Ballet puts Eisenhower stage on ice

The wooden boards that normally line the stage of Eisenhower Auditorium were covered with a sheet of glistening ice yesterday.

In preparation for the Sleeping Beauty on Ice show, performed by the St. Petersburg Ice Ballet, the stage of the auditorium had to be transformed into a small ice skating rink for the first time in the building's history.

"We wanted to bring something really unique and really special here for the family," said Joe Jefcoat, director of the Center for the Performing Arts. "An ice show was something that has never happened here before."

Jefcoat added that the center attempted to bring an ice show to Eisenhower last year, but they were unable to stage the event.

With the arrival of the ballet employee on Saturday morning, the preparations began.

To start the historic transformation, an equipment truck pulled up and unloaded 6,500 pounds of ice, packaged in clear plastic bags similar to the ones found at a supermarket.

A massive machine best described as a type of air conditioning unit sat on the back of the truck, with pipes leading from the vehicle to underneath the auditorium's stage. Its purpose was to keep the stage cool enough to prevent the ice from melting.

The process of converting the stage into a 2-inch thick sheet of ice began with a piece of huge plastic sheeting. On top of this plastic was a grid with rubber coils that worked as a cooling unit. The ice was dumped on top of the grid and then water was sprayed periodically on the surface.

The ice-skating rink that the company used fit perfectly on the auditorium's stage.

"The size of the stage is about the same as if we were setting up for a regular ballet company," said Dave Will, general manager for the center.

But the St. Petersburg Ice Ballet is no ordinary ballet company -- even their set-up attracts a crowd.

The stage was crowded with about 20 people, both employees preparing the stage and curious onlookers.

The onlookers were members of the advisory council for the Center for the Performing Arts who were invited to bring their children and participate in the event.

"I cannot possibly refuse a chance to find out how something is made," said Norma Condee, a member of the council for the past six years who came to observe the process.

As they arrived, the council members viewed a video explaining the procedure and then filed back to the stage to watch the set-up. The first thing the members said they noticed was the drastic change in temperature that occurred once they entered the stage area.

Some still wearing their outdoor coats, the members watched as the bags of ice were tossed from person to person and then slammed down on the floor of the stage to make sure the ice wasn't frozen solid. Then the bags were slit open and the ice cubes spilled out onto the rubber strips.

The council members were allowed to dump a bag of ice on the stage and some of their children were given hoses to begin spraying the ice.

After the preliminary preparations, the water and ice remained untouched for about five hours. After that, employees showered the entire surface about every 20 minutes until show time, 1 p.m. yesterday.

"Someone will be here all night (Saturday night) doing that," Will said.

After all of this preparation, it will take only about an hour to un-freeze the auditorium's stage following the show. All leftover ice will be transported to a nearby field to melt, Will said.