Beata's Journal

March 23, 1999
We just returned from Finland from one of the most memorable experiences in our lives. Our acceptance of an invitation to skate in the television production of "Winter Solstice on Ice" brought us to a town called Kemi near the Arctic Circle. This week-long skating adventure was an experience that could never be matched. Needless to say, it was also one of the coldest! Just imagine skating around in thin tights and a little skating outfit at
night outdoors in heavy snowfall and bone-chilling wind way up near the North Pole!
Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko were the creators of "Winter Solstice on Ice". Other soloists included Caryn Kadavy, Brian Boitano, Ingo & Steuer, Yuka Sato & Jason Dunjgen, Rory Burghart, Drobiazko and Vanagas, and Alexander Abt. Charles and I were part of the two ensemble numbers with the Ice Theatre of New York.
On the first night of filming, we skated outside in front of this magnificent snow castle. The entire structure was made of snow and ice, with spectacular ice sculptures inside and out. This habitable castle had bedrooms, a tavern, and even a chapel. Everything was made of ice -- the walls, ceilings, tables, the altar in the chapel, everything. In fact, we shot a scene in the tavern where we and the other ITNY skaters sat these ice tables "drinking" from mugs made of ice, acting as if we were cheering and clapping for the two Lithuanian dancers, Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas. They performed a Celtic dance with their skates on, right on the ice tables! Povilas even jumped from table to table missing our mugs and fingers by inches. It was amazing that they were willing to skate and jump around on these tables the week before competing at Worlds!
On the second night of filming, the temperature wouldn't budge below one degree Celsius, and so the ice didn't freeze completely. After getting our makeup and hair done in the early afternoon and then waiting for nightfall, we had to wait even longer in hope that the temperature would drop one to degree to the freezing point. Finally, at 10 at night, we were sent back to our hotel to sleep a few hours (in full hair and makeup!) before returning for a rescheduled film shoot at 3 a.m., when the ice was expected to be frozen solid and the sky would still be dark for the spotlights.
At 3:30 a.m., we got a wake-up call telling us to get on the 4:15 bus. We had no idea where we were going. All we knew was that we weren't going back to the snow castle as planned, because the ice still didn't freeze enough for skating. The bus stopped at a dock, and we eagerly hopped off to board an ice breaker, one of those specialized ships built to break through frozen sea water. Amazingly, this ship just plowed through the thick virgin ice. Some of us stood at the bow with our arms out facetiously shouting, "I'm king of the world!" from the movie "Titanic."
The ship finally stopped next to a 90 x 180 feet or so rectangular area where a bulldozer had cleared away the snow. This seemingly tiny rectangle in the middle of the vast frozen ocean was the new filming location, and the ship conveniently served as the backdrop. The ice surface was smoothed by dedicated crew members who polished the ice with rags, literally on their hands and knees. In between film takes, people would run across the ice with snow shovels to push off the snow that had quickly accumulated within several minutes.
It was the most liberating feeling to skate on the ocean. The iceberg went forever in all directions with no end in sight. It was as if we were skating in the biggest rink in the world. Immediately after filming, we jumped on snowmobiles and zipped across the frozen sea to quickly get back to the bus that would rush us to the airport.
All the hours we spent shivering throughout rehearsals, skating through
blinding snowflakes, seeing our breath freeze, and sadly watching our
precious body heat drift away into nothing, was all worth it. What an
awesome, unforgettable experience it was! And yes, we even had reindeer meat! It was an adventure unlike any other, and we are truly grateful for being given such a unique and memorable experience.