By Sandra Loosemore
SportsLine Sports Writer

Nowadays there seems to be a glut of skating shows, tours, and competitions that are almost indistinguishable from one another. Whether it's a mega-tour that criss-crosses North America each year or an over-hyped made-for-TV competition with some name like Rock 'n' Roll Ice Wars Challenge of the Sexes, it all adds up to the same skaters doing the same programs to the same pieces of pop music.

Since much of figure skating's current popularity is derived from television coverage of competitions such as the Olympic Games, promoters of professional skating events simply copy the competitive format as a way to cash in with as little effort and imagination as possible.

They might pay lip service to the notion that audiences want to see skating that emphasizes "artistry" rather than triple jumps, but it seems promoters have not tried to create performance opportunities for pro skaters that are genuinely different from what these skaters did as Olympics-eligible competitors. In the past season it became increasingly difficult to differentiate between eligible competitions, pro competitions and plain exhibitions.

WHAT WOULD PROFESSIONAL SKATING BE LIKE if it only could be set free from the restrictions of the competitive format, and the endless commercial sameness that permeates the skating world? In fact, such a form of skating exists right now. It's the Ice Theatre of New York, and it's not your average ice show.

The Ice Theatre, celebrating its 15th season, was founded by Moira North with the purpose of developing figure skating as a form of performance art -- it is effectively a dance company on skates. And while the ITNY is involved with a variety of educational programs to teach dance and skating techniques, the company is best known to skating fans for commissioning and performing large-scale ensemble works that go far beyond the limits of the competitive format for skating.

This year's ITNY annual Home Show, held May 20-22 at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink in New York, was one of the least publicized highlights of the skating season. The program featured things one can't find in traditional competitive skating. This included:

• An emphasis on choreography and presentation instead of triple jumps.
• Pieces choreographed for ensembles and unconventional groupings instead of simply for solo skaters or male/female pairings.
• Pieces that explore a concept at greater length than is possible within the context of a typical three- or four-minute competitive program.
• Theatrical costuming and staging.

The centerpiece of the ITNY show was called Transitions, a compelling ensemble piece set to the music of Philip Glass. Conceived as a tribute to skaters who have died of AIDS and featuring Chris Nolan as the soloist, the piece portrays a man confronting his own mortality. The choreography was done by Doug Webster, who also skated in the ensemble with Lisa Bell, Yuriy Chesnichenko, Yaroslava Nechaeva and Susan Pereira.

Transitions was structured as an extended piece in four sections. The first, Chaos, was fast and frantic, with choreography suggesting disorder and confusion. The second section, Drowning, was much slower with an emphasis on reaching and groping motions. The third section, Understanding, featured brighter lighting and more organized ensemble. Its choreography shifted from Nolan following and being circled by the group, to leading and circling them. Finally, Freedom provided an uplifting conclusion to the work.

This fairly long work required a lot of stamina to skate, but Nolan says its theatrical aspects were more difficult than the actual skating.

"I was most concerned about projecting the character and emotion that (Webster) had in mind," he said.

Nolan said the piece was about finding balance and spirituality in life, with ensemble skaters representing aspects of life that are out of balance. Although the piece told a story, Nolan said its choreography was intended to be more symbolic than literal.

ALSO IN THE ITNY PROGRAM was A Conversation with Angels, a trio choreographed by JoAnna Mendl Shaw and skated by Webster with Pereira and Tian Yi Zhang as the angels. The choreography and costuming -- white outfits with the arms extending into fluttering "wings" -- emphasized long lines and swooping and gliding motions over the ice, including many spread eagles and similar moves.

John Curry, the 1976 Olympic champion, embraced performance art during his professional career.(Allsport)

Tango Images, choreographed by Peter di Falco, was a more literal translation of traditional tango choreography from the dance floor to the ice. It emphasized complex staccato steps and partnering rather than the gliding qualities and edge work specific to figure skating, and the choreography was deliberately confined to a relatively small section of the ice to create a cramped atmosphere, rather than being "skated out" to cover the entire ice surface.

Former U.S. ice dancing champion Judy Blumberg skated the lead role in Tango Images, partnered by Doug Webster. Webster also skated with Chris Nolan in a male/male duet -- hardly something the International Skating Union would approve of, but entirely consistent with the character of the tango, which originated as a dance for men with overtones of violence rather than romance.

Another part of the ITNY program featured two-time Canadian silver medalist Emanuel Sandhu -- still a virtual unknown in the United States -- and established performers Katherine Healy and David Liu, who have had limited opportunities to skate professionally because they lack the competitive credentials and triple jumps needed on the pro competition circuit.

THE SUCCESS OF THE ITNY EVENT PROVES that no-name skaters can often deliver far more bang for the buck than the "stars" who do commercial tours and made-for-TV events. It's unfortunate for the public and for the skaters themselves that the sport offers so few opportunities to present creative skating and choreography of this caliber in a high-profile setting. The only real losers in this scenario are skating fans, who rarely see such performances.

"This was a fun show to skate, and I had five very different pieces in it," said Nolan. "People liked it because it struck an emotional chord. There was reason and intent for everything we were doing. In the skating world they don't touch on this enough and there aren't enough opportunities for this kind of creativity. We need to create more alternatives like this."

Should fans be denied a chance to witness skating as performance art simply because it is not commercially viable? With the commercial side of the sport now driven so much by "star power," perhaps what's needed is for big-name skaters to take up the cause, in the way that John Curry, Toller Cranston, Robin Cousins, and Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean have done in the past.

If the dawn of big money in figure skating means promoters are no longer interested in providing quality material for the skaters, perhaps these athletes need to take the initiative themselves. If they don't, we might all be forever trapped in the current mega-tour and made-for-TV monotony.