But some students who attended the event said they did not think the performance was blatantly offensive.

"I was not personally offended, but I didn't like it," said Marine Alexis Friedman '99, who attended the Friday night show. "It was a bit demeaning."

Friedman also said she would not have wanted young children to see the performance.

Erin M. Bush '98, who attended the Friday night show, emphasized the positive nature of the event overall.

"It's a shame to dwell on the negative," she said. "No one intended anything bad to happen at all."

Reynolds said she did not find their routine provocative.

Shepard said he and Mishkutionok were not at all offended when they were asked to remove the whip from the routine.

"It didn't bother us that we had to change [the routine] if it's what the people of the show wanted, but there was no way we were trying to endorse the beating of women," he said.

"We're actors, out on the ice, and we were just acting. That's all we were doing. If anybody was offended we apologize for that because that wasn't our intention," Shepard said.

Many of the performers, including Shepard and Mishkutionok were premiering programs that are to be used in upcoming competitions.

Surya Bonaly executed her signature backflip with a flair, a one foot landing that host Wylie said no other skater performs.

Baiul said she wanted to make her Saturday night performance "perfect" after falling after a jump. She redid the jump three more times until she landed solidly.

Other entertainers included Princeton graduate Katherine Healy and Boston University student Karen Kwan.

An Evening With Champions is only known to the public as a weekend event, but to the students of Eliot House it is a year-long process.

The co-chairs are usually chosen at the end of January. They then pick the executive board who work with sub-committees throughout the summer to make the event a success.