By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
January 19, 2001
Wednesday through Jan. 28 at Allstate Arena, 6920 N.Mannheim, Rosemont
Jan. 30-Feb. 11 at United Center, 1901 W. Madison
Tickets, $9.75-$50
(312) 559-1212
“Disney’s Jungle Adventures on Ice” takes three beloved Disney stories–“The Jungle Book,” “Tarzan” and “The Lion King”–and gives them a twist for the 21st century. The vignette for “The Jungle Book,” for instance, incorporates hip-hop beats into the remastered score.
“We have a whole legion of customers who are repeat customers, so it’s our job to entertain them and give them something they haven’t seen before,” says Cory Obst, the show’s performance director. “We try to reinvent ourselves all the time but maintain the same quality and the high level of skating. A lot of our skaters have national and international competitions under their belts.
Ironically, though, great skaters aren’t necessarily skilled dancers. So in order to add a different vibe to this production, dance choreographer Barry Lather–who has no skating experience–was brought in to give the show a contemporary feel.
“Barry’s got an incredible way of challenging the skaters with interesting choreography that translates so well on ice,” Obst says. “Because of his dance background, he lends an awesome quality that isn’t the typical ice choreography. He may ask the skaters to not be so precise at certain points–to look more natural. And for a skater, that’s very difficult to do because we’re taught from the beginning to do each move precisely and perfectly.”
In addition, the skaters performing the parts of Tarzan and Jane had to undergo an intense, six-week aerial training program so they would be able to climb giant webs and swing from vines, in addition to skating their roles.
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I think there may have been some trepidation on their parts initially,” Obst says, laughing. “Skaters are only used to being in the air for a few seconds for a jump. But they handled it beautifully.”
