Burnaby skating champion to star in PNE Winter Fair

Burnaby figure skater Jeremy Ten will perform in the Nutcracker on Ice at the PNE Winter Fair from Dec. 6-23. The performance is a shortened version of the Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky reimagined on ice. The cast includes skaters from many different backgrounds. 

“There’s a cast of nine of us, and we’re playing all the characters. There’s Rat King, there’s the Nutcracker, there’s Clara, there’s a little rat army,” Ten said. “I think there’s four of us from here in BC, and then we have three skaters from the US, one skater from France. So it’s going to be a great show. Two of the skaters are actually from the Cirque du Soleil Crystal tour. They’re deciding to spend their time with this on their tour break.” 

Ten’s performance at the PNE Winter Fair will start on Friday, and the cast only started training and rehearsing on Nov. 29. Most of the cast members have already performed the same piece before and are all experienced professional skaters.

“We’re really fortunate that a lot of the cast members are returning from last year, so it’s been a lot easier to kind of put the show back together because some of us know it,” Ten said. 

The cast typically starts rehearsing at 10am until 5pm. Half of their training occurs off the ice and half on the ice. 

“Once we get closer to the date of opening, we’ll start applying the solos and putting the rigging in and putting the aerial in, and then working on the transition, and then costumes go in, and then props go in, and then the fire goes in,” Ten said. 

Tickets start at $7.50 for children ages 4-12 and will get more expensive closer to the Christmas holidays. Adult tickets start at $20, while children three years and under enter for free. The ticket will include general admission, the Nutcracker performance, and a holiday musical called The Magic of Santa. Other parts of the fair, such as the bumper cars on ice and a train, cost extra. 

“I spent about 11 years representing Canada, and then I went on to touring professionally and performing in front of an audience. In this stage of my life, it just feels so amazing to be able to still be doing it because I’m over 30, and it just gives me an opportunity to keep doing what I love without the pressures of trying to win a medal or doing the crazy jumps I used to do,” Ten said. 

Figure skating was not Ten’s sport of choice at the beginning. 

“Being the younger brother, I just wanted to do everything that my brother did,” Ten said. “He was an avid hockey fan, and so he obviously went into hockey, and I wanted to follow him. So I went into hockey.”

Ten quickly realized that hockey was not for him, but he found himself developing a new interest. 

“My dad noticed that I was staying behind and watching the figure skaters, and their practice was right after our practice,” Ten said. “He decided maybe I should let him try it. So he enrolled me in some group classes.” 

After several classes, one of his coaches recommended that his father enroll him in private lessons, which he did. As his skills grew, skating became one of his passions in life. 

“This sport was my first love, essentially, and it’s something that I love to do and will always love to do. There’s nothing you can really compare it to because it’s the closest thing, I feel like, to flying, especially when I’m jumping or gliding or spinning. There’s nothing in this sport that I don’t love. I also think it’s just the perfect marriage of athleticism and artistry. And I appreciate that. I’m so grateful to be able to still be doing it.”

Ten went on to win the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medal and the 2014 CS Autumn Classic bronze medal. He is also a three-time Canadian senior national medallist (silver in 2015, bronze in 2009 and 2012). 

Besides being his passion, skating has taken Ten to 33 countries and led to opportunities and experiences he had never imagined as a nine-year-old watching figure skaters after hockey practice. 

“It just afforded me a life to be able to travel and experience the world in such a different way and meet so many incredible people and develop incredible life skills that I wouldn’t necessarily have had if I wasn’t enrolled in sport and had that discipline,” said Ten. ”It’s just been an incredible journey.” 

Since retiring from competitive figure skating in 2015, Ten toured the world performing on Royal Caribbean cruise ships for three years. He then joined Cirque du Soleil Axel in the role of the antagonist Vi. His time with Cirque du Soleil was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the show was never brought back after the pandemic ended. 

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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