and extended movement by keeping their feet on the floor and holding different positions still. (John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post) John Curry
had the brilliant idea to bring the dancers onto the ice to merge the two arts. John Curry said… “What attracts the dance choreographers is “the magical quality of skating that they can’t get in dance – the extension of movement, the sustained quality – just what every dancer strives for.” (John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post) Over time, John Curry was taught by different ballet and modern dance teachers to create new types of movement onto the ice for his company.
While John Curry was adapting dance into the art of skating, he founded the “John Curry’s Theater of Skating”, an ice-ballet ensemble. This was in collaboration between world-renowned skaters and ballet choreographers (Blog, Skate Guard) “Working with well-known choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Britain’s Norman Maen, and Peter Martins, the premier male dancer in the New York Ballet, Curry in the last two years has developed a fledgling repertoire of ice ballets that he hopes will establish a valid new form in no man’s land he believes exists between competitive figure skating and the Ziegfeld Follies-like extravaganzas of the touring ice shows.” (John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post) By bringing in dancers, John Curry was creating, whether he had known back then or not, a completely new outlet in skating at the time. He created a bridge between the two worlds of skating and dance and created a new understanding of artistic creation on the ice.
Curry said most of his choreographers he chose from the dance world didn’t know how to skate and did not know skating terminology… “I ask them what they would do in dance terms to whatever music we’re using, and then we translate it into skating terms.” (John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post) John was a breath of fresh air with this philosophy of bringing dancers onto the ice to create new movements. What is excellent about what John Curry created is that he wasn’t just dancing on ice and he wasn’t just skating on the ice, he
created something that each art community had never seen before, an adaptation of two beautiful art forms.
The Choreographic Process between The Dancers and John Curry
A great video source for watching how the choreographers would create choreography with John and his company is the Documentary “The Ice King” (44 mins-50 mins). The dancers would demonstrate, How about this? What about this? They would be attempting different movements on the ice and had John recreate them with skates on. The choreographers would either agree, collaborate, or once saw it on the ice, want to do something completely different. John was intrigued, determined and had an out of the box mindset during these experiments. He was breaking boundaries by bringing these dancers in the middle of the ice, some even thought John was absurd to bring them out. The new movements created a wider range of opportunities for the skaters to learn something brilliant. These skaters then saw the range that their bodies could accomplish which inspired John’s company members. John was persevering the difficulty at first at having these dancers on the ice and the difficulty in understanding how to translate dance movement to skating movement (Ice King Documentary)
John Curry Ice Theatre pieces that demonstrate the new approach to artistic skating
Throughout John Curry’s career, he choreographed many pieces that are still well-known in the skating community today. Many of these pieces were far ahead of their time and many skaters began cherishing them more after John Curry’s passing in 1994. The artistic skating piece An Afternoon of a Faun was a choreographic piece skated by John Curry and Cathy Foulkes. This piece revolutionized artistic skating and was the first of its kind on the ice. This was one of Curry’s signature pieces incorporating angular movement, the use of body lines/perfect port de
bras to create shapes on the ice. This hadn’t been done on the ice before, especially by a male figure skater because of skating’s stereotypical ways at the time that men could not be “beautiful”, “angelic” or “artistic”. The contrast of tension and release within different body movements throughout the piece with the physical and emotional connection to his partner made for art on the ice, not just a skating program. Afternoon Of A Faun was a signature piece for Curry, and his performance of Norman Maen’s choreography coupled with exquisite costuming by Nadine Baylis, made for the most authentic interpretation of Nijinsky’s vision. (Blog, Skate Guard)
The story of Afternoon of a Faun is that there is a Faun that is alone in a forest and encounters a Nymph. The Nymph gets captured by the Faun and escapes after a while. John Curry combined different dance styles in this piece to create something wildly different than dancers could off the ice. On the ice skaters could hold a position and be still, while still gliding/moving around the ice. When the skaters were holding these positions, the audience is engaged and holding their breath not knowing what happens next. The audience can feel that power and purity within that single glide which keeps them wanting more because they don’t even know what to expect.
Another exquisite performance from Curry’s company is to the Burn song by Michel Jarre’s Equinoxe. This was skated at the Symphony on Ice show, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1984, and choreographed by Laura Dean. This was a pivotal performance for John by showcasing his skating and dance ability, capability, and potential. He was not just executing his movements, he was creating a story within his body movements. He did this by knowing the story while performing and making sure the audience could see his emotions flow throughout the program. In the piece, he was embodying the human experience through his movements. He had
fluidity within his arms, but sharpness and quickness to detail. Each body part flowed effortlessly but each movement had direct meaning for why it was moving the way it was. In John’s ‘Burn’, the skaters weaved in and out of each other creating complex patterns on the ice and rotating in both directions the entire time. With John’s company, everyone works together and works as one. When the skaters entered the ice, they all complimented each other with their brilliant skating skills and balletic body positions.
More examples of pieces that were created by dancers that were rooted in the combination of abstract dancing and amazing skating skills are; Kenneth MacMillan choreographed the “Feux Follets” (Franz Liszt); Norman Maen the “Jazz Suite”; Peter Darrell “Scenes of Childhood”. Twyla Tharp choreographed “After All” and Curry choreographed the “Suite for a Guitar”. (Blog, Skate Guard)
John left a legacy in his huge and heartfelt body of work that can’t be touched. He CHANGED skating. At the World Premiere of “John Curry, Theatre of Skating”, John told the company… “ I just got to do something right away that will make everyone shift their perspective of skating.” John asked them to act like artists rather than athletes while on the ice working with the dancers.
John Curry’s Legacy
Not only did John Curry change the way skating was at the time, but he shifted what the skating community could create moving forward. People from all across the skating community use what John Curry created (Ice Classes, dancers as choreographers, live orchestras, full body rotation, and movement) in their teachings. A great example of that is the company, The Next Ice Age. The Next Ice Age is a skating company still around today dedicated to the preservation and growth of artistic skating through performance and teaching, created by Nathan Birch and
Tim Murphy. The Next Ice Age expands the artistic range of skating and will continue to form skating into an art rather than just a technical sport. Nathan Birch was one of the company members from John Curry’s skating company. Nathan Birch took the teachings of an Ice Class that Curry created and brought it to the Next Ice Age. He took what he learned from one of the greatest skaters of all time and preserved it in a way to help skaters for generations to come. In groups of three or four, just as Curry created it to be, the skaters skate balletic edge exercises to warm up as a group on the ice. These warm ups include an emphasis on toe point, side bends during glides, ankle bend work for the perfect glide, combinations of different turns, and more. The goal is to make the movements as uniform as possible with your fellow skaters who are skating with your group.
Ice skating companies such as Ice Theatre of New York, even portions of Holiday on Ice, and more have developed and inspired John Curry’s invention of the “Ice Class” and adapted it into their curriculum. Another way John Curry was influential to those companies is the way these shows create their pieces. They create their pieces based on the teachings of John Curry by telling a story on the ice through body movements. Not only is John Curry’s Ice Class pivotal for the professional skating world, but it also has trickled down to the lower amateur levels as well. Different skating clubs, rinks, and synchro/theatre teams have adapted the ideas of John Curry’s Edge Ice Class into their curriculum. They focus on the same ideas that John brought to the skating world in the 1970s. Changing the way skaters came to skating and/or edge class, thinking about skating as an art and how to connect their bodies on the ice to their minds, edges, and unlimited body movements.
The lesson that can be drawn from this for future generations of skaters, coaches, and choreographers is that there is no endpoint to what you can create in skating. When John Curry
would land triples, he constantly was thinking about where the arm went, how he could look like he was ‘floating’, and how he could incorporate a story and meaning behind every movement. Even when people looked at him and said that he was too ‘girly’ (Jones). He instilled that there was more to skating than just awards and triples. He wanted to compete with himself to become the best artist he could be (Jones).
When asked in the documentary The Ice King why he never wanted to quit skating and go into the dance world he responded… “ I don’t think I would. Seriously. Because I haven’t finished to learn to skate yet.” (The Ice King, Documentary) John believed that in skating, your learning is never complete. This brilliant skater who won the Olympics and created his own skating company said that he hadn’t finished learning skating yet. This is a great way for modern-day skaters to learn from John on how in skating you should always be learning and challenging yourself.
John Curry created the edge class, but there was limitations that have evolved from his technique today. He did not use what many companies like American Ice Theatre use today like learning not only how to use your edges on your blade, but how to use the toe pick, how to create movements from “ unpretty positions” as in shoulders not aligned, ice work, use of external factors like the ice boards, etc. John’s technique could have a negative impact because of the meticulous and precise positioning, it gives no room for the creation of non-perfect positions. Although John was limited and did not use these new contemporary elements that are used today, these elements and the new contemporary skating could not have been created without John’s first step. John created the bridge of incorporating art into skating and helped inspire contemporary skating to what it is today.
Conclusion
John Curry’s philosophies created a new approach to professional show skating, how to execute it, and was the first to implement the art of dance to create skating as an art. Before John Curry, skating was rooted in mostly athleticism with few opportunities for artistic expression. The jumps and technical elements of skating were rewarded, but John Curry wanted to create something more fulfilling for skaters to create. He adapted skating into an art form by creating the Edge Class and bringing modern dance choreographers onto the ice to create stories, rather than just a program with jumps and spins. He challenged the status quo of skating and created something that the world knows and loves today. What John Curry created in the 1970s was bigger than even he knew. He made an outlet for skaters and nonskaters to experience the art of skating in a new, interesting, and artistic way. I wish that John Curry was around to see what he created and envisioned turned into. The footprint that John left on the skating community can never be forgotten. I truly believe he would be speechless seeing how his dreams for professional artistic skating have flourished into a worldwide phenomenon.
Works Cited
Blog, Skate Guard. “#unearthed: An Ode to John Curry.” Skate Guard, 26 Dec. 2019, skateguard1.blogspot.com/2019/12/unearthed-ode-to-john-curry.html.
“Curry on Ice – Episode 1.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 July 2022,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lRxfhrPr1A.
Curtis, Bryan. “The Life and Death of the Ice Capades.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 17 Mar. 2005, slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/03/the-life-and-death-of-the-ice-capades.html.
Design, Chapel Hill Web. Laura Dean – Dancer, Choreographer, Composer, http://www.lauradean.com/burn.html. Accessed 26 Aug. 2023.
“Ice Capades: Rare Video of 50 Years of Skating Stars & Shows.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept. 2007, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTOwmlwjyxw.
“John Curry : Legendary Ice Skater.” Team GB, http://www.teamgb.com/article/wiNter-tal es-john-curry/24sr12RLh21ON861FRpc1d. Accessed 3 Jan. 2024.
“The Ice King.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Apr. 2022,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpCIF6X6AWw.
“Joan Crawford as Cinderella in Ice Follies of 1939.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Mar. 2008, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aXNEH4D3bM.
John Curry – Skating on the Edge of Ballet – the Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/07/02/john-curry-skating-on-the-edge-of-ballet/ 3d70e256-38f0-4799-b3cc-6dc004ed056a/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.
Jones, Bill. Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry. Bloomsbury Sport, 2015.
Kisselcroff, Anna. “John Curry’s ‘Kedancing.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Nov. 1978, http://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/22/archives/john-currys-ice dancing-opens
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“The next Ice Age – Selected Clips.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Mar. 2008,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7l7HkYT1Fw&t=2s.
Rolewicz, Emilia. “How John Curry Transformed Figure Skating.” SportSparks, 21 Apr. 2023, http://www.sportsparks.io/how-john-curry-transformed-figure-skating#:~:text=Curry%20
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