DISNEY ON ICE: TREASURE TROVE
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WIN Entertainment Centre
Friday, June 13 - Sunday, June 15
Disney On Ice skater Eddy Zeidler says falls during a show are inevitable - the trick is to make them really good ones.
A former competitive skater - he won several medals in the US championships - Zeidler has been skating in Disney On Ice shows for the past 17 years.
In the latest show - Disney On Ice: Treasure Trove - Zeidler's main role is that of Aladdin. It's an active role so the odd tumble is always going to happen.
He just has to make it look like it was meant to happen.
"No-one's perfect but I try to make it the best fall ever," Zeidler laughs. "I've been known to turn a fall into a breakdance move. You've just got to cover it up.
"I remember in competition not being too thrilled if I didn't skate so well. But in the shows you have an audience and you're always trying to get a reaction, no matter what you do - whether it's a fantastic jump or the world's greatest fall.
"Especially with the character I play, he's a young kid, he's pretty scrappy so he could get away with a fall. You just cover it up and make it funny."
The latest show pays tribute to 50 years of Disney animated films. So everyone from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to Rapunzel, Ariel and Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear make an appearance on the ice.
Zeidler's medal-winning efforts in the pairs events comes in handy during Aladdin's routines with Jasmine.
He fills in as Wendy's brother in the Peter Pan section but he says he has to be prepared to play any role should a fellow performer fall sick or get injured.
He says it's the roles of characters in full costume like Buzz or Woody that are the most difficult - and not because the full costume and big head make it hard to skate.
The tricky part is the extra performance level that is required, he says.
"You have to get through the costume," he says.
"As far as the actor, it's one thing to act when it's your face and your hands, but when you put a costume over that it's a challenge to portray it through the costume."
Whether it was competing for medals or the smiles of children, it was clear from an early age that Zeidler was destined for a life on the ice. At just four years of age he took to the ice for the first time and found he was a natural.
"My family had just moved from Chicago to New York City and it was our very first family outing there," he says.
"I just jumped on the ice and kept going and my family was hugging the boards. They wouldn't leave the barriers. I just kept going round and round. I was actually spinning and jumping and it was just so easy. I couldn't understand why they were holding on to the boards. One of the coaches came off the rink and said, put him in lessons right away."