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By Victoria Nicolaou
Staff Writer

Running shoes. A piano. Moulin Rouge. A dance-off. Enter the Dragon. Hip-hop. Not typical things you would see at a figure skating show.

It was a blend of the past and the future. A glimpse into what figure skating has been, what it has become, and what it could be as the sport moves into the future.

The Thank You Canada Tour made a stop Sunday afternoon at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. The tour opened in Abbotsford, B.C. and will make 27 stops throughout 10 Canadian provinces.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir headline and co-produce the Canadian tour as a way to say ‘thank you’ to their fans across the country.

“Our idea was to kind of go into all the corners of the country and put on a show for them. So, we hope that they enjoy it,” said Moir to CTV earlier this year.

The most decorated Olympic skaters in history teamed up with their Olympic gold-medal winning teammates – Patrick Chan, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Kaetlyn Osmond and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje – as well as three-time world champion Elvis Stojko.

Virtue and Moir have been involved in exhibition shows and Stars on Ice tours for their entire 21-year partnership, but this tour gave the pair a chance to create something new, while continuing to stay involved in a competition atmosphere.

“When we tackle a project, we want to be all in,” said Virtue and Moir in the Thank You Canada Tour press release. “Putting together a skating show that feels fresh, vibrant and different is an incredible challenge we are fully embracing, and we’re committed to ensuring audiences get a spectacular show.”

And the show hit all those notes.

The first half was full of classic Olympic moments. Kaetlyn Osmond performed her bronze-medal winning program Black Swan, Patrick Chan skated his famous 2010 Phantom, and Stojko entertained the crowd with the original 1994 silver-medal winning program Enter the Dragon.

But the highlight of the entire show came before intermission.

Each skater had already performed. The only ones left were Virtue and Moir, and the crowd knew what was coming. As the opening notes to Moulin Rouge hit the speakers, the crowd went wild. The Pyeongchang gold-medal free dance is one of the highlights of Virtue and Moir’s career, and the fans were ready to relive all four minutes of that Olympic moment.

Moulin Rouge did not disappoint. It was a flawless performance by Virtue and Moir, who appeared, as the end of the routine, just as happy as the fans screaming around them.

The first half of the show was serious and impressive. But the second half became something different – something fun and more experimental, even a tad cheesy at times. But the crowd loved it, embracing the change.

The Thank You Canada Tour was about the skaters and the fans. Virtue and Moir were in charge this time around, and they let each champion be themselves and take a risk. By doing so fans were able to get a glimpse into who they are outside the rink.

Radford told the crowd about his love of music composition. He walked to the piano placed on the ice, looking vulnerable in his shoes, and performed a piece entitled Storm. Midway through, Chan come onto the ice and skated while Radford played. It was a glimpse into a different world. A moment to understand that an athlete, like all of us, can be more than just one defining thing.

There was a dance-off between the girls and the guys. The tour chorographer tried to teach the crowd some dance moves.

But it was Virtue and Moir who took the biggest risk of all. The duo came out in running shoes, and danced a hip-hop routine in the middle of a lowered boxing ring.

Since the Pyeongchang Olympics earlier this year, the pair has branched out, taking dance classes while continuing to grow as skaters and as people. It was a skating show but this tour was about more than just that for Virtue and Moir.

It was about the future, as much as it was about the past. It was a ‘thank you’ to the fans, but it was also a chance to show who Virtue and Moir can be as they put their ice-dancing career (potentially) behind them.

While Virtue and Moir were obviously the crowd favourite, they had some competition in Stojko and Chan.

The Thank You Canada Tour found a way to celebrate past athletes by including Stojko. It can be a tricky thing, finding a way to honour the past while looking to the future, but the tour did it exceptionally well.

It was also very evident that Chan and Moir revere Stojko. In one of the short videos sprinkled throughout the show, the skaters spoke about Stojko’s legacy. “He made figure skating tough, he made it cool,” said Moir and Chan about Stojko.

Stojko was never a traditional skater – he always pushed the bounds on what he could do and what was acceptable – and this tour was no different. It seemed only fitting that Stojko was invited to be a part of it.

The skaters also had the chance to speak about one another.

As Chan embarks on retirement, his Olympic teammates looked back on his career. They can see the impact Chan has had on young skaters already.

“Unparalleled ease of movement,” said Virtue about the quality of Chan’s skating.

The show ended with an inspiring message, “Just keep on shining like you do,” said Virtue in a video, telling the crowd to be proud and be kind, and not to let others define them.

Ice-dancers Weaver and Poje chose to take the 2018 Grand Prix competition season off to participate in the tour.

“It’s a chance for us to expand our boundaries,” said Weaver during the Autumn Classic earlier this year. “It’s nice to be surrounded by the world’s best.”

The pair will return to competition in January. Three-time Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond is also taking the entire season off, but at only 22 years old, Osmond is planning to return to competition.

But retirement plans are already underway for Chan, who has defined men’s figure skating for the last decade, as well as pairs partners Duhamel and Radford.

And if this is Virtue and Moir’s farewell tour, fans were entranced. Their joy and love for the sport and their fans is a celebration Canadian fans can get behind.