The Funday Times (Childrens section of The Sunday Times)
by Dave Coombs
Funday meets the lead skaters from the new Swan Lake on Ice production – Olga Sharutenko, who plays Odette, and Vadim Yarkov, who plays Prince Siegried.
Funday: When you did you start ice skating?
Olga: I started when I was six and I loved it. Well, I can't say I loved it the very first time as I spent most of the time falling over.
Vadim: I began when I was six too. It was my parents' idea for me to skate.
Funday: When did you start to take it seriously?
Olga: When we started, it was a government-funded school. We would have lessons twice a day, every day, before and after school lessons. So, it was serious from the beginning.
Vadim: You can decide how seriously you want to take it. If you want to be a champion, your coach will set you a serious schedule. But if not, you can take things a bit easier.
Funday: Were you tempted to give up when you became a teenager?
Olga: All my school friends were very supportive of me, so that helped me during my teens. I was the only skater in my class, so everybody was interested in my competitions and the stories about where I had been. Also, the girls loved to see the beautiful dresses I wore to skate in.
Vadim: It was difficult because all my friends were going to nightclubs but I had to stay in because I had training the morning. I found it really hard.
Funday: How does performing in Swan Lake compare with competitive skating?
Olga: When you're competiting, you have to do the same steps every day to polish them. Because we're on blades, anything can happen, so you have to practise a lot. But in Swan Lake, we don't have the rules of competition, so the work is much more creative. We can change things from one night to the next.
Funday: How long did you have to rehearse the show?
Vadim: It was eight weeks in Moscow, and it was very hard work. We spent eight hours on the ice every day.
Olga: You don't think you can wear your boots again, but you have to.
Funday: How difficult is Swan Lake to skate?
Olga: I can't say it's hard work to do because I enjoy it so much. And we get this amazing reaction from the audience, which is the best reward.
Vadim: It's more difficult than previous shows we have skated, it's definitely a step forward.
Funday: How do you find skating on stage in theatres when you're used to a much larger rink?
Vadim: They mark out the space on an ice rink and at first we didn't believe we could skate in such a small area. You don't have the same amount of time to prepare for lifts and jumps as you're used to.
Olga: But we create the moves for the space we have, so we get used to the space as we rehearse. You have to change the style of your skating for a small space, though. We perform all the elements that we usually do.
Funday: Is it much like the Swan Lake ballet?
Olga: No. Even if you know the Swan Lake story, you will be surprised. We always try to do something different to tell the story in our own way. We add some new things, which people will really enjoy. But it's the familiar Tchaikovsky music, which is beautiful.
Vadim: It's lovely music and it's very comfortable to skate to.
Swan Lake on Ice opens at The Lowry in Manchester on October 17 until October 21. For more tour dates, visit www.imperialicestars.com