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Michael John Course also known as Mike Course was a British-American Professional Skater and a Specialty Actor, widely known for All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1978) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1978).
Contents
· 1 Early life and career
· 2 Personal life
· 3 References
Early life and career
Course was born and raised in England and began his career as a circus acrobat. He had interest in all kinds of athletic pursuits. In his teens, Course became the schoolboy boxing champion of Coventry. His biggest sporting achievement was to win the English Schoolboys Diving Championship. He started his theatrical career in a circus at the age of fourteen, after being Diving English Champion.
At the age of fourteen, he joined The Olanders, a group of five acrobats from The Danish National Circus. He was with them for eleven years and performed in several Circuses all around Europe, including The Tivoli in Denmark, The Hagenbeck in Germany, The Knie in Switzerland, and The Arnado in Norway.
Amongst the famous theaters, he performed in London Paladium, The Royal Variety Show, London Casino with Julie Andrews, England; The Olympia, Paris, France; The Lido, Paris, France; and Moulin Rouge, Paris, France.
Course is also recognized as the first person who performed the back flip on ice skates in Europe. He performed the move in 1957 in an ice show in Paris, France called Paris sur la Glace, and in 1960, his back flips were the highlight of Holiday on Ice in Berlin, Germany. When Course was with Paris sur la glace, the company went to East Berlin to perform the show in open air, and he had to do his back flip on the ice while it was snowing.
In addition to doing back flips on the ice, Mike Course was the only one at the time who did Arabian tumbling on figure skates and continuous back flip flacks. So Far nobody except for Mike had done Arabian tumbling on the ice.
After retiring from 5 Olanders, Course developed a solo act that he performed in theaters all over Europe. Having quit his stage show in Paris, he took the train to Poland to join a small ice show called "Paris sur la glace" in which he toured Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. Later he starred in the famous ice revue "Holiday on Ice" as the principle clown, touring with the show in Europe and in America for a ten year period from 1961 to 1971.
The next four years he spent in South Africa appearing in many major roles in a company that specialized in staging British Pantomimes on ice. Mike then moved to the USA to take starring roles in the oldest, and best known, American ice show "Ice Capades" from 1976 to 1986. The show also starred many Olympic Champions including Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill and for the next ten years he toured with the show all over the United States, Canada and Mexico.
During this period he also had principle roles in "Snoopy on Ice" and "Snoopy goes for the Gold", both staged in California. From 1970's to 1980's, He has also performed at "Snoopy On Ice show" at Knott's Berry Farm. Course was also a known clarinetist, tap dancer, and a skillful juggler. Before joining Holiday on Ice in Europe, for a period of ten years, Course was an Arabian tumbler.
In 1987, he performed in Japan, and for the following two years had a wide variety of engagements including the cruise ship "SS Rotterdamm" and shows in Peru, Easter Island and Cypress Gardens in the USA where he starred as Jack Frost in the show "Southern Ice".
In 1989, Course returned to "Holiday on Ice" as the principle ice comedian and there followed a further eight years touring with the show in Europe, South Africa, Mexico and South America.
In 1999, Course and his wife Sandra developed a visual comedy stage act that they premiered, to an appreciative audience, on The Queen Elizabeth II cruise. He also spent two seasons at Fasano on the Adriatic coast of Italy appearing in "Fantasilandia on Ice" and starring as Geppeto in "Pinochio on Ice". In 2000, he returned to America to join "Ice Capades 2000° for a further tour.
In 2007, he performed at "Circus on Ice" in Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri with his wife and his daughter skating in the show. His daughter was 5 years old at the time. This was his last show.
Personal life
His mother, Ivy Rose Colborn, was a house maker, and father, Harols Course, was the owner of a Pet Shop. Course married Sandra Vivian Lund in England at the Archbishop's Palace at Maidstone, Kent. They have a child, Ashelen Lund Course, who is also a figure skater.
Mike Course May Have Been the First to Do Back Flip Flacks On Ice Skates In 1957 (archive.org)
Mike Course May Have Been the First to Do Back Flip FlackThe first person who may have performed the back flip on ice skates in Europe was Mike Course. He performed the move in 1957 in an ice show in Paris, France called Paris sur la Glace, and in 1960, his back flips were the highlight of Holiday on Ice in Berlin, Germany.
When Course was with Paris sur la glace, the company went to East Berlin to perform the show in open air, and he had to do his back flip on the ice while it was snowing!
Course had an impressive ice show career and continued to entertain and perform for over fifty years.
In addition to doing back flips on the ice, Mike Course was the only one at the time who did Arabian tumbling on figure skates and continuous back flip flacks.
Course did not do his back flips on the ice from the toe pick assist which is the way the figure skaters of today do the move. Instead, he would first do a Mohawk turn from forward to backward and then glide and take off from two flat feet. He essentially did the move like a gymnast, but he had skates on his feet. He would propel himself without having to use the toe pick of his skate, so he called his move a back somersault on ice.
Mike Course was not a competitive figure skater. In the 1950s, people with unique skills like tumbling, were given contracts with ice shows as specialty acts.
Before joining Ice Capades in Europe, for a period of ten years, Mike Course was an Arabian tumbler which is the reason doing back flips and Arabian tumbling on figure skates was so easy for him to do.
It has been said Mike Course's tumbling techniques were perfect.
Mike started his theatrical career in circus at the age of fourteen after becoming England's diving champion. For eleven years, Course was part of The Olandres, a group of five acrobats who performed in the Danish National Circus. Course performed in the circus in Shumann, Denmark, Tivoli, Denmark, Hagenbeck, Germany, Althoff, Germany, Kroner, Germany, Knie, Switzerland, and Arnado, Norway. He also performed at the London Paladium, England for the Royal Variety show an performed for The Queen of England at the London Casino with Julie Andrews. To pass the Audition for the The Olandres, the Danish troupe, Course had to hold his handstands for several minutes next to a fire pit. If he would have fallen, he would have fallen on the fire! Of course, he held his handstands longer than was required and passed the audition. He became the only British acrobat ever to be in the show.
The Danish troupe trained eight hours a day. Before going to bed, Course had to walk on stairs on his hands twenty times with both arms and after that twenty times with each arm.
This training may be the reason it was easy for Mike Course to do back flips on the ice because in those days, tumbling was done on hard floors.
