Ever wondered what Olympic Ice Dance and Figure-skating champions get up to after their gold medal performances? Okay – of course they binge on champagne and get horrendously drunk, but I mean after that – career wise? No?
Well 26 or so former world and Olympic champion skaters will be performing at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden later this month, as part of the Imperial Ice Stars production of Swan Lake … on Ice. If you manage to get hold of one of the fast-selling tickets then you’re in for a treat – because not only will you get to see breath-taking performances and athleticism on a par with , if not better than, that recently seen during the Vancouver Olympics, you’ll also get to see it in the ambience of a proper theatre – as opposed to a giant indoor ice rink.
That’s right – they freeze the stage of a regular theatre and then skate on it! Crazy!
Then – they set fire to it! All the while leaping and spinning and dancing at a dizzying pace. It really is quite a spectacle, certainly given that all this takes place within a space less than a quarter the size of a regular ice rink!
The only down side is that you’ll have to drive to Baden-Baden for the privilege, let’s hope that the next time the Ice Stars are touring that they do us the honour of performing in Strasbourg.
Impressive…