On Saturday, October 26, Entertainment on Ice is hosting an audition day for all figure skating talents in the Netherlands!
But finally, what is that, auditioning for a skating show?
The majority of figure skaters in the Netherlands think they are not good enough to skate in a figure skating show, find it exciting or simply do not know what to expect.
Therefore, with this I am going to explain in detail what “auditioning” means and tell you my own audition story.
You probably recognize it … You are almost done with high school or vocational training and need to start deciding what to do with your life one day. Questions to ask yourself are;
Will I go to college? Help … then what? Can I still keep skating then, because I would like to! Or shall I get to work? So can I keep skating? Help!
That’s how it went for me when I was 18 years old with a Havo degree in my pocket. That same year (2005), I attended the Holiday on Ice show “Diamonds” with my family. It was my mother who said; Madelene, isn’t that something for you? Skating at a skating show? My reaction was: Mom, I will never be good enough for that, there are only Olympic champions in there! At the insistence of my mother; he who does not dare does not win, I took the plunge and pulled the manager of Holiday on Ice by his sleeve.
‘How can I come to skate at Holiday on Ice?’
Two days later I just had to come back to audition after the show on location…Audition? Huh…what?…. What the hell am I supposed to do? Is was I thought.
So to prepare myself effectively I made a show freestyle rapido myself. Michael Buble – Feeling Good, I never forget it. Complete with spectacular and difficult jumps, far too complicated pirouettes-challenging steps and to top it off a split at the end in a far too hideous glitter suit.
There I was two days later on an evening in December. Ready to go to give away a show. I got to go on the ice with one of the show’s skaters. Julia was her name (the line captain). With her I started doing all the steps, dancing on the beat, braking in different ways and I had to “run” on the ice just like on the street. After half an hour, it was over. I thought I had yet to start so said; Can I finally do my audition freestyle? The girl looked at me sheepishly; “Um… sure?”.
And there I went in full force and “skated my heart out. Meanwhile, more and more skaters from the show were walking toward the stands, like … what’s going on out there on the ice? Finally I finished my show freestyle and received a small round of applause, which completely faded away in the large arena, at least that’s how I remember it. Julia said, Great Madelene, Thanks for that! And that was it…With a knot in my stomach, I went back down the ice and took off my skates. “And now what? Julia picked me up and took me to the manager. ‘Great work Madelene, your audition was great and so fun that you prepared that show-number, nobody really does that normally’.
At that moment I realized that the half-hour skating with Julia was the audition! Man how lucky I was then! That was nothing more than a “warm-up” for me when I trained on the ice at home.
So people…. So it’s not that hard to audition for a skating show. It’s really not that bad. It is very nice when you prepare a show freestyle for an audition but so it turns out that it is not necessary at all. Something about too high expectations, too low self-esteem and, of course, curiosity about the unknown. At the time I was the only Dutch person in years to audition for Holiday on Ice and to finish the story I was on a plane to Spain a week later and had been traveling for 6 years, but I’ll write more about that another time.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, Entertainment on Ice is hosting an Audition Day.
Where? At the ice rink De Scheg in Deventer.
What time? Between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
We then go ice skating together. You can just come in taining clothes, you can just be yourself and what we will do most of all is have fun. Moving to music and practicing some cool tricks and group choreography with each other.
I will be there myself along with Vera and Sterre and I will see soon enough who has what talent, because everyone has a talent. Some have wonderful tricks like jumps or pirouettes in them and others do not, but have a look of have you there.
The audition day we organize is not a matter of right or wrong. It is a matter of identifying who has what talent and how it can be used for shows on the ice.
So in short! Come to the audition day!
Don’t worry about whether you are good enough. That’s exactly what I love about show…It’s not a competition, it’s about performance, about teamwork and about enthusiasm.
Sign up quickly with an email to
info@entertainmentonice.nl
with:
- Your name
- Your age
- Your hometown
- Skating category (solo, pair riding, freestyle or special act)
- Level (indication based on your degrees, MIF tests and/or any show experience)
Or use this form with the full information page that we have prepared for you.
Love,
