Art on Ice 2024

I went to Art on Ice in Zurich last week

And let me tell you it was amazing! Well to make this blog post longer then two sentences I will actually recap everything I saw and experienced. First of all for those who aren’t familiar with Art on Ice – it’s an ice show in Switzerland that combines figure skating, dance, music artists and other artists into one big show that has a cohesive theme. As the show is Switzerland based the narrator spoke German. I don’t speak German, so all I can say that this years theme was somehow tied to AI. A lot of the costumes were futuristic and the stories between the acts that they showed on screens had futuristic influences in them. But back to the roots of Art on Ice. I’m not sure how long Art on Ice has been around, but it’s definitely been for a very long time and it’s a very respected show. Some of the stars that have been in the show include Kurt Browning, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron and many many more. Better to just look at their instagram to see their previous years. I’m sure a lot of you have also seen posts of the skaters from their afterparties, because let me tell you, Art on Ice knows how to ‘afterparty’.

The show

First of all, if you can somehow go and see the show yourself – do it. They streamed one of the Zurich shows on Youtube during this years ISU awards, but I can guarantee that the actual experience at the arena was so much better. But still cool that it was streamed.. I will now tell you a little more about how the show is built up and I will share my opinions in the later bit of this post.

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The headliners of this years show were Dave Stewart from Eurythmics; Natalie Imbruglia; Marc Storace; Remo Forrer. The main skaters included: Loena Hendrickx; Adam Siao Him Fa; Ilia Malinin; Jason Brown; Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Brandon Frazier; Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron; Lukas Britschgi; Kimmy Repond; Alexia Paganini. Then there were young upcoming Swiss skaters. Some of the notable names in the group of backup skaters were Angelina Kuchvalska; Tiffany Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro; Jeremie Flemin and many more. There were skaters who performed backflips and tricks and also trick skaters in hockey skates. I hope I didn’t forget anyone.

The show was in two acts, both acts about 80 minutes. All the skating was done to LIVE music. Many of the solo skaters were interacting with the artist and many single skaters were also combining their programs to back up dancers and skaters. As mentioned the theme was somehow futuristic and AI and another thing I caught was that it was a very female empowering theme this year. I will share my opinion on that later. There was fire in the acts, there were acrobats, both in the air and on ground and there were a lot of dancers. The stage for the singers and dancers was moving along the ice and the ice itself had an irregular shape. Led screens were covering the boards to match the different performances. A big theme in the music was Natalie Imbruglia, Tina Turner and Eurythmics. So a little bit nostalgic, but obviously amazing to hear these amazing songs.

*Tina Turner used to live in Zurich before she passed, so I believe that’s also a reason they decided to tribute half of the show to her music.

Costumes

Art on Ice is known for its fashion. I believe it’s a big part of their image and therefore the costumes didn’t disappoint. Some of the skaters used once of their own costumes, but for group numbers they all had similar styles. The costumes were definitely sexy, not gonna lie. But to be fair, it’s a show, so a bit of spicyness only adds to the experience. Kimmy had a very futuristic white costume. I think the idea was great, but I think the tube skirt may have been slightly too narrow as it seemed like it was sliding up a bit. There was also a TOPLESS performance from the guys. I think the only guy who didn’t join that performance was Ilia Malinin. But for the rest it was a very aesthetically pleasing performance and I think the reason they did it this way, was because it’s always women being sexualised and in this case they did it the other way around and let me tell you the crowd went WILD for this. And I believe there’s people who saw it controversial or didn’t approve, but honestly all the skaters were enjoying themselves and you need to remember, skaters are performers and proud. If they wanna show off, I say go ahead. The topless number was one of my favourites at least.. (insert a little eyeroll).

My highlights

I couldn’t choose a favourite, so I’m just gonna write all my highlights in no specific order.

As mentioned the topless program was one of my highlights. They performed with a singer singing golden eye and it was a very steamy performance, but the singing was great and I’ve never seen guys look more confident on the ice. Well they better, they worked for those muscles.

My other highlight was Gabriella & Guillaume. Both of their performances were like watching music videos. So much emotion, incredible movements, chemistry, costumes. Full package. I could watch them over and over again.

Jason Brown – To be honest I’ve only recently discovered him for myself. I mean I always knew of him and have seen him skate a ton, but Jason is truly a born performer. Every movement he did, he was performing. He was a joy to watch and he really moved me.

Adam Siao Him Fa – his performance from the first half. Maybe it’s me, but when I watch skating, I really go very deep and become super critical. But not in a bad way, because when it comes to a skater like Adam, I really appreciate so many things about his skating. He was hitting accents of music. And just hitting them, but it almost felt like his movement made the music go louder. It was so surreal. I loved it.

Lukas Britschgi & the trick skaters – a very masculine, strong and literally fire-y 🔥 performance. It was not a difficult program, but it was so entertaining and that’s why I liked it.

I do feel like I need to mention that all the back up skaters were great too. Their steps and programs were rather difficult and they all looked like they were having fun. It’s not common to see high level skaters as back up skaters, but in this case it added a lot to the show. One particular skater I want to point out is Jeremie Flemin. Former French ice dancer who could’ve carried the show if he wanted to.

 

Afterparty

Art on Ice is known for its afterparties. The party went on till the early AM, but we left around midnight. They served cheese raclette, so many different desserts and there was an open bar. You could mingle with all the skaters and the VIPs and it also had live DJ. It really felt like you were in an actual bar.

There was a big banner for Art on Ice and that’s where you see the skaters take their photos that they later posted in their socials. Not much else to say about the afterparty. As you can imagine it was a lot of mingling and having a good time.

Final thoughts

If you can go to Art on Ice – GO! You will not regret this because it’s such a different and unique experience. It’s so rare that you get to see skaters perform on such high level and to have live music from actual great artists is once in a lifetime. It’s also special because of the timing. They do it in the middle of the season so all the skaters in the show are also in great shape and have better stamina. I think that played a role in how well they performed. I also really appreciated the female empowerment theme. It wasn’t overdone and it made sense.

I’m definitely going back next year and I hope you will too!