Worthy of Las Vegas...

Hot IceThe Arena, 
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Hot IceHot Ice
Hot Ice

The name of this show – projected on to the ice by spotlight – looks increasingly like a health and safety warning!

It is a blisteringly-fast presentation of ice dance 
theatre in which 26 skating stars from around the world perform spectacular and 
often openly-dangerous 
routines, dressed in 
hundreds of lavish costumes – and with production values – that would not disgrace Las Vegas.

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So when they all 
conspire to actually set fire to a semi-circle of ice, and 
create a blazing finale to a wild jungle-themed routine, here is a show that more than lives up to its title.

With seven decades of 
tradition behind them, the team behind Hot Ice are 
always challenged to tweak the formula rather than 
re-invent the art form.

This year’s production does just that by keeping its focus on the breath-taking skills of its international stars.

In particular, it underscores how the jaw-dropping lifts and somersaults can only be achieved through the speed and momentum of performers who combine athletic strength with 
balletic grace. There are one or two new faces among the cast, 
including Preston-born Louise Walden and her pair partner Owen Edwards, who have represented Team GB around the world.

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The special effects and 
lasers are kept to a minimum and, if the largely-recycled score sounds a little 
incessant in the first act, then the second act is a highly-accomplished blend of 
music and choreography that 
manages several climaxes, notably an intoxicating 
Spanish-flavoured set 
piece.

Audiences will soon pick out their own favourite 
performers but the Japanese soloist Lisa Mochizuki gets 
several opportunities to 
display her elegance and 
athleticism, and pairs 
partners Daria Perminova and Evgenni Belianin perform increasingly-audacious lifts, at least one of which would be death-defying if 
motionless, never mind at speed, and above 
unforgiving ice.

It’s just a shame that the glossy programme does not properly profile the cast’s 
glittering careers or seek to identify them in each of the show’s scenes.

But they’re all turning on the heat here until 
September 7.

David Upton