IN Nutcracker

by Ara Jansen

The Imperial Ice Stars have spearheaded a form of theatre which mixes sport and dance to bring timeless stories to life. They return to Perth next month with The Nutcracker on Ice.

When Tony Mercer saw the famous skating pair Torvill and Dean he was thoroughly charmed by them, but felt like he missed so much given the rink was large and he was so far away.

“They were beautiful on the ice,” remembers Tony. “But I couldn’t see enough of what they were doing. When they were three to four metres away it was great but when they skated away I lost that magical feeling.”

So when he set about establishing The Imperial Ice Stars in 1991 he made sure that the skaters worked in a smaller space and were much closer to the audience. Since then the group has made a name for itself performing classics like Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Cinderella on ice. Their latest show is The Nutcracker on Ice, which will be in Perth next month.

Tony is the company’s artistic director and says when you really look at it, competition skaters tend to only use a small part of an ice rink and utilise the rest to gather speed for a jump. That’s why he says the Imperial Ice Stars can do everything a competition skater does and more. Not surprising though, given the cast of the Imperial Ice Stars are all former competition skaters, who both follow the rule book and throw it out to constantly wow audiences.

“People think that because of the space it’s going to be different. In a competition the magic happens in about four to six metres,” says Tony. “Ours is 15 by 15 like most theatre companies, but most use less space than that. As a choreographer I can fill that space and the skaters can still hit 25 – 30 kilometres an hour.”

Tony says this style of theatre has also seen significant changes in audience make-up and has recast how people see this sports-meets-arts entertainment. It started as mums and daughters coming to see classic stories staged on ice with dads and boyfriends dragged along. He believes the mix of sport and theatre, which the troupe spearheaded, is what keeps all ages coming back.

“We’ve changed the way people look at skating. It has become a dance genre in its own right. Early on people were staging a lot of ice shows and putting everyone in big costumes. I decided to take inspiration from sport and using the beauty of ice dance gave the characters layers to tell a story for the audience to take the journey with them.

“As with a phenomenon like Cirque du Soleil, we’ve cast something people know about in a new light. We’ve also been thrilled to see some of our moves making their way back into the sport of skating.”

The Nutcracker on Ice is at His Majesty’s Theatre from August 2 – 12. Tickets from BOCS.