Ice dancers know how to cut a dash

By REBECCA BARRY




Danger is omnipresent when ballet is executed on a knife's edge. When Russian ice star Katya Murugova played Sleeping Beauty she gouged a chunk out of her leg with the blade of her skate but finished the show regardless.

It takes 140 hours to build the ice rink, which is made from 14,000 litres of water (enough to fill 154 baths or take 205 showers lasting five minutes), 2500 litres of anti-freeze (enough to fill 100 car cooling systems), and 15km of piping. It takes 30 hours to dismantle.

"Stroking" is the fluid movement used to gain speed in which a skater pushes off back and forth from the inside edge of one skate to the inside edge of the other skate.

The "death spin" is when the man spins in a pivot position while holding one hand of his partner, who is spinning in a horizontal position with her body low and parallel to the ice.

French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703) is considered the creator of the version of The Sleeping Beauty best known today. Perrault was a lawyer and academic who turned to children's literature at the age of 55. His other versions of fairy tales include Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and Cinderella.

It is believed the tale of Sleeping Beauty goes back to the early 1500s. In 1636 Italian author Giambattista Basile wrote Sun Moon and Talia, the version believed to have most directly influenced Perrault's The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. The Brothers Grimm also wrote two versions of the tale, Little Briar Rose (1812) and The Glass Coffin. Yet another version appeared in 1001 Nights as The Ninth Captain's Tale.

There are two working couples in the touring party of 34.

Most of the performers are Russian but some are from Germany, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Director Tony Mercer was a semi-professional footballer who developed his theatre hobby into a full-time career following a serious leg injury.

The men's outfits are as revealing as the women's.


The Sleeping Beauty on Ice

Civic Theatre, tonight to June 13