Kevin VDP's World Celebration; from Hawai to the Galaxy
by Titia Tolsma
& Mireille
Geurts
Photos © Absolute Skating
May
is not a month people associate with ice and ice skating,
but that doesn’t mean there is nothing going on in that
cold world during. Last year in Belgium, Kevin van der
Perren introduced us into his world of fantasy and his
ability to create a story on ice. It turned out to be
magic! To reminiscence,
read here.And
we found out that the show wasn´t yet completed
before Kevin had most of the details for a whole new
show for the following year planned. |
|
Again, this May the new “Ice Fantillusion
- World Celebration” show will be held at Kevin’s home club
KSC Liederkerke in Belgium. Because of last year’s great success
there will be 4 shows in one weekend this year. And it will
even expand to the city of Hasselt for several more shows.
The preparations for this show started last
fall, and in October Mireille and Titia from Absolute Skating
got the chance to catch a glimpse of it.
Initially going to Belgium for whole other
appointments and purposes that later fell through – no need
to bore you with the details, nor of the traffic jams – the
wonderful people at the ice rink in Liederkerke went out of
their way to make the two girls feel welcome, it was heart
warming.
 |
Around noon Kevin arrived
at the ice rink, and they got an opportunity to watch
him practice. Not as a skater, but as a coach/choreographer.
This was a very odd experience and not the role in which
people are used to see him, but still it looked very
natural. After the session they had a short catch up
talk in which Kevin invited them to attend the practice
held later that very day. The next day TV-crews would
come to the rink to tape stuff for a promotion, and
that’s what they were going to practice for. Curious
as they are, Mireille and Titia had to know more about
the show. And once Kevin started talking, they got more
excited by the minute! The story of “Ice Fantillusion
- World Celebration” in short: |
One day an alien crash
on the beautiful island of Hawaii. He is captured by the locals,
including a little girl who wants him for a pet. The alien
looks nice and sweet, but he is really an experimental animal
from outer space, designed to destroy everything that comes
in his way. In his time-machine he goes from place to place
on earth.
His first journey brings
him into the jungle where he meets a 4,5 meter long snake.
Yikes!
He also meets a family
of apes and the mother ape shows him her son; a human son.
He has a girlfriend and when the alien settles in the village,
he discovers that the ape family is ruining everything in
the village. By nature, the little alien is very pleased!
Then he moves to Egypt
and ends up in the love story of a poor boy who’s in love
with a princess. The princess is supposed to marry a prince,
but will she?
In the meantime there
are rumours going around in space. The creators of the alien
want the little creature to return and a little army of space
creatures head for earth to bring him back.
The alien has already
moved on from Egypt to the underwater world where he sees
the most beautiful water plants and animals and asks: Do mermaids
really exist?
They do, and a little mermaid desperately wants to meet the
humans on land as she’s in love with a sailor. With the help
of a witch, she trades her fen for legs and together with
her fish-friends she tries to find her love…
Meanwhile, the army
from space captures the alien. He has learned a lot on Earth,
like how important family and friends are. He goes back to
space, but not on his own. From every place he’s visited,
an earth friend comes along. The galaxy will never be the
same!
Kevin stopped talking leaving Mireille and
Titia breathless. What a story, what a fantasy! Of course
some details of this story may sound familiar to you, but
when Kevin adds his own imagination to it, a completely new
story is created.
Later that day, they attended the practice
for the show and the TV promotion. And it truly was a celebration
on ice! Next to a lot of club skaters from Liederkerke, there
were some more familiar names like Jenna McCorkell, Ellen
Mareels and Kaat van Daele. Taking pictures by the boards,
Titia and Mireille enjoyed the fun on the ice.
Kaat & Jenna seem to have a natural chemistry,
having fun and enjoying trying out moves together. Speaking
of trying out moves, Kevin and Jenna tried to have Ellen do
a backflip between them, which didn’t go all that smoothly...
But it was captured on camera and laughed at by all present,
after which Titia gave Ellen some useful tips (Titia is a
gymnast). And the pictures can surely serve well as a “see
how it all got started” image.
A lot was being talked about and tried, as
you can see in the pictures. Aside that the group seemed to
connect perfectly, parts of what they were practicing already
looked very professional.
The kids from the club seemed to quickly pick
up what Kevin wanted from them, and if not he was patient
enough to show them all the moves one more time (and one more...).
He even took some time teaching them moves they didn’t really
need to learn for this choreo, but they wanted to learn after
seeing him trying them out with Ellen and Jenna. He was willing
to do anything!! Although... no that‘s not completely true.
There’s the part where the ladies had to shake their boobs,
and he certainly refused doing the same…
After this fun practice the two Dutchies had
to say goodbye, but not before they offered Kevin a photo
book of his show from last year. He was very happy with it
and started watching the pictures right away. And later every
club member watched the photo book and each and every one
of them thoroughly enjoyed it!
After the final goodbye, the girls got in
the car and drove, northbound yet again. Now they can’t
wait to see the final production, can you?
Additional info:
Tickets 15€ pp
May 12 & 13 Liederkerke, Belgium (hurry, almost sold
out!)
May 19 & 20 Hasselt, Belgium
For more info & tickets email
here
|
