The theme is love for the 2007 Sun Valley Ice Show. That means the popular ensemble numbers will focus on romance during the 15-show season that debuts Saturday, June 9 at Sun Valley Outdoor Ice Arena.
It's the 71st annual season of the Sun Valley Ice Show, the centerpiece of the resort's 71st Summer Skating School. Many of the school's 19 highly trained figure skating coaches are current or former performers in the Sun Valley Ice Show.
U.S. professional world gold medalists and Lalique international champions Frank Sweiding and Anita Hartshorn are the headliners for Saturday's season-opening show.
Sweiding is ice show director for a fifth year. He just returned to Sun Valley after finishing a seasonal ice show stint in Guam.
Over the next three weeks leading up to the Independence Day holiday ice show on Wednesday, July 4, Sweiding will be sculpting the show's ensemble numbers out of the raw materials of the love theme. Each show lasts 75 minutes and the trick is to keep the numbers flying along.
Meanwhile, ice show producer Lara Breazeale has put together an impressive list of headliners that include the best up-and-coming American singles skaters along with world champions and medalists.
One of the most popular acts due for the Saturday, July 7 show is an American ice dancing team that is rapidly achieving rock star status.
They are lovely Ontario native Tanith Belbin, 22, and her Chicago-born partner Benjamin Agosto, 25, the reigning world bronze medalists from the 2007 competition in Tokyo.
Four-time U.S. ice dancing champs and 2006 Olympic silver medalists Belbin and Agosto have been incorporating hip hop into their energetic routine and audiences love it.
Other headliners include U.S. rising singles stars Alissa Czisney, Evan Lysacek, Emily Hughes and Ryan Bradley. For those with longer memories, Nancy Kerrigan and Brian Boitano will fit the bill this summer. And Sasha Cohen will star in the Labor Day ice show.
No Sun Valley Ice Show season is complete without a Russian pairs skating team, and the 2007 season features the best in reigning Olympic gold medalists Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia.
The Russian pairs team of Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko, 1999 and 2000 world professional champions, is back for the summer and will headline the June 23 ice show.
Providing spice and unique touches to each ice show are the cast of regulars including U.S. Open champion Irina Grigorian and her hula hoop number along with unicyclist and juggler Mikhail Panin.
Other regular stars are world medalists and eight-time Lithuanian ice dancing champions Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, four-time Olympians who placed fourth at the 2002 Winter Games. They are exciting, fast, technically demanding and charismatic.
Familiar faces to Sun Valley fans include Olympic bronze medalist Jozef "Jumpin' Joe" Sabovcik along with Darlin Baker and Craig Heath.
Baker is a longtime Sun Valley Ice Show regular who has performed with the Ice Theater of New York. Heath, the last U.S. senior championship skater to win compulsory figures, in 1991, is better known in recent years for playing Andy and Sid in Disney on Ice's "Toy Story on Ice," from 1996-2002.
Early-season ice show rates run through June 30 and late-season rates are in Sept. 8 and 15. Regular-season rates are July 4-Sept .1.
Regular-season tickets for the Sun Valley Lodge Terrace buffet range in price from $85 to $88 for an adult. General admission reserved seats range from $29 to $55. Day care during the ice shows is available by advance reservation at 622-2288.
Tickets are now on sale at the Sun Valley Recreation Office, 208-622-2135. Tickets also may be purchased online at www.sunvalley.com.
Here is a list of this summer's Sun Valley Ice Show headliners (all shows on Saturday unless noted):
June 9—Professional world champions Frank Sweiding and Anita Hartshorn.
June 16—No show.
June 23—Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko, pairs from Russia.
June 30—Olympic bronze medalist and two-time European champion (1985-86) Jozef "Jumpin' Joe" Sabovcik from the Czech Republic.
Wednesday, July 4—Nancy Kerrigan, the 1993 U.S. champion and 1994 Olympic silver medalist.
July 7—Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, reigning American ice dancing gold medalists and 2006 Olympic silver medalists.
July 14—Brian Boitano, 1988 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in men's singles.
July 21—Evan Lysacek, 21, from Illinois, the reigning U.S. men's champion and world bronze medalist who was fourth in the Torino Winter Games.
July 28—Two-time world champions and reigning Olympic pairs skating gold medalists Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, the three-time Russian champions and five-time European winners.
Aug. 4—Up-and-coming singles stars Emily Hughes and Ryan Bradley. Harvard-bound Hughes, younger sister of 2002 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, was the 2007 U.S. silver medalist. So was Bradley, 23, from the University of Colorado.
Aug. 11—To be announced.
Aug. 18—Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, 2002 world bronze medalists and three-time U.S. pairs skating gold medalists who finished fifth in the 2002 Utah Olympics.
Aug. 25—Surya Bonaly, the acrobatic five-time European champion and three-time world silver medalist from France.
Sept. 1—Sasha Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist who won the world bronze medal the same year.
Sept. 8—To be announced.
Sept. 15—Frank Sweiding and Anita Hartshorn.
Above: Darlin Baker is a longtime Sun Valley Ice Show regular who has performed with the Ice Theater of New York.
Below: The Russian pairs team of Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko, 1999 and 2000 world professional champions, is back for the summer and will headline the June 23 ice show. Photo by Willy Cook
