GREEN BAY — As figure skaters captivate audiences at the Winter Olympics, the Resch Center this week is hosting talent that’s close to their level. This week, Disney on Ice arrives, featuring some of the world’s top skaters performing beneath iconic costumes.
“I like looking out in the audience, finding a child, giving them a wave, and then seeing how their face lights up,” said Disney on Ice skater Sarah Lachenmeyer.
Lachenmeyer said the figure skating community is small and tight-knit.
“A lot of us know Olympians, a lot of us know those people that are competing,” Lachenmeyer said.
While this year’s group of Olympians is competing in Italy, some former ones are here at home, skating for Disney on Ice.
“Elsa on another show is a former U.S. Olympian, so everybody comes from all different backgrounds and brings their talent to the show,” she said.
Lachenmeyer herself has competed at the highest level. She’s what’s called a senior skater and a six-time gold medalist in moves in the field.
“Once you achieve mastery in that skill, you're given a gold medal in that skill, so I'm kind of unusual that I — instead of focusing solely on dance or solely on freestyle and jumping — I've done a lot of different things. That's where my medals have come from,” Lachenmeyer said.
She said she didn’t enjoy the competition aspect of skating, but she loves performing and putting on a show. However, Lachenmeyer said, there was a learning curve making the transition to performing for Disney on Ice.
“You gotta work on presenting to this huge audience, because normally in competition you're not skating for that many people — you're skating for the judges. But here you could have 7,000 in an audience, so you have to really project your skating out towards them,” she said.
No matter how great the skater is underneath their Disney costume, Lachenmeyer said they hope the audience doesn’t notice who they are at all.
“We want you to see Anna and Elsa — we don't want you to see the skater behind that. I want you to be immersed in the experience and just be amazed by what you're watching,” she said.
Disney on Ice will be performing at the Resch Center every day through Sunday
