Surprise show in Montreal (Jan. 27th 2008)

The troop was supposed to be at "la Fête des Neiges de Montréal". The event was canceled because of the menace of a strike by the employees of the park. Sunday, January 27th, we ended up being free.So free we decided to organise a spontaneous event to cheer up Montrealers and to bring a bit of energy at Beaver Lake, on Mount Royal. The goal was not to put on a nice elegant show... It was to show up with no warning, to deploy a battery powered sound system and to launch ourselves an original family event. It's the adrenaline of improvised ressourcefulness , the fun of a skating show and the joy of making loads of people happy!

Thank to Jonathan Boudreau Béland who filmed for us.

 

The Little Prince

In 2007, Alexandre Hamel, the founder of the troop, also created and directed the year end ice show of a local skating club. The goal was to create a real theatre piece on ice that would allow the skating new wave to take life into a full lenght show. This video stars the skaters of the Club de Patinage Artistique de Boucherville. Some of them had to invest impressing efforts for "a little local show". Among others, you will see Nicolas Tondreau-Alin, Charles Tondreau-Alin, Valérie Milette, Roxanne Dupuis, Victoria Bouquet, Clara Gosselin, Sébastien Lapointe, Kevin Darwish and Dominic Rondeau.

 

Tap Skating

The troop is now known for having invented "tap skating", which is a style of ice performance allowing the skaters to create a real music (and not only sounds) with blades, ice, and skating mooves.

In this video, we see Julien Mercier and Alexandre Hamel in a quick montage of their performances during winter 2007.

 

Au Clair de la Lune

A cute adaptation of the French song. Each verse is transformed into a skating image.

- Under the moon, my friend Pierrot. - Let me use your feather, to write a word - My candle is dead, I lost my fire. - Open me your door, for the love of God.

It is the first number created by the troop as a collective and opened the very first show of Le Patin Libre!

It stars Milena Todaro, Anthony Evans and Alexandre Hamel. We hear Alexandra Lauzon, a friend of the troop who interpreted the song for us.

 

In winter Carnivals

The troop visits many wnter carnivals. We create a warm ambiance with short shows and participative ice animation.

Here's a short video whowing what we do in those events.

 

Alexis le Trotteur (or Running Alexis)

"When I was small , my parents read me the story of Alexis le Trotteur. It's a legend about a quebecer that really existed. Supposedly, he ran faster than horses.

This winter, I wanted to give life to this story with my skating. It gave a number I like a lot.

That's what I like about the skating New Wave. I invent numbers about things that touch me. I work loads on that stuff but I'm always proud of the result. It's like if my ideas and imagination become alive! I prefer that to imposed figures and normal solos."

-Alexandre Hamel

 

Acrobatic movement : head slide

The troop is also working on a new acrobatic side to its performances. Here, we see a trick invented by Liam Dougherty, a senior level dance skater.

 

Acrobatic movement : assisted jump on the board and cartwheel to the ice

The troop is also working on a new acrobatic side to its performances. Here, we see a trick invented by Alexandre Hamel.

"It's been years I skate between boards and I always thought they could be used in some way.When I was a normal skater, it was forbidden , but now, I can try what I want!"

The feeling of that moove is cool! And seriously, I don't think it's more dangerous than an overhead pair lift... "

-Alexandre Hamel

 

Extreme Skating

Extreme ice skating is a new acrobatic sport practiced with hockey skates.

Alexandre Hamel trains a lot in this sport starting to be popular in Europe and United-States but that was not yet introduced in Canada.

Le Patin Libre already started to introduce extreme ice skating mooves in numbers...