Disney’s adventurous skaters welcomed to the jungle

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 8:21 a.m.

Combine a talking lion, a lush jungle backdrop and an evil presence, stir in a hero who always gets the girl, and the ingredients are ripe for a classic children's tale.

Add skates and you have the recipe for Disney's "Jungle Adventures on Ice."

The two-hour musical on ice brings the stars of the classic Disney movies "The Lion King," "Tarzan" and "The Jungle Book" to the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday through Sunday.

But the elaborate Disney production isn't just for children.

Beyond the parade of velvet-costumed animals that take to the ice, such as the 40-foot snake, Kaa, from "The Jungle Book" and a boisterous pack of singing vultures, professional skaters perform physically demanding feats on -- and above -- the ice.

Tarzan and Jane, portrayed by professional skaters Jamie Loper and Natasha Kuchiki, triple-axle and double-lutz through a storyline fraught with jungle challenges, culminating with a first-ever acrobatic routine executed on ice, Kuchiki, who plays Jane, said.

The 90-second stunt, called the Spanish Web, is performed by the skaters while hanging from a 35-foot rope suspended from the arena ceiling.

With his bare hands, Loper climbs the cotton rope and invites Kuchiki to join him and explore the mystical world among the treetops of the jungle.

Entranced by the bare-chested jungle man, Kuchiki's Jane ascends the rope and grasps Loper's hands.

Together they spin and swing more than 25 feet above the ice while Loper steadies the skaters with his muscular legs wrapped around the 3-inch thick rope.

"The crowd is pretty wowed," Kuchiki said in a phone call from a hotel in Los Angeles. "He flips me and I climb 27 feet into the air over the ice. It's amazing to look at."

Kuchiki and Loper trained for the acrobatic feat for six weeks in the spring of 2000 at the Vermont home of veteran aerialist and choreographer Alla Youdina.

Loper, who competed in national skating competitions from 1990-94, had never performed with a partner before undertaking the Spanish Web routine.

The complicated moves proved to be more difficult than any he had previously attempted, Loper said, but as the two competitive skaters grew comfortable with each other on the ice, the aerial routine became second nature.

"We skate as one person now, we don't have to think," Loper said. "I know exactly where Natasha is at all times, even with my eyes closed."

Kuchiki, who placed first in the U.S. Nationals skating competition with partner Todd Sands in 1991, said that more than strength or ability, she and Loper had to learn to think as one.

"We know the routine so well together," Kuchiki said. "We trust each other. This is completely different than competition. It's just fun every night."