HOT ICE 2012 
The Arena, Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Blackpool GB

For a 75-year-old the annual ice extravaganza at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is still looking pretty sprightly.


All right, like the rest of us it doesn’t run as long as it used to, but it still scrubs up remarkably well and with a cast of more than 30, manages to put much of what’s left of Blackpool’s summer season shows in the shade.


Dancing On Ice has done wonders for the public perception of skating (not a Minnie Mouse in sight) but, although it has provided several partners for television’s celebrities to perform with, including Katie Stainsby back with this year’s cast, Hot Ice remains an ensemble production.


Soloists may well perform their back somersaults, duets may feature gravity-defying spins and turns and leaps but, as David Cameron would have us believe, they’re all in this together, so no named curtain calls, no details of just who is doing what, no special treatment no matter how many medals they may have collected (eg six times Australian ice champion Trent Nelson-Bond or UK international gold medallist David Walsingham).


Produced and directed as ever by Amanda Thompson, with choreography by Antony Johns and former cast regular Oula Jaaskelainen, this latest fusion of skating and athleticism is as skilful, splendid and fast moving as ever – even if there’s an increasing emphasis on Las Vegas glitter, rather than cutting edge excitement these days.



To that end the constantly changing costumes are truly magnificent – sometimes positively breathtaking – and the soundtrack is as ever an impressive mixture or of rock, pop, jazz, funked-up classics and even big band swing.


Flames and flying flags add to the atmosphere, as do beating drums and rock band lasers, and Pleasure Beach show veterans will notice several numbers dusted down and converted from the extensive Stageworks Worldwide back catalogue of productions such as Forbidden and Eclipse.


It means this is no longer simply an ‘ice show’.


Indeed, at one stage, a dozen of the cast are actually suspended above the rink’s surface on silks, while Russia’s Alexey Kofanov reveals the first of his many non-skating skills – which also include an eye-watering pole dance and another chance to see his remarkable bath routine, made famous in the cult cabaret show Soap.


Whilst some Hot Ice regulars may miss the fun element of old, few can deny that once again this is an internationally-themed show which could be exported anywhere, and is a boon to Blackpool’s summer line-up.


Blackpool Gazette
Robin Duke

MOULIN ROUGE (F) PARIS

"Some Cancon in their cancan"

Cara Lee(left) and Katelyn Adams in Moulin Rouge costumes

They don’t speak much French, but they know how to kick their heels – and did just that 100 times a night until they were chosen as the first Canadians to join the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Katelyn Adams (from Ancaster, Ont.) and Cara Lee Hrdlitschka (from North Vancouver) were accepted as Doriss Girls – the name for club’s the female dance corps – at auditions in Canada last summer. Both 5’9, with past experience as cruise ship performers, they decamped to Paris in April to begin a one-year contract with the famed cabaret, which dates back to 1889. They shared their first impressions before donning their elaborate (strategically revealing) costumes and moving their long legs on stage.

How do you prepare for cancan?

KA: Even if you’re flexible, it doesn’t mean you can kick your legs at the pace of a 10-minute cancan number. Every night, I keep kicking to [the point of] fatigue so that I will be ready for rehearsals.
CLH: I didn’t realize to what extent we would be doing cancan every day – two hours! So my hamstrings went into a bit of a shock from all the kicks. But they taught us wonderfully: We didn’t start by kicking up all the way; we started lower and worked our way up.

We seem to be in a dance moment with so many reality shows, flash mobs and campy dance movies. How does that relate to the Moulin Rouge?
KA: A lot of the dance out there – the tricks and crazy things people do with their bodies on reality shows – is very different from what we do. The Moulin is so traditional. It’s not something that will be put on and then forgotten next year. You’re a part of history.

As new Doriss Girls, were there any hazing rituals?

KA: Everyone has been so helpful. But we really felt a part of the Moulin family when they started doing things like putting wet towels in our cancan boots and taking our knickers and hiding them before we go on stage. And even on stage, one girl tried to undo my bra.
To what degree is Parisian food your Kryptonite?

CLH: I thought about that when I first got here. It’s kind of cruel that we have all this great food around us. But it’s really not a problem.
KA: We are very healthy, but of course we love the ice cream and the macarons – you can’t not. And we have a really good workout every night with the two shows.

AMY VERNER

The Globe and Mail