Madeline Stammen’s ice skating has taken her from St. Charles to cruise ships and now to a main role in Cirque du Soleil Crystal.
The show is the Montreal-based theatrical producer’s first to mix its fabled acrobatics and circus stylings with action on ice.
When Stammen auditioned, she was taking six months away from skating and thinking about acting on her acceptance to the school of engineering at New York University. That was after a stint in summer 2016 in an ice show at the Pleasure Beach Arena in Blackpool, England, called Obsession.
“Their summer production is a pretty big show a lot of skaters wind up doing,” Stammen said. “And it was nice to be in one place for a bit.”
Stammen, 23, says that because she launched her professional skating career at sea. For several years, she performed on cruise ships.
“I skated up to the senior women’s level (in ice dancing and freestyle skating) until I was 18 and only in the United States,” said Stammen, a St. Charles East High School graduate. “I always enjoyed the performance aspect of skating (more than competition) anyway, so it was a natural progression. A month after turning pro, I popped up on a ship. It was a blast.”
Ice shows at sea involve working on a rink an eighth of the size of arenas, Stammen said, “and the ground moves as you’re skating.” She wound up having four cruise ship contracts that took her to ports in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Asia and Australia.
Her parents, John and Christina Stammen, who still live in St. Charles, caught all her nautical shows, and her three brothers and one sister made the ones they could.
“My parents are my number one fans, and the shows were an excuse for a vacation,” Stammen said.
After the land-based job is England, though, Stammen wasn’t sure what she wanted to do.
“But God or the world pushed me to apply (for the Cirque du Soleil show),” she said.
She sent in a video to show her skating skills, then Cirque provided her a piece of music to which she was to improvise a routine and videotape her performance of it. Stammen said she was hired within the week.
“This is a new thing for Cirque du Soleil. They’ve never employed skaters before, so it’s been two worlds colliding and collaborating,” Stammen said.
Rehearsals began in June in Montreal.
“We are all athletes, so we understand each other in that sense. But we have different processes. Acrobats and the circus performers with Cirque come from a place where they are open to trying to create something different. Skaters tend to use moves that are part of a set arsenal,” Stammen said.
The Cirque performers “are kicking my butt,” she said. “I was like a T-Rex, with strong legs but no upper body strength. Now I can do pull-ups.”
Stammen plays The Reflection, the alter ego of the titular character Crystal. The story involves the misfit Crystal seeing her reflection on a lake, then meeting that reflection under the water. The Reflection is the dark side of Crystal, Stammen said, and takes Crystal through an underworld to look back on her life.
The show’s tour began in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Oct. 5, and is using smaller markets to develop in advance of the official premiere in Montreal Dec. 20. Publicist Julie Desmarais said the plan is for Crystal to be a roadshow for five years or so.
Cirque du Soleil Crystal comes to Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates Nov. 16 – 19. Stammen said the tour is the first time she has skated professionally in the United States.
“It will be kind of cool for my coaches and my friends to come see me and what I do. It should be special,” Stammen said. She learned to figure skate from Jill Carson, then Candy Brown Burek, training at Fox Valley Ice Rink in Geneva and All Seasons Ice Rink in Naperville.
“I remember trying at 3 years old and thinking I could do what the teacher did, then falling. I was one of those kids who sat on the bench and cried all the time,” Stammen said. “From what my mom tells me, I asked to go back again when I was 6, and the rest is history.”
The show takes a break after the Hoffman Estates performances, so Stammen said she is looking forward to getting to spend a bit of time at home.
“The first chance I get, I’m going to the All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva,” Stammen said.
{ SOURCE: Chicago Tribune }
