Apparently the vast majority of figure skating enthusiasts are women. Huh. Who knew?

Skate Canada wants to change all that and has launched a (re)branding campaign that they hope will woo the male variety of our species. According to a recent story in the Wall St. Journal,the new key messaging will include the liberal use ofwords such as "risk", "strength", and "speed" and tales of relentless training and horrific injuries will be featured. I suppose this is a bid to align the sport of figure skating with, um let's see...hockey?

Call me crazy, but I always thought the point of figure skating was to execute breathtakingly graceful moves all the while making it look completely effortless. Figure skating has always required a huge dose of showmanship as well, hence the music, the costumes, and the makeup. Rumour has it that Skate Canada has quietly asked its athletes to tone down the flamboyant costume trimmings (think feathers and such - "ixnay on the equinsay") in an effort to support the new branding. Given that figure skating has always been big on glamour, I am curious to see how this new restraint will be manifested. Maybe they can just glide around in bulky sweatsuits reminiscent of hockey padding, whilst flashing their toothless grins on their makeup free faces. Yep, that ought to attract those male viewers.

I don't know about you, but I never thought figure skating looked easy. I was pretty certain that what I saw was the result of much practice, pain, and determination. The fact that they could pull it off with such panache was what made it special and set it apart from other sports. Now it would appear that yet another venerable institution is trying to be what it is not in order to win the popularity contest and ultimately, cash in. That's a real shame. Personally, I would have gone another way with it. I would have worked the hell out of the glamour angle and built up some of the sexiness aspect to attract the guys. Why not? Hollywood does it. So do the music and dance industries.

Figure out what you are and then embrace it with everything you've got. An authentic presence is a beautiful thing and beats out pretense and artifice every time. For the sake of Skate Canada, its athletes, and its fans, I hope that the recent rebranding efforts meet a swift demise. Bring on the sequins.

AC