Flippin' Nora I have sooooo many reviews to read!!! Kate x
Flippin' Nora I have sooooo many reviews to read!!! Kate x
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Dancing on Ice Live
A little piece of my childhood, relived….
I was ten years old when, on the 14th February, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean skated their way into the record books when they took Gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Today, in preparation for writing this review, I watched their performance all the way through for the first time in 23 years. Half a box of tissues later (and it’s not just because I’m pregnant and weeping at everything, honest!) I’m finding it quite hard to express how beautiful and how moving that Bolero routine is to watch, even now, so many years later.
At the time, coming off the ice to rows of perfect scores, armfuls of flowers and with a couple of shiny gold medals to collect, Christopher Dean was reported as saying that it was the most emotional routine they had ever performed together, and I can honestly say that everyone I’ve ever talked to about it, then and now, has had to agree. Their synchronicity, the flow of their bodies and their timing, coupled with such a grace across the ice as we had never seen before, and moves that were so perfectly in tune with the mood and the pace of the score, it was a routine that truly did change the face of ice dancing forever.
I feel the same about that day, as perhaps some of you might, remembering where you were when Kennedy was shot, or Neil Armstrong placed his foot on the surface of the moon for the first time. It was the first time in my life I had been moved to tears by strangers, the first time I had felt such a strong longing to be THAT graceful and THAT beautiful. It feels strange today, watching it again from inside a grown up mind, inside a skin that I am content and comfortable with, and to still feel the memories of that long lost 10 year old’s longing.
When the Dancing on Ice show began on ITV1, I knew even before the first episode that I was going
to love it. What could be better than celebrities who’ve never set foot on the ice before, being taught how to ice dance by the ultimate ice dancing team. A perfect show design and I proved myself right by loving every second of that Saturday night TV.
After the second series, which finished earlier this year, it was announced that stars from the show, along with the wonderful Torvill and Dean, would be going on tour, taking the show around the country. My sister (an avid ice dancing fan) and I decided there was no question – if we could get tickets, we were going! Tickets sold out fast, but another, final date was announced, and it just so happened to be in Newcastle, so as soon as they went on sale she bought three, so mum could come too, and we were on our way!
The Dancing on Ice Live Show
The final show for which we had tickets was on Sunday 6th May 2007, and I woke up that morning as excited as if it were Christmas, or my birthday! My sister picked us up and we drove the 10 minutes or so to the Newcastle Arena. Getting into the arena was up a huge flight of stone steps, though I’m sure there must have been disabled access for people who used wheelchairs or had problems with mobility.
Mum bought a programme (£10.00 and in a shiny protective sleeve), and we went in to find our seats. We had paid about £45.00 each for our tickets and when we found our seats, we understood why – best seats in the house we crowed to each other with huge smiles on our faces. We had a perfect view of the ice, and were close enough to be able to really see facial expressions etc.
The show was hosted by Andy Peters, who stood at the far end of the ice rink, on a small stage, with the judges, Jane, and Chris, when they weren’t performing. The show was in two halves, the first being exactly like the TV show, with the celebrities and their partners performing for votes from us in the audience and the judges.
As the lights went down, I wasn’t sure of how much we’d get to see Jane and Chris in action, but I wasn’t disappointed – the first routine was theirs, and they completely owned the ice and wowed the audience into stunned silence, showing that for them, being on the ice is more first nature than second, and that for all the time they’ve worked together, they’ve never lost that sense of connection between them. Watching them, it was as though they were part of each other, and knew exactly what the other was thinking, feeling, doing, and moved in time with that connection. Amazing to watch!
The celebrities came on one by one and performed routines they had done in the TV show, then went to the stage and chatted with Andy and the judges, and heard comments on their performance by Jane and Chris. The format was exactly the same as the TV show, the only difference being how emotional the whole cast were, as it was their last ever show performing together. It was obvious from the way their were talking (and crying, in some of the ladies’ cases!) that they were all very sad to be leaving each other, and that they had all been touched in extraordinary ways by the experience. Kyran Bracken, who of course won the TV show, was particularly moving, as he tried to express to Andy and us in the audience the passion he felt for skating that even surpassed his passion for rugby, the sport which earned him his fame.
All the celebrities performed really well, no-one fell over or made any mistakes, and they all got good scores not just from us, but from the judges as well, even Jason Gardiner, who we got to boo occasionally, but good naturedly! Jane remarked that their performances all showed how much they realised this would be their last performance, and that because of that, they all seemed to really be putting every last drop of effort, energy and emotion into it, and it really did show.
During the first half, Jane and Chris skated twice more, once alone, and once with all the celebrities, and we came out of the first half to buy hotdogs and run to the loo to cool our clap-sore hands feeling we really were getting our money’s worth!
The second half was incredible, as it was a mixture of the celebrities and the professionals doing routines. There were no pauses for chatter between routines, and we all felt they had managed to pack an incredible amount of wonderful skating into this section. Jane and Chris performed Imagine, by John Lennon, and the celebrities did some of their favourite routines from the show, but it was the professional skaters who stole the show, with some fast and furious routines, as well as some simply magical ones. Daniel Whiston silenced the Arena with his heavenly interpretation of Angels, by Robbie Williams. If you’re going out to buy the DVD (which incidentally was filmed that night) you will want to fast forward it to this routine and have a box of tissues by you, it was truly remarkable. Another of the professional skaters to wow us was the lovely Andrei (who partnered Claire Buckfield in the TV show), who skated with his wife, who hails from Newcastle. He was quite emotional when he was interviewed in the first half, with both him and Claire (who was in floods of tears) both saying that Newcastle was a very special place for them. His routine with his wife was slow, loving and really beautiful!
Once this flurry of routines was over, the winner of the night was announced – I won’t let on who it was in case you’re buying the DVD, but before that happened, two skaters had to perform their version of Bolero. Kyran Bracken was one, but will you guess who the other one was?!! After the champion of the night was awarded their gong, a finale dance with all the stars of the show, including Jane and Chris, was performed, to thunderous applause and cheers and screeches (that would be me…!) and then the stars sailed off and the lights came back on in the Arena, and we all tripped, light-headed and still in skating land, off home to our beds.
My Overall Opinion.
Well in case you haven’t worked it out already, I loved every minute of it. There were times when I knew my mouth was open in a very unladylike fashion but couldn’t have closed it if you paid me a hundred pounds! There were times when I could barely breathe for sheer wonder, and times when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up like someone had walked over my grave. It was magical, beautiful, serene, graceful, all the things and more that I felt that February day over 20 years ago, watching history being made, and I’m ever so glad I got to be there.
**The DVD of the last night’s performance of the Dancing on Ice Live Tour 2007 should be available soon – probably just before the next series airs! I’ll update this review as soon as there is a release date.**
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Saw the show in Manchester (they said that was being filmed for the dvd). Although it was mainly my wife who wanted to go I must say it was a great show and would reccomend anyone to go if they tour next year.
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May 18th, 2007
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