Swan Lake on Ice, The Imperial Ice Stars UK tour 2007

A triumphant performance with understated elegance and high drama.
Set to Tchaikovsky’s familiar score, the troupe of young Russian ice dancers astonish and impress with their breathtaking skill and grace. The performance ranges from the divinely elegant, through joyous and comic, jaunty and confident, to dramatic and heart-stopping. Many times the slender girls are thrown by powerful men, and sent spinning into the air, with a surprising momentum; yet they land perfectly, with inches to spare, on the stage sized ice rink, and the audience can breathe once more.

Despite an accident during their matinee show the cast perform again in the evening with consummate professionalism, throwing themselves into the ice dance with exciting enthusiasm, having reworked the routine in their short break to omit the trapeze sequence. It is not only their stamina but their courage that is applauded. They look so young, yet their punishing schedule often means six evening performances and three matinees, and all this with broad smiles and infectious zeal. There are cartwheels, Cossack dancing and even ethereal ballerinas en pointe, who slow the pace and create an atmosphere of enchantment. The costumes are romantically elegant and exquisitely detailed, and the whole combination of youthful athleticism, superb style, wonderful music and the visual feast is almost intoxicating. Not to be missed.

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