Disney's Magic Ice kingdom

For my wife and I, it was Edna Mode's clever monologue introducing "The Incredibles" segment. ("[I am] fashion designer to the ... Super Heroes. Yes! Enough with the super models--feh!--Spoiled little stick figures with poofy lips....") For our seven-year-old son, it was "The Incredibles" themselves. For his older brother--and me, too, actually; is it okay to have two favorite parts?--it was the myriad green soldiers from "Toy Story" marching in unison. And for our 10-year-old daughter, it was, of course, the princesses: Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, et al. That there are so many high points in "Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic" came as no surprise to us. We've attended these Feld Entertainment shows at New York's Nassau Coliseum before; this is a production company whose recruits are the very best and brightest at what they do.

"It is more than just skating," points out "100 Years of Magic" choreographer Sarah Kawahara, who orchestrated the skating segment in the 2002 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies as well as Michelle Kwan's long program. Choreography for figure skating, says Kawahara, is "the fusion of music with interpretive movement and the technical elements of skating.... You define what you want to say and how you want to say it."

Kawahara also is observant--and nurturing--to the needs of her impressive roster of international skaters, a bevy of former National Champions who hail from Russia, Ireland, Australia, Japan, and the U.S. "I really work off the talent of the individual skater to tap into the inner sense of who they are and their own body rhythms," she explains. "I blend what I have with their strengths and arrive at a new and different place for both of us."

Kawahara is well-known for incorporating set pieces into her choreography. "I like to have skaters go in or through the props rather than just working in front of a set. It gives the production more dimension. It's always interesting to try to create new shapes within the skating language. You can only do that through experimentation."

Also enjoying the experimental aspects of a Disney ice show is costume designer Scott Lane, who, for instance, used a combination of wintery blue and white, as well as metallic silver and gold, to demonstrate diversity (yet unification) amongst the cultures represented in "It's a Small World." For the characters in Disney-Pixar's "Finding Nemo," Lane employs "just about every color in the rainbow to resemble the underwater creatures of The Great Barrier Reef."

Meanwhile, the imaginative force behind the transformation from simple ice rink to elaborate ice spectacular is designer David Potts, a veteran of several Broadway shows, feature films, and television series. To begin creating his vision for this production, he chose a castle as the centerpiece; it was the one image that would transcend the years and become the show's unifying theme. The resulting structure stands 38 feet tall and weighs more than 20,000 pounds. However, the realism of the set does not end with this imposing structure, as the chilling cold of winter becomes oh-so real when snow falls during Mulan's dramatic battle with the Huns.

"If you think about it" concluded our 11-year-old niece, "the whole thing has to be your favorite part."

"Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic" travels the U.S. and Canada through April 22.

by Wayne M. Barrett, Editor-in-Chief

COPYRIGHT 2007 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning