What makes the Imperial ice Stars’ shows so amazing? Here are some interesting facts:

The Imperial Ice Stars have performed for more than three million people across five continents on tours in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, UK, Germany, Spain, Holland, France, Belgium, Finland, Monaco, South Africa, Beirut, Israel, China, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Abu Dhabi, Canada and Russia.

In summer 2013, they performed four different shows in four consecutive weeks in four different countries. The Nutcracker in Thailand, Swan Lake in Israel, Cinderella in Abu Dhabi and Sleeping Beauty in the UK with that stretch of the tour finishing in the West End with The Nutcracker at The London Palladium.

Over the 2014-15 touring period, a total of 484 visa applications were filled in by the company manager.

Since the last time they were in South Africa, an average member of the company has travelled about 185 074km. In a Boeing 747 that would take 230 hours and is the equivalent of going around the Earth nearly five times.

Some of the skating moves performed by the Imperial Ice Stars have never been attempted before, either in competition or on the stage (not even at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics), and are so complex they haven’t been named yet. Some of The Imperial Ice Stars started skating at the age of three and collectively they have won over 300 competition medals.

Forty-four people tour with the show, including performers, technicians and a doctor with another 17 people required at each venue. Six languages are spoken on tour, with rehearsals and notes mainly in Russian and the backstage crew speaking mainly English. They rehearse nine or more hours a day, six days a week for seven weeks to put the show together.

The freight weight of the whole show is 25 000kg, the equivalent of 70 grand pianos.

14 tons of ice are created in the production – the same weight as nearly three elephants.

2 500 litres of anti-freeze are used – enough to fill 100 car cooling systems.

The ice reaches temperatures of minus 15ºC, three times colder than your household freezer.

The production uses 15km of pipes under the ice rink to distribute the anti-freeze.

In a theatre, the ice rink takes over 140 man-hours to build, but only 30 man-hours to dismantle.