Live on ice
Editorial
From figure eights on frozen lakes to big budget, flashy, televised ice shows, the world of figure skating has made some pretty big steps toward being almost more theatrical than athletic in nature. The figure skating world is no longer all about ballet costumes and classical music, they are now hip, fashionable, and just as full of drama as any other aspect of the entertainment industry. In some countries even, figure skating stars are more well known and pursued than their movie stars. Kim Yu-Na, for example, this year’s gold medalist from South Korea, might have more endorsement deals and more fans than Miley Cyrus.
People come to a performance to be entertained, to be moved, to forget about their own lives for a little while and to allow themselves to be wrapped up in someone else’s story. On the ice, this is just as true as in the theater. The audience for a skating performance, whether it’s a competition or a show, has an emotional involvement in the performers they are watching. Knowing that Michelle Kwan is skating flawlessly, with tears streaming down her cheeks, after, once again, missing out on Olympic gold or seeing Ekaterina Gordieva take the ice for her first solo performance after her husband and pairs skating partner had died, the audience is engaged by their real life stories.
And, on the ice, it’s the story a program may tell that keeps us enthralled. From dueling Carmens during the 1988 Olympics to seeing Midori Ito be the first woman to land a triple axel in competition to Kurt Browning land the first quad in competition: these are all a part of the on ice drama. The breathtaking suspense that audiences experience while watching these feats of athleticism is what keeps them coming back for more.
Because in both theater and figure skating, weeks, months, even years, of preparation lead up to a single performance, a single defining moment in a performer’s career. It could be an Olympic performance or it could be your first one man show—either way, the tension and expectation are more than most people can bare. Most audiences cannot fathom being the one person that everyone is looking at, they cannot comprehend how someone is capable of jumping that high, spinning that fast, learning all those lines, or crying on cue. And, when they do what they do at as high a caliber as Scott Hamilton or Emma Thompson—well, fans may be speechless, in awe of the talent before them.