8 hours of pure magic and enchantment. On Friday October 9th the staff of The Blonde Salad had the pleasure of being among the guests of Intimissimi On Ice against the charming backdrop of the Verona Arena, a show in which the world best ice skaters dance on ice on the notes of live pieces of operas and pop songs. Let’s be honest: when we received the invitation, we would have never expected what we are about to tell you…to us, it was simply a good chance of doing something all together! So, with our backpacks, cameras and not so many expectations we arrived in Verona and immediately got in the backstage dedicated to the Press and we already started to realize that a nice surprise was awaiting us. As soon as we entered we started feeling the talent in the air…we know it’s difficult to find the words to explain it, but that atmosphere with the dancers their excitement and their muscles tense for the stretching and a contraction we never seen before, the make up artists and hair stylists lost in their creativity and the costume designers accurately checking every single detail, it’s something unexplainable and extremely powerful. Mistakes are not allowed, everything must be perfect. Inebriated by this atmosphere, we walked further inside the backstage and we suddenly noticed a small split, a glimpse of overbearing light in all that darkness. We looked at each other and could not resist the temptation: so we walked up, under a stone arch and we found ourselves in front of an incredible view. The Arena of Verona in all its grandeur, the sun shining timid and dancers engaged in their last rehearsal before the show. The staff of Intimissimi couldn’t have chosen a better stage!
There, by the stands we had the great honor and pleasure of meeting the amazing Patricia Field, the costume designer who contributed to the success of movies like The Devil wears Prada and Sex and The City and who is, this year, the protagonist of an Italian project, dressing all the dancers drawing inspiration from the Fall Winter 2015 Intimissimi collection. Meeting her in person, we realised that in order to be a great artist, talent and personality must go hand in hand: fire red hair, bra in plain sight worn as a crop top and black wide-legged pants…at the venerable age of 74, all we have to say is “chapeau”!
(READ MORE AFTER THE GALLERY)
At the end of our tour in the backstage and after a obligatory spritz (I mean… we are in Verona after all!), we leave the red carpet to celebrities and on time like a Swiss watch we walk into the Area to take our seats. Dimmed lights, illuminated stage and the music playing louder and louder: there were the dancers, entering harmoniously with a coordination of olympic champions. This year’s theme was clear: love conquers all things. The first act of the show (divided into two parts) represented in fact the darker side of every man, its torment, fear and morbid desire of the research of the ideal woman. Our comments? We were all very curious and a bit anxious, we have to admit, of knowing how the man would have known peace. But it’s the second act of the show that had our eyes glued us to the stage. No, it was HER. Who? Carolina Kostner, who immersed in light, with a gracefullness and confidence that almost embarrassed us as she approached us with such magic. We were bewildered and kept on looking at each other in absolute wonder, amazement and emotion. You should have been there to see how together with the world champion Stephane Lambiel, they elegantly and sensually dominated the whole Arena…including us! Now, the show is definitely more colourful, featuring lively and light costumes that narrate pure and true Love, able to fight even the darkest evil and lively and joyful ore choreographies.
Another highlight of the evening? The great voice of Ellie Goulding, who accompanied the artists in their exhibition with her live performance. When she sang Love Me Like You Do, it was impossible to resist feeling a bit like Anastasia or Mr. Grey in one of the scenes of the famous movie 😉 Would you like to know what our favorite part was? Well, actually there were two…the first captured our most sensitive side that moved us and gave us goose bumps that hardly went away when on stage we saw a dancer’s solo on the notes of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma. Everything was perfect: harmony, music, lights, passion and talent in just 4 minutes. Trust us, even the toughest of hearts would have surrendered! The other moment was totally different. All the dancers unleashed over the notes of A Little Party Never Killed Nobody and had all the audience of the Arena dance to celebrate the life and absolute triumph of Love…we had a blast!
So, when after a very long applause, the dancers made their way back in the backstage we caught ourself saying: «Is it done already?». Two hours went by and we honestly did not had enough! After the dreamy atmosphere of the show, we attended the private dinner during which we had the chance of meeting all the celebrities that were invited, from Elisa Sednaoui to Irina Shayk and Eva Herzigova, all looking beautiful and, just like us, still talking about the show while giving compliments to the organisers of the show. All together sharing the emotions of a surprisingly magic night.