Like a seasoned ice skater, Minneapolis-based choreographer Barry Lather glides smoothly from one job to another. But he's not a skater himself.
The son of two dance teachers, Lather grew up in Atlanta and moved to Los Angeles when he was just out of high school. From a busy career choreographing music videos — for such stars as Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul and Prince — he shifted into cruise ships and TV shows. He also choreographed Britney Spears' Coca-Cola spots for the Super Bowl.
"Then the ice-show projects started coming along," Lather said during a telephone interview from Minneapolis.
One of his latest projects is "Disney's Jungle Adventures on Ice" — a production encompassing three of Disney's most popular animated tales: "Jungle Book," "Tarzan" and "The Lion King." It's playing March 13-17 in the Delta Center.
Before joining Disney, Lather worked with such "Stars on Ice" celebrities as Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Katerina Witt, among other Olympic medalists. "I got my name out there working with them," Lather said. Then he began working with Feld Entertainment's big shows.
Initially, he worked on just one or two numbers, but eventually he was contracted to choreograph Feld's entire production of "Grease on Ice." That was followed by one of the early Disney "Jungle" shows and "Toy Story II on Ice."
"The 'Jungle' thing was quite a switch from 'Grease,' " Lather said. "Going from jeans and poodle skirts to animals and monkeys was a totally different concept, costume-wise. And you have to be aware of what the skaters are wearing. You can dream up a great number, but you have to make adjustments for the restrictions of the costumes."
When choreographing the Disney shows, Lather also always keeps in mind the characters themselves. The Disney creators are constantly watching "to make sure you don't go too far astray." Even on ice, Mowgli, Baloo, Tarzan, Jane, Simba and Rafiki have to remain "in character."
Choreographing for an ice rink is much different than plotting out dance routines for the stage. "In a theater (or even in a television studio), you're dealing with a smaller area — just downstage and upstage. But in an ice show, even though there is a 'downstage' area, you're working in-the-round, and you're entertaining everyone in the arena. The routines and the production numbers are designed for a huge audience. The ice sheet is humongous, and the skaters are so fast — they can get from 'A' to 'B' in a split second, which makes for a more exciting show.
"It's a team effort, and it's very collaborative. It involves lighting and costumes and sound and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that the audience never sees. I can't duplicate what's been done in an animated film, but the choreography can capture the energy and the humor, the cleverness and style, and present it in a nice way."
Although he grew up playing ice hockey, Lather never did get into "ice dancing." Even now, he prefers shoes over skates. "It's better for me to be free and have shows on. I can move and twist and turn to demonstrate dancing moves to the skaters, but I also have to be innovative and think differently. I'm working with skaters, not dancers, and they can do some unique things because of the gliding and the blades.
"The most important thing for me is having great skating assistants. They need to be fast and good, and I have two on this show — Craig Heath and Nancy Pluta. They're both talented skaters, and they've done the ice shows for four or five years. They have the experience, the talent and the organizational skills to be great dance captains. Both of these skaters came up through the Feld ice shows — Nancy performed in 'Grease on Ice.'
"For me, the jungle show is so much different from 'Grease.' There's so much more variety — the drama of 'The Lion King,' the romance of 'Tarzan' and the humor of 'Jungle Book.' It's all very entertaining."
While Lather lives in Minneapolis, he works most of the time out of Los Angeles and Orlando. One recent project was choreographing a movie starring Robin Williams and Danny DeVito in Toronto.
'Jungle Adventure' show times
"Disney's Jungle Adventures on Ice" shows will be performed at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, March 13-14; at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15; at 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 16; and at 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 17.
Tickets are $13.75-$18.75 for most seating and up to $26.50 for rinkside VIP sections. There are $3 discounts for children, 11 and under, for some performances. All tickets (except VIP seating) are discounted $5 on opening night. Tickets may be purchased from the Delta Center box office (325-7328), from all Ticketmaster outlets or online at www.DisneyOnIce.com.
E-MAIL: ivan@desnews.com