Stars on Ice (1976)
Stars on Ice was a weekly Canadian television ice show broadcast on CTV from 1976 to 1981, produced and filmed in-house at CFTO-TV in Toronto and syndicated internationally. It sits in a dance catalogue as an early example of the televised ice-variety format: a regular company of figure-skating professionals performing costumed routines within a magazine-style half-hour, alternating a company opener, a large production number, and guest turns by skating and non-skating celebrities.
What is danced
The article gives only a production structure, not a step vocabulary: a 'glitzy show opener' performed by the regular cast of fourteen skaters, followed by a bigger-budget 'production number' built around tributes to Hollywood musicals with elaborate set pieces, and then a run of guest slots for famous and novelty-act figure skaters and 'vaudeville-type acts.' Toller Cranston is named as a frequent performer, which places a figure known for an unusually theatrical, art-influenced skating style within the regular company, though the article does not describe his routines.
Beyond this, no specific choreography, holds, formations, or skating technique are described. What can be said with confidence is that the movement idiom throughout was competitive/theatrical figure skating (solo and ensemble) staged for camera on a studio rink, dressed in costume, with the Hollywood-musical production number functioning as the show's set-piece each week.
Context
In the mid-1970s, ice shows were a well-established but largely touring or arena form (Ice Capades, Ice Follies); Stars on Ice translated that variety-show tradition into a regular studio television format built for a national broadcaster, using a resident company of local skating teachers rather than a touring cast. Its 'minimally dependent on language' visual format made it exportable, and the show ran during the period when figure skaters such as Toller Cranston were pushing skating toward a more overtly theatrical, balletic presentation rather than pure competitive figures.
Staging history
The article documents no revivals of the 1976–1981 series itself, only that its title was reused: a live touring figure-skating show adopted the name 'Stars on Ice' in 1986, headlined by Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill, and later produced televised specials, one nominated for a 2015 Canadian Screen Award. That touring show is presented in the source as a separate enterprise carrying the same name rather than a continuation of the CTV series.
How to watch it
Watch for the split rhythm of the format: a company-wide opener, then a single lavishly produced number each week built around a Hollywood-musical theme, then a string of shorter individual or novelty turns. Because this was studio television rather than live arena spectacle, camera staging and set pieces carry as much of the 'production' as the skating itself; the presence of B-list non-skating celebrities in supporting slots is part of the show's variety-television convention, not incidental casting.