Ice Theater of New York

hockeyfan228 · Dec 27, 2004

Ice Theater of New York is performing Monday-Thursday, 27-30 December at Sky Rink, Chelsea Piers, New York, NY.

I hope that the lucky New Yorkers and visitors who attend will post their reviews. Among the performers are Katherine Healy --

The Winter Festival will also feature two special ensemble pieces. Cracked Ice, a playful interpretation of a ballet class by prima ballerina/principal skater Katherine Healy, is her second work for Ice Theatre. Healy will also perform In the Mood, choreographed by herself.

-- Vakhtang Murvanidze, and David Liu.

http://www.icetheatre.org/
Select "upcoming projects / calendar" then "calendar"

Joesitz (RIP) · Dec 27, 2004

I'll be there Tuesday night.

Katherine has been choreographing her own prorams for several years now. they are nice but not much more than slightly above standard. I will look this time when she branches out to other skaters for choreography and report. She's extremely musical and with a few years of choreo background, I'm anticipating some nice work.

Personally, I think all skaters should take up a little choreographing on the side. I'm sure there are plenty of skaters at the lower levels who would appreciate it.

Joe

heyang · Jan 2, 2005

Since neither SOI nor COI will be at Madison Square Garden, I bought tickets for Wednesday evening for my Mom and her companion. They both enjoyed it even though they didn't recognize any names. That's the only review I'll get from them - especially since my Mom only knows Michelle, Tara, Nancy & Kristi. She refers to everyone else by the country they represent.

Joesitz (RIP) · Jan 3, 2005

The show went well. David Liu is really something special. His classic ballet training is so evident, I can understand that Ballanchine was impressed with him. While there is no story to his programs, there are themes and you don't need program notes to understand them. His body language tells it all. IMo, he's a cut way above anything one would see in SOI.

Katherine choreographed a nice little story program about a class of figure skaters, a wealthy sponsor and a pesty little student (her role). It was cute but very standard. Her skating is slipping a little but then, how old is she now? Maybe that's why she's choreographing.

The Murv was terrific. No falls, just very minor mishaps. If he skates like that in competition, he will be in top 10.

Joe

SkateFan4Life · Jan 3, 2005

Joesitz said:
Katherine choreographed a nice little story program about a class of figure skaters, a wealthy sponsor and a pesty little student (her role). It was cute but very standard. Her skating is slipping a little but then, how old is she now? Maybe that's why she's choreographing.
Joe

Katherine Healey must be in her late 30s or early 40s by now. Wasn't she featured in a book, "A Very Young Skater" about 25 or so years ago?

Perhaps she's busy with other things besides skating now. If you don't put in the practice time, it's going to show in your performances eventually.

Dorothy Hamill skated with the Ice Theatre of New York a number of years ago. She was excellent, but then, Dorothy is always first-class!

dr.frog · Jan 3, 2005

SkateFan4Life said:
Katherine Healey must be in her late 30s or early 40s by now. Wasn't she featured in a book, "A Very Young Skater" about 25 or so years ago?

I'm pretty sure Healy is about 35 now. imdb.com says she was born in 1969, which sounds right. Besides being the subject of that book, when she was 13, she had a major role in the movie "Six Weeks", which explains why she's listed there. Healy was also featured in at least one of Dick Button's pro competitions around that time; she was his original "baby ballerina".

BTW, a very young Kyoko Ina also appears in "A Very Young Skater".

hockeyfan228 · Jan 5, 2005

Joesitz said:
The show went well. David Liu is really something special. His classic ballet training is so evident, I can understand that Ballanchine was impressed with him. While there is no story to his programs, there are themes and you don't need program notes to understand them. His body language tells it all. IMo, he's a cut way above anything one would see in SOI.
Joe

As an FYI, in Sonia Bianchetti's book Cracked Ice, there's a photo of Liu "executing the last compulsory figure in the men's event [Halifax, 1990 World Championships] before the panel of judges."

Joesitz (RIP) · Jan 5, 2005

hockeyfan228 said:
As an FYI, in Sonia Bianchetti's book Cracked Ice, there's a photo of Liu "executing the last compulsory figure in the men's event [Halifax, 1990 World Championships] before the panel of judges."

I didn't get back to watcing figure skating until '92 so I missed a lot of the '80s. How did Liu skate as an eligible and was he a real contender?

Joe

gkelly · Jan 5, 2005

Joesitz said:
I didn't get back to watcing figure skating until '92 so I missed a lot of the '80s. How did Liu skate as an eligible and was he a real contender?
Joe

Beautifully but slowly, I believe, and often missed the jumps. Never a "real contender"; he rarely made it to the final round at Worlds. His last eligible competition was 1998 Worlds, which I saw, and I enjoyed his qual round very much although he didn't make the cut.

Skate Canada held an interpretive contest (no double or triple jumps allowed) in the early 90s, which Liu won in 92 and was a controversial second in 91.

I always wish the ISU had developed a circuit of competitions using the Skate Canada 1992 rules to reward complex skating skills such as Liu demonstrated in those programs and develop its own stars whose talents lay elsewhere than in the big jumps. But no, Skate Canada discontinued that event and the ISU instead sponsored pro-ams and "open" events that just showcased the usual stars doing exhibition-style numbers or watered-down freeskates.

Joesitz (RIP) · Jan 6, 2005

Thanks gkelly for the info on Liu. It makes sense. I think it is much easier to interpret on one's dancing slippers than on skating blades. Not easy to keep to some sort of interpretation when you know a 3x3 is coming up next. :sheesh:

Have you seen Rochette's Firebird? IMO, the most interpretive choreography this season and she does it fairly well and sticks with the character throughout but it is not quite the same as Tallchief's Firebird when Ballanchine created it.

I give a lot of credit to skaters who can really get into interpretation and because of the cumbersome blades and the exotic tricks, very few skaters can. Much easier in dance. Liu has that.

Joe

Ice Theater of New York

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