Rory Flack

Rory Flack
Personal information
Full name	Ellen "Rory" Flack
Country represented	United States
Born	April 28, 1971 Belleville, Illinois
Home town	San Diego, California
Residence	USA
Former coach	Roy Balmer Robin Cousins John Nicks Richard Callaghan
Skating club	Anchorage Figure Skating Club

Rory Flack (Flack-Burghart) (born April 28, 1971) is an African-American professional figure skater. She is well known for her Russian split jumps and being the first African American and the third woman in the world to do a back flip.

Personal life

Rory Flack was born in Belleville, Illinois. She is the daughter of Dorothy Annette Hammond-Jackson and William Jamems Flack, and niece of Roberta Flack. Raised in Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California, she later resided for 15 years in Wasilla, Alaska.^[1] She was married to Ralph Burghart, a seven-time Austrian national figure skating champion, from 1992 to 2009.^[2][1] They have two sons, Rendell, born 28 September 1993, and Remington, born 17 January 1997.^[3] Their elder son plays tennis at Eastern Washington College, where he is majoring in film, and the younger competes in figure skating.^[1]

Flack now resides in Washington, D.C. with her fiancé, Delonte' Roi Mitchell Sr.

Skating career

Flack began skating at age 5. At age 13, she met the pioneer for African Americans in figure skating, Mabel Fairbanks. Fairbanks inspired Flack to continue skating after wanting to stop at an early age due to racism.^[4] Two years later, Debi Thomas, Bobby Beauchamp and Rory Flack skated to three medals at the US National Championships. This was the first time three African Americans competed at the Nationals, and they all earned spots on the international team.

In 1986, Flack won the junior bronze medal at the U.S. Championships. She also competed internationally, winning the silver medal at the 1987 Grand Prix International St. Gervais. Her performance at the 1987 U.S. Championships attracted national attention and earned her an appearance with footage on Saturday Night Live. It was the first time a figure skater was on the show. Two months before the qualifying event for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, she injured her back and could not compete. She retired from competitive skating in the winter 1991.

Flack became a World Professional, 1991 and 1994 US Open Professional Champion, the 2002 American Open Artistic Champion and competed for Team USA in 2006 CBS Ice Wars. In 1991, Flack started her career as a professional figure skater. She moved from California to Cincinnati and skated in the production Broadway on Ice. She choreographed a routine and auditioned and was selected for a solo spot. She heard from fellow skaters about an open professional competition, The US Open Challenge Cup. Despite being advised not to compete by the show producer because she would lose her next gig, Flack entered the competition with her friends' support. She had a close childhood friend who taught her to do a back flip on ice, making her one of three women in the world with this ability. The competition had two parts for the skaters without a world title. The winner of the Challenge round would advance to the Championship round. The Championship Round was filled with Olympic Champions and World medalists. Performing to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's “Summertime”, she not only won the Challenge Cup, Flack placed third in the Championship Round, won the inaugural Golden Blade Award (given to the most artistic skater of the entire Competition) and became the star of Ice Capades.

In 1992, while starring in Ice Capades, Flack took time off from the Tour to compete once again at the US Open. She skated to “Fever” and a 5 minute version of “Am I Blue”, she won the silver medal. In September 1993, Rory gave birth to her first son, Rendell. Two weeks later she skated as a pair team with her then husband in the opening of the Rockefeller Center. In 1994, Flack was invited to join The Nutcracker on Ice. She co-starred as the Sugar Plum Fairy alongside Olympic champions Oksana Baiul and Brian Boitano. Still driven to win the US Open, she trained daily from 2 am to 4 am. Flack entered the US Open, where the reigning World champion Yuka Sato also planned to compete. Performing to Aretha Franklin's "Think", Flack took first place after the Technical Program and went on to win the title. Shortly after, she opened a figure skating school in Alaska called Artistry Of Movement Ice Skating Academy. The Academy was created to train grassroots skaters from learning to fall to winning championships. She also continued to perform on national and world television in professional competitions and shows in her free time.

In 2001, Flack appeared with Aretha Franklin, choreographing one production number and two solos for the event. One week later, Flack accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Sports Foundation on behalf of Mabel Fairbanks. Inspired once again by Fairbanks, Flack founded her production company The Color of Ice Productions. In January 2002, she created, produced and choreographed the first all African American Ice Skating production Ebony on Ice. The production ran for ten weeks at the Legacy Theater in Chicago. Flack appeared as the headliner along with Savion Glover, Kenny Gambel and Howard Hewitt. Later that year she won her second professional title at the American Open Professional Championships.

In 2003, Flack launched her revised production of "Soul Spectacular On Ice" AKA "Ebony On Ice" in Florida and Washington, DC, with sold out performances at the Lincoln Theater. The show received rave reviews from the Washington Post with the article initialed, "On Ice, Black Music And Dance Catch Fire" By Natalie Hopkinson, Washington Post Staff Writer, with this opening statement " The ancestors couldn't have foreseen this" and sold out performances a national tour was scheduled. Later the same year, Flack appeared as a guest star in Ray Charles' last performance, "A Tribute to Ray Charles on Ice" at the Staples Arena in Los Angeles, California. In 2004, Flack was an assistant choreographer for a television production of A Tribute to Earth Wind and Fire on Ice. She was also the lead choreographer for two production numbers, two personal solos and a number for Brian Boitano and Brian Orser. In 2006, she skated in "A Tribute to Wynona Judd" while Wynona and Naomi Judd sang a duet. She also skated in the last aired Professional Skating Championships, Ice Wars USA verses the World.

In the fall of 2012, Flack took a hiatus from performing due to a neurological health issues that brought on the loss of some speech patterns, movements in arms and legs. She began working with a team of doctors on the east coast while living in Utah, then relocated to Philadelphia in the summer of 2013. She performed in ice shows in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.^[5] Flack will launch a national tour with a new organization UATID in early 2015 where she will return to the ice to perform.

Coaching and choreography career

Flack began choreographing her programs as a senior competitor. After signing her first show contract for a show in King Island in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was approached by Indiana World Skating Academy to coach. Shortly after taking the position in 1992, she began studying under the wing of Brian Wright. Later that summer Flack took over the choreography department in Wright's absence. In 1993, she was sought out by the Seattle Skating Club and hired to help build their basic skills and program as well as to develop the new Olympic Training rink in Lynnwood, Washington.

From 1993, she worked in Alaska after being hired by the Anchorage FSC to direct and head their Learn to Skate program. One year later Flack founded Artistry Of Movement ISA. In 2009, she relocated Artistry of Movement Academy to Provo, Utah where she served as head coach for three years. One of her coaching and choreography clients is Keegan Messing. In April 2012, Flack started dividing her time coaching between Alaska, New Jersey and Provo, Utah, Washington, D.C., Chicago and New Jersey and offered clinics worldwide.

Recording artist

Flack has expressed interest in a recording career. "I have always loved singing and have wanted to record a CD. Getting together with Max-A-Million from Chicago and having a producer/writer is the most exciting feeling. I feel it is never too late to live your dreams."

Results

References

External links

• In depth oral history interview
• Rory Flack at the Internet Movie Database