Ice gala tribute to nation's figure skaters

One of the most memorable moments of figure skater Zhang Dan's career may be considered a perfect embodiment of an athlete's will to win.

At the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, Zhang Dan, pairing with Zhang Hao, injured herself in a fall as the pair narrowly failed to execute a quadruple Salchow, a jump which had never before been landed in competition. Rather than quitting, Zhang Dan skated through the pain to finish the program and the pair won silver. She received huge acclaim from fans and the media for her courage.

Though Zhang has retired, she is still a household name in China and has continued to work in sports.

On Saturday and Sunday, Zhang Dan, along with Zhang Hao, who is also retired, reunited and appeared in the ice show, Dream To Glide, which was staged in Beijing's Cadillac Arena. Performing the leading roles in the ice show, the pair again impressed the audiences with their grace and artistry.

Directed by Liu Zheng, the ice show follows the story of a small-town girl, named Lu Xiyun, who overcomes many difficulties to realize her dream of becoming an Olympic champion. It also recounts the history of Chinese figure skaters pursuing their sports dream with a history going back to the 1970s. A variety of art forms are combined in the show, such as ballet, jazz, street dance and acrobatics, making the show a visual feast.

"Performing in an ice show is a total new territory for me to explore. I learned how to act and dance for the show. It's even harder than the training for figure skaters," says Zhang Dan.

"I took to the challenge just as I did with my career as a figure skater. I am very excited."

Now, as a figure skating teacher, Zhang Dan has sensed the growing development of China's winter sports industry with more and more youngsters enjoying and learning ice skating sports. Her passion for the sport has passed to the next generation, with Zhang Dan's daughter now a budding figure skater.

According to the ice show's initiator, Yu Fei, founder and owner of Beijing Uniterra Cultural Development Company, which creates ice shows and offers ice-skating training, the creative team of the ice show visited the earlier generations of Chinese figure skaters to collect material for the script and learned many touching stories about the history of China's figure skating.

For example, there were no indoor venues for skaters to train so they could only use outdoor rinks, meaning that they needed to wear very heavy clothes to train in temperatures of — 20 C.

"It has taken generations of Chinese figure skaters' efforts to arrive at this point. This show is a tribute to them," says Yu.

Yao Bin, a figure skating coach and the former head of the national figure skating team, was invited to be the artistic director of the ice show.

Yu says, "Like many people, I became a huge fan of figure skating after watching Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who won the country's first Olympic figure skating gold at Vancouver 2010." Yao coached the pair for the competition.

The idea of the ice show started in 2017 after Yu founded her company, two years after Beijing won the bid for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. In 2019, the ice show was premiered in Beijing.

"After three years, we refreshed the ice show with a new stage set and lighting and different choreography," adds Yu.