On thin ice: making a new art form

What happens when the art form you love is cringe-worthy? You remake it in a contemporary manner.
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]

Image: Jim Lee Photo 

When Australians think of ice skating, what inevitably springs to mind are the sequinned costumes of ice-dancers Torvill and Dean, the violence of ice hockey, or the kiddie commercialism of Disney on Ice.  One rarely thinks of art – a situation which Québécois company Le Patin Libre (‘The Free Skate’) are intent on changing.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts