Robin Cousins: return of the Ice King

11/12/2008

 “Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on,” sang Joni Mitchell. 

And watching someone expertly gliding over the ice you can understand that yearning. Even Robin Cousins says he often gets jealous comments from dancers, who envy the ice skater’s seeming ability to divorce themselves from the normal laws of physics - to float like silk above the surface of the ice.

 

But what often goes forgotten are the hours, weeks and years of hard graft that have gone into creating that illusion.

 

“I often talk to young kids who are keen to be famous – but not so keen when I tell them they’ll have to be up at the crack of dawn training every morning,” he says. “Perhaps it’s not surprising we don’t have so many British champions these days!” Robin paid his dues by stacking supermarket shelves at the crack of dawn in order to pay his rent and entry to the ice rink.

 

His journey began in 1967, when he first found himself almost by accident on the ice at Bournemouth during a family holiday. That journey pinnacled 13 years later in the Winter Olympics. By the time 1980 arrived, he had not only mastered the art and athleticism of skating, but had evolved his own distinctive style too.

 

“I wasn’t like John Curry, who was really performing ballet on ice,” 

says Robin. “He taught me a lot when we were in the same team in 1976 – and I could see first hand how he dealt with the pressure of being the favourite.” But Robin’s style was far more physically challenging – and he cunningly incorporated all the jumps and required elements into a five-minute routine that also took the breath away.

 

“My music was different too,” he says. “Then, everyone was performing to classical music. I wanted to have more modern material – but the judges at first weren’t at all impressed. Luckily by the end they seemed to have got used to that!” His medal-winning routine ended with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint it Black’ – that’s how far he pushed out the boundaries, and figure skating has never looked back.

Interestingly, his main inspiration for figure skating, he tells me, was Gene Kelly – unarguably the most athletic of all the great dancers. “I loved all the old MGM films,” he says, “as well as the dance routines on programmes like ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’. I was doing dance and gymnastics when I was a kid, so I suppose my style was just an extension of that.

 

“Looking at the 1980 clip now it’s a bit cringeworthy – but it was cutting edge then! Everyone who is a professional skater would say that they’d approach their amateur performances differently – but that’s hindsight.”

In the intervening years Robin has honed his craft by producing and choreographing a huge range of ice shows all around the world. And that hasn’t meant taking his foot off the pedal. “If you’re teaching a cast it’s anything from nine to 14 hours a day on the ice in the build up he says. “So you have to stay pretty fit.”

 

That said, there are no more back flips! “I had problems for a few years with my knees – but the reconstructive surgery I had three years ago has put that right.” During the years in between he has even forged himself a singing career on the stage – starring in shows including ‘Cats’ and ‘Rocky Horror’. “I just love doing that,” he says, “but I haven’t had much opportunity lately.”

 

These days he is usually choreographing the next big Holiday on Ice show which still attracts huge audiences wherever it lands. 

Astoundingly some 320 million people have seen these shows over the years, and now the audiences are thrilling to performances that have Robin’s distinctive stamp on them. He is also just about to get involved in the next celebrity ice skating series ‘Dancing on Ice’ – and wondering which famous person with two left feet he will be coaching and judging.

 

“You do get some very good natural skaters,” he says. “Kieran Bracken was a good example. But you have to remember that these people also do have day jobs!”

 

The new Holiday on Ice show – ‘Mystery’ - is touring during the UK in early 2009, visiting Brighton, Peterborough, Cardiff and Exeter. You can call the national booking line on 08705 321321.