Drobiazko & Vanagas - Dreams On Ice

Slippery Spectacular comming to a grand rink
by Helen Thompson
"Quo", 2 February 2004

For anyone who spends their time at the ice rink clinging to the walls, unable to perform any tricks aside from te occasional unintentional summersault that leaves them limping for a week, Dreams on Ice should be an awe-inspiring experience. A figure skating spectacular that promises to showcase outstanding acrobatic feats, tight outfits and many flying razor sharp edges, Dreams on Ice is due to slide into Shanghai's Grand Stage on March 26-28th as the only Mainland China stop on the troupe's World Tour. A 20-by 40-meter skating rink will temporarily replace the theatre stage, and state of the art lighting will create the illusion that the skaters are dancing on a silver carpet.

The line-up consists of around twenty world-class skating stars, a rare chance to see so many highly accomplished figure skaters perform together. Included in these is Alexei Urmanov from Russia, the winner of the 1994 Olympic Figure Skating Championship, and famous for his unique interpretations of classical ballets such as Swan Lake. Urmanov has held every men's figure skating title, except that of World Champion, at some point during his career. Despite his unquestoinable success, he insists that he skates because he loves his job, saying "If you skate for money only, it shows".

The show involves several different skating genres. Frenchman Philippe Candeloro is also a solo male skater. His specialty is character skating, and he has been praised for his skating routines based on music from the Godfather and Napoleon, although his 1993 performance as Conan the Barbarian complete with fake fur may have been taking it a little too far.

"I like to make my program interesting or people would quickly get bored of skating" he explains. Candeloro is a definitive crowd pleaser and self-professed ladies man, always bombarded with gifts and kisses at the end of a show. He has won Olympic and World Championship medals.

Also on tap, the acrobatic and comedic duo Akop Manoukian and Armen Saakian, who have been partners since 1998 will entertain skating fans. Expect something slightly of the wall, as the pair performed "Austin Powers onIce" during the 2002 Ice Stars tour, dressing up as Austin and his nemesis Doctor Evil.

For the purists, there will be figure skating pairs including Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, the Czechs Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny and the Russians Angela Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov. Despite taking up the sport professionally as a way of excaping enlistment to the Former Soviet Union army, Lithuanian Vanagas is reputed to be the best male ice dancer since Christopher Dean.

The full line up also includes solo female skaters Maria Butyrskaya and Silvia Fontana, French Ice Comedian Laurent Tobel and the French singer Maxime.

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Have An Ice Evening
by Judy Tsuei "That's Shanghai" March 2004

The Olympic have not yet arrived. You won't find a "kiss and cry" area, where coaches and skaters nervously await the outcome of performances. You will find a star-studded evening of ice-cool entertainment as the Shanghai Grand Stage welcomes the World Figure Ice Stars Dance Company to perform Dreams on Ice.

Though the outbreak of SARS may have taken its toll on skating last year, Olympic and World Champion stars are not deterred from coming to China this time around. Ice stars represent seven countries and include Alexey Urmanov, Maria Butyrskaya, and pair skaters Rene Novotny and Radka Kovarikova.

"This is the first show of its kind in Shanghai. It'll be a first for local audiences to see all these live performers" comments Povilas Vanagas, organizer of the event and four-time Olympic competitor.

After seeing Vanagas' Ice Flames show in Lithuania, Chinese representatives invited the production to perfrom Dreams on Ice, with ensemble performances that Vanagas believes will be a perfect introduction to the sport. The show will be a mixture of drama, comedy and athletic programs with varying styles of music, from classical to Latin and even French singer Maxim Rodrigues. A 20 x 40 meter rink was custom-made for the show, which will run only in Shanghai.
As a professional competitor, Vanagas is personally acquainted with many of the show's stars. This helped him gather the best and best, including five World, six World Professional Champions, and an Olympic medal winner.
Seats for Dreams on Ice will be chilly, so it may be worth your while to bring a blanket. The warmer the audience, the hotter the show.

"Depending on how active the audience is, the second part of the show can run a bit longer than planned," Vanagas hints. "We're go a lot of good numbers in store!"