Figure Skater Evan Lysacek On 'Rise,' 'Dancing With The Stars'

Well, being a skater myself, I had known about the crash very vaguely, and I think watching the film, and seeing how emotional everyone was within the sport, I had an understanding of why it’s not talked about more. We’re 50 years later now – this week is the 50th anniversary – and that seems like a very long time to us in our generation of instant gratification where everything happens instantaneously, but 50 years is really not that long, and so many that were directly affected by that crash are still alive and well. Still coaching and judging the sport. It’s hard and really painful for them to really talk about it. So I don’t think it’s really brought up enough. I think this film is great, because it’s a really incredible story, and since I’ve been doing press and talking to people, I think they’re astonished that they don’t know more about it, and that it hasn’t been discussed within the United States that much. So the film is great, and it touches on the dreams and the goals and aspirations and puts it all into perspective of all that was lost in that crash. So my reaction to it was that I was educated about something that my coach had been through. He’s still very hesitant to talk about it — and him, and a lot of other people in skating that I’ve known for a long time — I feel like I know them better now.

Absolutely. And I had known through storytelling that Frank, my coach, had really adopted her teaching style and her mentality about training and competing.

Tough love. But it was funny for me to watch the film and watch people like Ron Ludington use some of the phrases and quotes that she used to say and think to myself, “Oh my God, my coach says that on a daily basis," or, “he uses that same term with me.” And it was just astonishing to me how much of her persona he has adopted, and those are all things that have transferred to my success in my career.

Yes, we filmed it at the U.S. Championships a couple of weeks ago, and I think it’s been edited and beautified, and it will be shown right after the completion of the film. It is a sad story overall. It’s also educational because I don’t think people know a whole lot about it, but it’s a sad story and we — meaning me among many other people that were involved in the film — didn’t want it to be a sad 50th anniversary. We wanted it to be a celebration, so that’s sort of what the skating number that I did is about. It’s about trying to bring back some of the moves and some of the kind of old school skating style. And we incorporated a lot of children into the number, and their exuberance and their joy for skating is, I think, what comes through most and makes it really a celebration of skating.

Well, I find that in a lot of sports, and I guess I’m sort of an old-school athlete over all, and that sort of comes from my coach – he always taught me to have respect for those that have come before you and have respect for the rules and for sportsmanship. I admire the athletes that have that level of respect and are not so much the flashy ones that get arrested for x, y and z. I look up to the Roger Federers of the world, that are so respectful and could have succeeded just fine in the 60s and 70s with those kind of athletes and would have fit right in. And that’s sort of what I see in that film, and it made me happy to see it. Sometimes I think to myself that I would have fit in better in that era than I do now.

Well, Friday I start the U.S. portion of the Stars on Ice Tour, the 25th Anniversary Tour, which will be 25 destinations in the United States, and I’m looking forward to it.

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