Katie Brotherhood

June 2012

I WAS the very last skater on the ice at the old ice rink in Nottingham before it closed. This was in 1999 and I was 15. It was during the final gala before it was demolished to make way for the National Ice Centre. It was where I learned to skate.

I grew up in Radcliffe-on-Trent and when I was five my mum’s friend took me skating. Apparently I hated it at first but the second time I went I fell in love with it and gradually worked through the grades having lessons.

I did used to compete quite seriously but when I got to 15 I lost interest. You have to get really serious and dedicate your life to it and I would have had to give up dancing but I didn’t want to. I wanted to do both.

I had been dancing since I was small as well. I used to do the pantomimes; Peter Pan with Russ Abbott at the Theatre Royal, a couple at the Playhouse and some at the ice rink.

When I was at sixth form I had a plan to go to university to study physiotherapy but my boyfriend’s sister had just come back from dancing on cruise ships and I liked the sound of that. So I deferred my uni place and travelled on cruise ships as a dancer for the next five years. It was to the Caribbean mainly but I also got to see Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada and the Mediterranean. Mum and dad loved it because they’d come out and visit me. They’re both retired now. Dad was in the police and mum worked at West Bridgford library.

After that I fell back into skating. I didn’t know there were that many opportunities in skating as there are. My first skating job was in a little show in Mexico for a month during 2009.

I’ve been with Holiday On Ice for three years. The latest show, Speed, started last September. We rehearsed in Utrecht before opening in Hamburg in November. Since then, we’ve been across Europe.

When you’re in cool cities like Paris, you’ll do the tourist thing but in the next city the weather might be awful or you’ll decide you want to save some money so you stay in the hotel and catch up on episodes of Downton Abbey and TOWIE.

When we were in Montpellier and it was boiling hot, my mum, my Auntie Jill and Auntie Pat came over and we went sight-seeing and to the beach. That was like being on holiday. Although it wasn’t when I had to go to work because the tent we were in was ridiculously hot and we were all dripping with sweat. They had to get us fans for backstage to cool off.

In between tours I do other work. I have taught skating at the National Ice Centre before. And this summer I’m working with Vitamin Water as an event manager in the run-up to the Olympics and at Wimbledon before the tour comes to the UK in November.

It’s a fast-paced show that is based on the theme of speed. Unlike other iceshows, it really focuses on the spectacle and skating ability. There is lots more besides, including circus stunts and motorbikes on ice.

Before that I’ll be getting married. It’s to my childhood sweetheart. We met at school. The wedding was going to be in Nottingham but we had real problems with the venue so we’re now getting married in Hackney where we’ve both lived for the past four years.

He’s currently working at the Olympic Stadium as a project manager. His name’s Alex Kirby and to be honest I’m gutted I’m going to lose the name Brotherhood. Katie Kirby... it doesn’t sound as good.

Holiday On Ice presents Speed at the Capital FM Arena from November 30 to December 2. Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Monday, July 2, priced at £25, £30, £38 and £50. They can be purchased from the venue box office, by 08444 124 624 and online at www.capitalfmarena.com.

Holiday On Ice: Speed (Lille, France)

June 2012

IT was Motley Crue that helped let the producers of the traditional ice skating show know what he had in mind. Bart Doerfler had been brought in to pitch his idea for the next production by Holiday On Ice. The Californian, who had just enjoyed a successful launch of a show at the Hard Rock Theme Park in California, wasn’t planning on going in to the pitch lightly.

“The first 45 seconds was a video of Motley Crue,” says Doefler, the show’s creative director.

“I blasted that out in the room, turned on the lights and said to them, ‘Now this is what I do’.”

It was a risky idea. Holiday On Ice has been seen worldwide by more than 325 million people in its 69-year history.

In 1988 it was recognised by Guinness World Record as the most-watched show of all time.

In other words, they know what they’re doing.

And its tradition of family fun, smiling skaters and costume changes has been an integral part of its success.

“I wanted to broaden their audience so kids would think that it’s kind of cool,” continues Doefler, who got the go-ahead to create Speed, which will be coming to the Capital FM Arena later this year.

“It’s a brand new show that takes Holiday On Ice in a new direction. ‘It’s a rock’n’roll ice show.

“We don’t just have skaters who are flying, we have dancers, we have a professional fly team and we have motorcycles on the ice, which is a first.

“That was the most difficult to create because it’s the most dangerous, but it’s the most exciting part of the show.

“So it’s not just for fans of ice shows.”

The former Chippendale dancer, who came to Nottingham 20 years ago with the male troupe, admits: “Five years ago I wasn’t interested in ice shows.

“But when I got a chance to control this show and do it my way, then I was excited.”

Speed is the 98th production by Holiday On Ice, which got its name from its origins as a Christmas Day show in Toledo, Ohio.

“It’s more dramatic, more dangerous and sexier than ever before.

“There’s the legendary Holiday on Ice wheel and the famous kick line, stunt skaters, motorbikes and flying acrobats.”

We’re in Lille, France, at the end of an eight-month European tour for Speed

Above the ice is a giant, inflatable car engine, complete with grill, wheels, fan belt and headlights.

As skaters rehearse, an enthused Doerfler explains: “I told my set designer to imagine that we’d gone 1,000 years into the future and stumbled upon an old fuelling station in the middle of the desert.

“There’s a tribe which lives in the gas station that takes us on a journey.”

The story is no sci-fi blockbuster. In fact, it’s difficult to actually perceive any story at all.

But that’s hardly the point. There is a theme _ speed of light, speed of sound; speed of love, etc. but it’s the sheer spectacle that is its selling point.

The show features 28 skaters, four dancers and two special act performers.

It’s the latter who steal the show, roaring on to the ice on a pair of black trail bikes and walking around the aforementioned Holiday On Ice Wheel suspended 60 feet above the ice, with no safety wires.

There are around 50 nationalities among the cast and crew and two of them are from Nottingham.

Katie Brotherhood has been with Holiday On Ice for three years.

The 28-year-old from Radcliffe-on-Trent, who started skating at the Nottingham’s original ice rink when she was five, has been on tour with Speed for eight months.

“We started rehearsals in September in Utrecht and opened in Hamburg in November,” she says.

“We did quite a few shows in Germany, then Switzerland and now France and France is great. When you’re in cool cities like Paris you do the tourist thing.”

She was joined by her mum, now retired from her job at West Bridgford Library, in Montpellier.

“It was boiling,” she laughs.

“We went sightseeing, we went to the beach... it was like we were on holiday.”

Like most of the performers in Speed, Brotherhood doesn’t play one particular character.

“I’m a dancer and a skater in this show, so it’s ideal for me because I have a background in both.”

The dancing happens on a bridge that rolls out over the ice above the skaters.

She says: “I was in pantomimes when I was little at the Theatre Royal, the Playhouse and at the ice rink.”

After working through her grades at the ice stadium and competing in competitions, she spent five years as a dancer on cruise ships.

Her first professional job on the ice was three years ago.

Of Speed she says: “It’s very fast paced. And unlike other skating shows it’s more about showing off our abilities on the ice.

“You can let your personality come out with Holiday On Ice because you don’t have to play one particular character.”

Tom Paulson is another local member of the cast who also started out at the Ice Stadium.

“It was the last year before it was demolished,” says the 24-year-old from Long Eaton.

“I was 11 and I took to it really quickly. I was a silver medallist at the national championships five times.”

He joined Holiday On Ice last year in the Club Tropicana show which toured the UK and Holland over three months.

He joined Speed for its final five weeks in Europe when another skater left.

“It’s been quite challenging having to learn on a new piece on the fly,” he says.

“I had to learn it as I was doing it, which was quite tricky.

“I’m the one who stands out because I don’t know what I’m doing,” he laughs.

You stand out because you keep falling over...

“I hide my mistakes,” he grins.

“What’s great about Speed is that it’s spectacular, with fire and stunts and motorbikes but it’s also about the skating. You see the jumps and the tricks that we would do in competitions.”

Holiday On Ice presents Speed! at the Capital FM Arena from November 30 to December 2. Tickets are priced at £25, £30, £38 and £50. They can be purchased from the venue box office, by 08444 124 624 and online at www.capitalfmarena.com.