Take notice of Valentina Marchei’s Swarovski crystal-covered skate -love it 🙂
Once in a while it’s fun to step out of what you normally do and try something else on for size. It’s true that I have hosted/announced lots of shows over the years. It is also true that I have never had the chance to be part of a skating show cast complete with costume changes and the whole bit.
That was what I was doing over the last couple of days. Rock The Ice IV was in Peterborough last night and the whole process was a bit of an eye opener in the most wonderful way.
There were the skaters of course and skaters + more skaters = FUN
What was interesting to see for me was to see all of it from a new perspective. I am normally in shoes somewhere off the ice writing notes for my script, talking to the music guy and watching what’s going on. This time I was in skates and on the ice myself. A brand new perspective and to be honest a little nerve-wracking.
I have always wondered what it would be like to be backstage moments before a show starts. The cast was all assembled, dressed identically for the opening group number. Some were laughing, some were quiet and some were jumping up and down and swinging their arms to get warmed up.
As I always am moments before I have to turn on the mic, I am nervously sipping water and wondering “why did I say I would do this???!!” Once the first word is out, I am fine but the last 3 minutes or so before the start are always the most stressful for me to say the least.
The whole bunch went peeling out of the carpet covered tunnel to start skating and at some point later on in the opening number – it was Kurt Browning’s turn to join the skaters. What fascinated me was he had his guards on so long, I started to wonder if he would forget to remove them before heading out. I should have known: Kurt’s a pro who has it all timed down to the last millisecond. They were off in a flash and so was he.
There was something else that I found interesting. Skating in shows for these performers matters a lot to them. There wasn’t one performer who ‘phoned it in’. Skating well seemed to be its own reward. Entertaining the fans with their best performance was the most important thing.
On a couple of occasions I watched skaters going through their paces looking perfect only to hear them as they came off the ice saying “that was terrible.” I didn’t see “terrible”. I only saw “wow”.
None of these remarkable performers got to where they are by not making every step count and shows are no different.
Lots of laughs and some great new friendships came out of this show for me. It was a privilege.
This video explains the camaraderie out of the glare of the spotlight more clearly than I ever could.