Wisconsin Badger State Games Exhibition with Caryn Kadavy

Screen Capture from Brian Boitano's Holiday Special

Thursday night, February 6, 1997 I skated in our Badger State Games Exhibition show featuring Caryn Kadavy.

The show took place at a new recreational facility in Wausau. We sold 1500 tickets which I'm sure is small potatoes to Caryn Kadavy but that is a big show Wausau.

Caryn was an absolute class act the entire time. She was pleasant and gracious and never put on airs. We had all been strictly warned not to bother her by asking for autographs--her agent explained how tiring and distracting that can be. For the most part we were pretty good--but of course there were some kids who could not help themselves and Caryn graciously accommodated everyone who asked--as well as posing for many photos. All of the skaters were given a program with Caryn's autograph on it so there really was no reason to bother her.

During the finale at the dress rehearsal, when we were all out on the ice I skated up to her and thanked her for coming to our town and our show and she gave a beaming smile and said "Oh you are so welcome"

Before the arrangements had been made for this show--a hockey game was scheduled between the dress rehearsal and the show--the game was over at 7 pm and the show was at 8 pm! They took us all in buses for a catered light supper during that time. Very generous but also a nice way to get us out of the way during the game! They didn't have much time to make the change from a hockey game to an ice show--and were bringing out bleachers on the ice at the last minute. Only the soloists got any warm up time--which was hard on the rest of us.

There were some technical problems. The sound system was atrocious--you couldn't understand the announcements and the music sounded awful. The spotlights were too low--I was blinded and even Caryn commented on how she had to do her double axel blind--and I think it was spotlight trouble that caused her to two foot one of her jumps. It was kind of funny during the dress rehearsal--Caryn skated sooo much faster than anyone else--the spotlight guy couldn't keep up with her--the spotlight never was quite on her! Caryn just rolled with the punches and never put on any airs--always pleasant.

There wasn't enough seating for all the skaters--but fortunately we got to see the show during the dress rehearsal--and I did manage to see both of Caryn's programs during the show as well.

The other featured skaters were Also Lindsay Page who is from Madison and was at the Nationals this year skated--a very peppy number - Que Pasa--I remember she had a good double axel and scratch spin- and Pete St. Germaine--who won the junior Eastern Great Lake Champs in 97. He's very fast and has some real powerful footwork but the jumps just weren't happening for him--he did redeem himself with a double axel in the finale. During the dress rehearsal one of the acts left some flowers on the ice and a precision team followed them--this could have been a dangerous situation but Peter skated out there and managed to dodge in and out of the precision skaters, pick up the flowers off the ice and skate off again without anyone missing a beat!

All twelve figure skating clubs in Wisconsin sent an act and we really showed that we have quite a bit of talent in Wisconsin!

The act I skated in was a group number with adults. Other than Caryn Kadavy--we were the only adult skaters. We skated to the 50's version ' "Blue Moon" and we all wore poodle skirts. It started out slow with two pairs doing the fox trot--and then it gets fast and four of our skaters did jumps and spins in the center while the rest of us did some simple precision moves in the background. We close holding hands in a circle doing outside spirals.

Caryn skated to "Foolish Games" and "Mambo Italiano". It was too bad about the lights because it was so dark you could not see the delightful facial expressions she does during this number. She landed wonderful double axels and triple toe--but the loop was doubled and I think it was the lights that threw her off. For the finale she came out and did several Russian splits.

What we lacked in sophistication we made up in enthusiasm--she received very hearty applause. Led by the large contingent of skaters, not just the jumps, but every spin, every footwork sequence, spiral and spread eagle was met with loud applause, whooping and whistling. She received a standing ovation after Mambo Itiliano and at the end of the show.

Caryn stayed on the ice after the show and skated around, shaking hands, accepting flowers and then was mobbed by autograph seekers. After I posed for photos with my group, went back to the locker room dressed and chatted I came back to the rink and she was still signing autographs. I don't think she turned anyone down.

I hope we made a good impression on her. She certainly left us all with warm feelings!