Onstage mishap has the Skating Aratas at the center of a dizzying episode at V Theater

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011 | 9:42 a.m.

An incident Wednesday night at V Theater involving the hair-raising roller-skating tandem the Skating Aratas landed the female member of the duo in the lap of an audience member.

That startled person was soon carted out of the theater on a stretcher. Hours after that unscripted event, a second audience member informed theater staff that she, too, was hurt during the incident.

Both of those affected were Asian women who did not speak English and were reportedly taken to Desert Springs Hospital and Medical Center for treatment. The identities of the women are still being verified, and messages to Desert Springs media contacts Wednesday night and this morning have not yet been returned. Later this morning, Saxe said he did speak to a woman who was a daughter and niece of the two women involved in the incident. Reportedly, both are fine (that call sounded as if it was coming from a casino restaurant or buffet), but told Saxe that an attorney would be contacting him.

What happened:

During the 7 p.m. performance of “V- -- Ultimate Variety Show,” Geniia “Jenny” Arata blacked out during the husband-and-wife Skating Aratas' final trick of the evening. It also happens to be the couple’s most harrowing routine, as Vittorio Arata spins his wife at high velocity while she wears a tightly fastened leather strap around her head and neck.

The strap also is looped around Vittorio’s neck, and he spreads his arms wide during the duration of the high-risk routine. As the whirling couple gains speed and becomes a blur, audience members often duck and wince at the evident danger the act presents.

In their performance Wednesday, as Vittorio explained later in the evening, the strap around Jenny’s neck was fastened too tightly and cut off her air supply. As he spun his wife in a frenzied circle, Vittorio quickly noticed that Jenny’s body had become limp and she had likely blacked out.

He slowed in an attempt to halt the routine entirely and release the strap, but Jenny fell free and landed atop an elderly Asian woman sitting in the front row.

As Jenny tumbled, Vittorio tipped over backward onstage and reached back to break his fall. Neither performer said they were injured during the mishap, and the woman who was unwittingly thrust into the performance didn’t appear to be seriously injured, either. Still, paramedics were summoned, and she was led from the show, which ended with the accident, on a stretcher.

Hours after the show, Jenny said she recalls performing the act as usual one moment. The next, she was hanging onto a total stranger in the audience.

“I’m OK,” she said during a phone conversation. “I was just dizzy, and stressed out.”

The staging at V Theater has been modified since the skaters made the move from “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace to the David Saxe production at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. The round platform on which the Aratas perform thrusts into the audience and is closely surrounded in a semi-circle by seated audience members.

The close proximity of the audience adds drama to the routine, which was a favorite in the original version of “Absinthe.” The duo’s popularity and move to “V” led to a terse back-and-forth between Saxe and “Absinthe” producers, who believed that Saxe had plucked the duo from the Caesars show while they were still under contract.

Saxe and Vittorio said much of the emergency-response activity at Wednesday’s show was precautionary. Saxe was not in the theater, however, as he was several miles away at Red Rock Resort watching “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” when he received an alarming text from his sister, Melinda, who is a performer in the “V” production.

For the uninitiated, Saxe’s sister is famed illusionist Melinda, First Lady of Magic. Saxe said he bolted from the theater immediately after he received word from Melinda that there was an incident at “V” involving the Skating Aratas.

As for Vittorio Arata, he said the accident could have been far worse.

“You have ushers and managers calling authorities, taking over-the-top-precautions, but there was no blood. No one got kicked in the head, which is what you worry about when you have skates high in the air,” he said. “But if I’d not slowed down, it’s possible Jenny would have wound up in the 10th row.”

The Aratas said the woman who wound up entangled with Jenny seemed fine to them in the aftermath of the incident.

“We were worried about the lady being OK,” Vittorio said, “but she was talking and conscious while she waited for the ambulance. She didn’t speak English, but she was talking.”

The Aratas estimate that they have performed this particular act thousands of times over the past 4½ years and about 380 times in their run in “Absinthe,” with no such problem.

“This was a freak accident,” Vittorio said. “Nothing like this has happened before, ever.”

The couple were held out of the second performance Wednesday, which is the 8:30 p.m. show. They plan to return to the stage tonight, but only after an intensive afternoon rehearsal session to regain their confidence.

“We’re OK,” Vittorio said. “We’ll see how we feel after rehearsal, but we’re planning on being back onstage. This is what we do.”

Updated at 5:34 p.m.: The Aratas did not rehearse as planned, as Jenny Arata discovered that slight pain and swelling in her right thumb had intensified overnight. She and Vittorio met with Saxe, then had her hand X-rayed. The couple are not performing tonight and are out until Jenny Arata's hand is properly diagnosed.

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