Liphook Herald, UK
by Suzanne Cansfield
The two Russian ice skating stars looked somewhat shocked when I asked if they ever got bored with performing in the same show week after week for months on end "Every performance is a new one because of the audience and also because we are always trying to progress," I was told very firmly in their strong Russian accents.
Olga Sharutenko and Vadim Yarkov, leading lights of The Imperial Ice Stars, had arrived in Manchester for the start of a 26-week UK tour with a glittering portrayal of Swan Lake on Ice which has already taken them to Australia and New Zealand.
The company, who achieved worldwide success with their Sleeping Beauty on Ice, will then take the ice show to Asia, Africa and America as well as other European countries during 2007.
Olga, who earlier this year partnered celebrity John Barrowman in ITV's Dancing on Ice, trained as a figure skater as well as a ballerina until the age of 16. She then had to decide which art form to follow if she were to excel at either. The ice rink won and she went on to win, with her skating partner, numerous competitions around the world before first joining the theatrical skating troupe. Russian Ice Stars, and then The Imperial Ice Stars, where she took a lead role in Sleeping Beauty.
With great enthusiasm Olga told me that, for her, Swan Lake is much more of a real life story than Sleeping Beauty where she can be more natural and bring her own character to the role of Odette.
There's no doubt that the touch of realism comes from Salford-born Tony Mercer who, as a leading world ice director and choreographer, has with subtly and logic (unlike Matthew Bourne) updated his production and its characters with an ending much more in keeping with modern taste. Odette and Odile, the the white and black swan princesses, are played separately as Tchaikovsky originally intended, the sorcerer, Rothbart is a more earthbound nasty bit of work, his daughter Odile far more pleasant and the prince's chum, Benno a jolly Jack-thelad.
Vadim, aka Prince Siegfried, was persuaded onto the ice by his parents when he was six years old and has been there every since, with figure skating his first love in life. His technical perfection has come from spending four hours a day on ice as a youngster, sometimes starting to train around 10 or 11 pm at night.
After gaining numerous gold, silver and bronze medals and becoming a Master of Sport in Russia, Vadim joined the world of theatrical skating with the Moscow on fee Company, Russian Ice Stars and then in 2004 The Imperial Ice Stars taking on the Prince in Sleeping Beauty. Now the Prince again in Wan Lake, Vadim considers this is his best performance and Evgeny Platov and Tony Mercer his best ever choreographers. He is required to execute, as are the rest of the troupe, some awesome manoeuvres that would test the best on firm ground let alone ice. At close quarters I expected Vadim to be something of a muscle man, but I was told that it was technique and not strength that enables his slender frame to support three female skaters at the same time.
I found Vadim and Olga's complete and utter dedication to skating from such an early age amazing. No time for normal childish pursuits or watching television and how on earth did they fit in their education with a non-stop skating schedule? "Yes", they did fall asleep over their homework, but in Russia there are special "sport schools" where the curriculum is organised to fit in academic work around a strict training programme. And, "no", they would not change their disciplined way of life where their inborn competitiveness still drives them on. "In rehearsals, if one of us does a double jump or flip then the other will do a triple since we are always looking to go one better."
Both ice icons looked somewhat puzzled when I talked about days off, shopping, sightseeing or just chilling out. First. they never have a full day off, although there are two teams of skaters. If they are not taking the lead in a show they will join the chorus, and second, relaxation doesn't really seem to be part of their ethos while on tour. Their short biographies state that Vadim likes watching movies and fishing and Olga enjoys travel - well, there's plenty of that - and also music which they both claim to enjoy.
At the moment. Vadim and Olga, aged 33 and 28 respectively, do not envisage retiring from the show scene or plan for a life outside skating. As Olga put it "I enjoy my life too much as it is now and would not like a commitment when: I might hurt anyone else, but one day I will have a family," she confidently predicted. Vadim, who is having a house built in St Petersburg, just smiled and nodded.
When Tony Mercer, with co-producer James Cundall created his Swan Lake on ice, he broke all the figure skating rules to make this ice show a unique spectacle, incorporating feats never performed before on ice. The sets are sumptuous and the costumes, inspired by the Romanov period to recreate the fashion at the time when Tchaikovsky wrote his great score are exquisite. Tim A Duncan's musical arrangement, 'incorporates rarely used music from Tchaikovsky's original' score to make this production not only an unique visual experience but also musically sublime.
Swan Lake on Ice will arrive at Woking's New Victoria Theatre and Southampton's Mayflower Theatre in Southampton in February 2007.