Bradley Santer          (Profile - Performers)

Bradley Santer started skating at the tender age of 10 and is a five-time world championship representative and twice national champion. Resident in Sydney, Australia he's now in the UK for Disney On Ice's Princess Wishes 2009 skating production. He spoke to us in his lead role as Aladdin from the opening shows at
The NIA in Birmingham. 

Which other career routes might you taken?

I graduated with a BA in Political Science but have always been interested in performance and sports. I used to play rugby and going professional would have been my other career choice.

How much training does the Disney On Ice show involve?

It's working weeks of rehearsals and it's gruelling! We spent six days working with one day off in Glasgow.

How do you find Birmingham's NIA as a performance venue?

We were here three years ago and the crowd was great so it's definitely good to be returning. In fact, we find we get stronger reactions from British fans than we do with our Australian audiences.

You’ve said that your wish is for audiences to believe your portrayals; how do you and the production achieve this?

I play Aladdin so I've familiarised by studying the character in movies. It helps that his is a playful, youthfu, fun role which, in essence, is a bit like my own personality. The production makes all of our roles credible with the fantastic special effects, lighting, fairytale set and our costumes.

The whole show is amazing and I'm proud of it. Skating for a living is certainly hard work but it is very enjoyable and every year I find myself re-evaluating and renewing my performance contracts.

How's the rapport been between your co-performers?

I've worked with a couple of them in the past but the majority are new people. Although we've just met we bonded pretty much straight away. The skating community is close knit and our common objectives of performance and entertainment make the rapport much easier.

Your work with the show's producer, Feld Entertainment, entails a lot of travel; which companies smooth the touring process for you?

I like flying with Qantas because the staff are so helpful. In the UK I find Virgin Atlantic to be an efficient airline with friendly crew. I like personal entertainment particularly on long-haul routes and Virgin does this very well. Meal options are also important and I had the best Korean dishes on a recent flight out of Seoul with Korean Air.

We stay at some great hotels and the Westin Grand in Berlin is a memorable one. It's where The Bourne Supremacy filmed and I loved it because I'm a film buff. It has a great lobby entrance too.In the US the Embassy Suites are really comfortable and they serve a good breakfast with facilities such as omelette bars. 

                                                                     

    Show synopsis 

The production reacquaints audiences with Disney's leading female characters and the ice stage presents a platform for the agile, gymnastic performances.

 Tinkerbell glides the audience through the stories of seven Disney Princesses and their wishes.

And so the stories of Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Mulan, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White unfurl amid a backdrop of clever neon, dry ice and, yes, bubbles when Ariel’s dreams are unlocked from under the sea.

Visuals were created by the talents of Emmy Award winning lighting designer Peter Morse with set design by Robert Little. They worked together to create artistic synergy between lighting and backdrop to effect smooth transition between the stories. his was illustrated clearly when Morse used leafy designs of greens and sepia tones to establish the forest where Snow White wishes by a well. Similarly bursts of bright white stars celebrate the fulfillment of Cinderella’s dreams. 

“When telling seven distinct stories, it’s important to be able to create a new environment to set the stage for each tale,” said Morse. “Robert Little did this with the transformable set, and it was my mission to fill the rest of the ice with radiant lighting that would place the audience in the heart of these stories.”

In true Disney style it's happy endings all around as the water borne Ariel dabbles with the terrestrial, Mulan teaches inner strength, Jasmine discovers a whole new world and Snow White finds her one true love while Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty’s deepest wishes are revealed.

Disney on Ice tours the UK throughout October and November '09.                                 Visit disneyonice.co.uk

RK  _________________________________________