Tara Lipinski's decision to turn professional has sparked a lot of talk about the validity of pro skating as an athletic endeavor.

While it's generally true that the technical level of performance in the professional ranks is less than that of the Olympic eligibles, there is an even more disturbing problem being overlooked in the midst of this fuss over who trains harder or lands what jumps: Pro skating today is in a state of artistic stagnation.

Although people talk about the greater artistic freedom available to skaters in the professional realm, most pro skaters and their agents and promoters are apparently more interested in cashing in on the commercial circuit of tours and cheesy professional "competitions" than in doing anything genuinely creative.

THE PROBLEM

Olympic champion Peggy Fleming appeared in a televised ice ballet version of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun back in the days when professional figure skating still had an artistic edge. (AP)

IS THAT TV's fixation on the competitive format for professional skating events has restricted pro skaters to doing the same kinds of three- to five-minute solo programs they did as amateur competitors. But these are typically less ambitious both in terms of technical content and artistic theme.

What we see on today's pro circuit are the same skaters doing the same "cold spots" in one event after another for the entire season -- and sometimes even multiple seasons.

Whether they're billed as shows or competitions, most of these events feature a parade of the same select group of skaters performing indistinguishable, cookie-cutter programs with minimal choreography set to generic pop ballads. Meanwhile, TV commentators distract viewers by yakking throughout the performance about how "artistic" it's all supposed to be.

Yawn. We've all seen it a gazillion times before.

Pro skating hasn't always been this boring. In 1976, CBS aired an hourlong TV special featuring Olympic champion John Curry, who had just turned pro. Among other pieces, this program included the premiere of an ice ballet version of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, which Curry skated with Peggy Fleming. Curry later wrote that "there was some concern as to whether an 11-minute piece would sustain itself on commercial television. I was convinced that it could ... it was the most successful part of the television show."

CURRY WENT ON TO FORM an ice ballet company that toured and appeared in a number of other television specials, performing works by well-known dance choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Peter Martins and Laura Dean, as well as Curry's own choreography.

Also during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Canadian skater Toller Cranston was active with his own touring company and in the production of a series of wildly creative specials for Canadian TV, including the highly acclaimed Strawberry Ice. Robin Cousins, the 1980 Olympic champion, also had his own touring company, performing original works as ambitious as a 47-minute ensemble piece set to Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

There were other projects, too. These included an ice ballet version of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet for network television, starring Dorothy Hamill, and The Snow Queen, another televised ice ballet starring Janet Lynn as well as Curry, Cranston and Hamill; and so on.

Where are the present-day successors of these projects?

Without the backing and involvement of a star with Curry's credentials, skating is being pursued as a serious dance form only by a handful of underfunded, underpublicized, part-time ensembles such as the Ice Theatre of New York and the Baltimore-based Next Ice Age. Public performances by these troupes are few and far between and television coverage is nonexistent.

NOWADAYS THOSE SKATING SPECIALS produced for U.S. television that aren't some form of nonsensical "competition" are typically either taped arena shows where the skaters perform the same solo programs as at every other event -- sometimes strung together with a few flimsy ensemble pieces -- or extended commercials for the latest Disney film, or in one case, a toy being marketed by the show's sponsor. Canadian television does a little better, but high-quality skating films are still few and far between.

Meanwhile, the most highly acclaimed piece of skating choreography from the past season was not performed by any professional skater. It was Michelle Kwan's competitive short program, and it's no coincidence that its choreographer, Lori Nichol, learned her craft as a member of the Curry Company in the early 1980s. Other top choreographers such as Sandra Bezic and Sarah Kawahara have a connection to the old Curry and Cranston skating shows, too.

Given that the post-1994 pro skating boom has provided more opportunities and more money for more skaters than ever before, why are we no longer seeing large-scale creative skating projects?

The answer is partly that it is far cheaper for promoters to put on a so-called "competition" than a staged skating production. Putting on a pro "competition" requires the promoters only to hire an ice rink and the skaters to show up and skate whatever programs they have already prepared. A staged production, on the other hand, requires the promoters to pay for costumes, sets, music and time spent preparing and rehearsing original choreography.

ANOTHER PROBLEM IS THAT, for all the lip service they pay to creativity, pro skaters today are not using their influence and popularity to pursue projects which would further the development of figure skating as a serious dance form.

Curry, Cranston, and Cousins all took significant financial as well as artistic risks when forming their own companies. Today's pros, with plenty of less-risky and less-demanding performance opportunities available to them, have less motivation to go out on a limb for the sake of art. So, if we can't have creativity in pro skating, let's at least have honesty. Pro skating is not about sport and it's not about art: it's about money, pure and simple.

In fact, the two people who have been most vocal in defending Lipinski's decision to turn professional -- Scott Hamilton and Dick Button -- are hardly disinterested observers. Hamilton is co-producer of one of the leading touring ice shows, while Button is a promoter of numerous professional "competitions." Each of these men is in position to make a great deal of money from Lipinski's decision. Moreover, they each have a vested interest in propagating the general myth of excellence in pro skating.

Sandra Loosemore is CBS SportsLine's figure skating writer.