ELLENTON -- Three performances.
Three sellouts.
That’s what happened when tickets went up for sale for the annual 2010 Southwest Florida Figure Skating Club holiday ice skating show at Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex.
“We have never sold out all three shows,” said skating coach Jim Peterson, who directed the 2010 production, which closed with a single show Sunday after a pair of shows Saturday.
Peterson constructed the show on his own choreography along with 100 original costumes by Dawn Imperatore and a lineup that featured not only well known national and international skaters like Ellenton’s Olympic pairs duo Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, but also Tropic Spice on Ice adult skaters, junior and senior skaters and tiny beginners who may have been the true stars of “Childhood Wishes & Holiday Dreams.”
“It was much better than last year,” said figure skating fan Ed Throup, of Palmetto, as he exited along with a standing room crowd for the 11th annual show with his wife, Jane Tester.
“It feels like it had a theme that connected all the songs,” Tester said. “It’s just getting better and better.”
Peterson said he had Walt Disney on his mind for the show and one of the more notable pieces was a 15-minute Disney production to start off Act II, featuring skating to the Disney movies “Aladdin,” “Little Mermaid,” Pocahontas” and “Lion King.”Another Disney-inspired piece was “Mary Poppins,” where Courtney Kreiling, 11, and her brother Alex, 8, of Haile Middle and B.D. Gullett Elementary schools respectively, played Jane and Michael Banks and won huge applause when Courtney spun her brother around at one point.
“I think this year was above and beyond what we have ever done before,” Peterson said.
Besides Evora and Ladwig, who are training in Ellenton for the U.S. National Championships in January, other stars on hand for the show were the Canadian pair Rudi Swiegers and Paige Lawrence who just finished third in Skate Canada and national level skater Michael Chau who joined Alexander Aiken and Danny O’Shea.
The 2010 show set a record for most performers, 109.
Also, it set a record for the most skaters in a single number -- 50 -- for the Disney production.
Peterson also said Imperatore set a record for most costumes and best ever costumes. “I think this was our biggest production so I just had to go hard at it,” Imperatore said.
“I said, ‘Dawn, I just need a few little things,’ and when it was over we had 100 costumes,” Peterson said.
Imperatore’s favorite costume was the Ariel costume from “Little Mermaid” she made for 17-year-old Caroline Knoop.
“It had a purple top and green bottom and had seashells on it,” Imperatore said.
Through it all, Evora and Ladwig remained the most popular pair, carrying the Olympic flag during a tribute to their recent 10th place finish in this years Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C.
“They are fabulous,” Throup said. “It’s like they skate as one.”
“Elegant,” Tester said of the duo.
Evora posed for a picture with young fan Oliva Herman after the show and Ladwig was helping get the ice ready for hockey.
“Lots of practice,” Evora said with a smile when told of Throup’s comment.
Besides Peterson and Kelly Paige of Tropic Spice Ice Skaters, other coaches who worked the popular show were Lyndon Johnston, Alison Smith and Shannon Raley.