Skating
Starlight Express features a unique element to the performance in the use of roller skates. The cast are trained for 2–3 months in roller skating before they begin performances, so no prior experience is required. However the demands of the show also often lead to injuries. The level of skating performance is dependent on the production, as the permanent sets give far greater opportunity to skate than the theatre-based tours. The US and UK tours had comparatively little space for the performers to use, and the use of pre-recorded races removed the most demanding physical element of performance.
The show was choreographed by Arlene Phillips, who undertook a daunting task in creating dance routines on roller skates.
Each character has their own set of moves called "tick-overs" which they run through when otherwise idle. These moves express the characterisation, whether it be aggression, vanity or limbering up for action.
Read more about this topic: Starlight Express
Famous quotes containing the word skating:
“In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go, and is only right admirable when to all its beauty and speed a subserviency to the will, like that of walking, is added.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)