Minneapolis native Rohene Ward has had a long and distinguished career as both a choreographer and figure skater — including appearances in the latter category in four different U.S. Championships.
In terms of buzz, though, one of his most recent programs might have helped him separate himself from the pack even more.
Ward debuted a program last year that was a tribute to Prince — just months after the iconic musician's death. He explained just before an October performance that it's "a Prince medley, basically a tribute to Prince. He's from Minneapolis, so he's dear to my heart. … It's about three or four songs. I'm going to shake my bum-bum a little bit and try not to die."
That performance was very well-received by the Ice Theater of New York crowd and even gained some viral traction (unfortunately, a video of the performance, which had more than 8,000 views, was removed for copyright issues from YouTube).
Fortunately, it appears the program is still alive and well in 2017. Ward was slated to give an encore performance Wednesday afternoon during the Ice Theater's Black History Month skate at Rockefeller Center. While I can't find any video, we at least have this great look at Ward in costume via skating writer Lynn Rutherford's Twitter feed:
