Ice Theatre of New York: Spectacle of Dance Freezes the Stage at West Point Theatrics on Ice
Ice Theatre of New York offers a night of dazzling beauty on shimmering stage
There are no more than 24 hours until the Ice Theatre of New York performs at West Point's Eisenhower Hall Theatre, but the Company has already begun transforming the theatre. By the time the audience arrives Sunday night, the stage will have become a shimmering sheet of ice.
As the name of the company, implies, the dancers of Ice Theatre wear skates. Founded in 1984 by Canadian ice dance gold medalist Moira North, Ice Theatre aims to elevate figure skating to performing art, working with some top choreographers to create compositions for the ice.
"It's more like going to a dance concert than what you would see at the Olympics," is how North put it in a recent interview. "Instead of two- or three-minute pieces with compulsory moves, it is a more imaginative and dance-oriented performance".
PIECE SET TO HENDRIX
This weekend's performance at Eisenhower Hall features the kind of varied bill for which the company is known, including a classical ballet originally choreographed by Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux for Olympic and world champion John Curry and his dance on ice company: a new political work set to Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze"; and choreographer Elisa Monte's deconstruction of the formal court dance.Past performances have garnered the New York City-based company strong reviews. Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times has called the Ice Theatre of New York "exciting and beautiful." Writing in the Boston Globe, Patti Hardigan observed, " Ice Theatre takes all the tricks that make this port so engaging and transforms them into art."
Ice Theatre performers all have a background in international competitive figure skating, which in some cases includes the Olympics. Company member Alyssa Stith, a competitive skater until the age of 17, called performing with Ice Theatre a liberating experience.
"It's just felt good to learn how to use my body in a more passionate and fully way," Stith said. "It made me fell so much more free."
For Stith, a company member for four years, the performance at Eisenhower Hall is a homecoming of sorts. Stith grew up at West Point, where her father, retired Col. James Stith was a physics professor.
"I remember seeing Alvin Ailey and so many other people at Eisenhower Hall. Eisenhower Hall was a big deal, it was the place to go," she recalled in a phone interview in between classes at New York University, where she is earning a graduate degree in dance. "So this is very exciting for me."
Eisenhower hall director Bill Yost said based on the reception of other ice shows at the theatre, The audience would be excited, too.
"The fun thing to see is that people can't imagine that there is really ice on the stage," Yost said.
(Yes, the ice is real, created days earlier by covering the stage with freon pipes and crushed ice.)
"Some people want to come up and touch the ice,' he continued, "it just seems so improbable. You don't think on ice on a proscenium stage."