Skater Stories: Nicholas West
Despite not taking up skating until his late teens, Nicholas is thriving with Disney On Ice.
Disney On Ice skater Nicholas West is proof you don’t have to start young to pursue your dreams — or even know what they are. Nicholas didn’t start skating until he was almost 20 years old, but now he’s touring with Disney On Ice. He took some time out of his busy schedule with “Let’s Dance,” now touring the Western United States and Canada, to talk to me about his journey, his dream role, and why Lutz haters are wrong.
Q: I want to start sort of all the way at the beginning. You have a different story from most of the skaters I’ve talked to because you didn’t start skating until you were in your late teens. So I’m curious, what made you decide to take up the sport?
A: I HAD been a gymnast for most of my life. I started gymnastics when I was like seven. And I did it up until I was 17, and at that point I had this really bad injury to my right arm, and I had to have a couple of surgeries. So gymnastics wasn’t really an option anymore. So I was like, ‘okay, well, that sucks. Got to find something else.’ And I just kind of took the next two years. I was going to school and just working, and I just was kind of looking for that next thing to fill the void, you know? And I saw this video on YouTube of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s 2015 free skate from Europeans. And I was immediately obsessed with it. The costume was so good. The program itself was so good. I was like, ‘okay, now hold on, hold on. I need to get into this.’
It was four months before my 20th birthday at that point. And I had a friend in high school who had skated. So I got in touch with her, and she helped get me on the right track as far getting fitted for boots, and working with a coach. I really went in blind. I didn’t know if I would actually like doing it or not. But immediately I was hooked. At one point I would be at the rink for sometimes 20, 25 hours a week while I was working full time. It genuinely took over my life.
Q: At what point did you realize that you could turn this into a career?
A: I THINK this was maybe a year and a half in. Sarah France, who skates for Ice Theatre of New York, she came to my rink and did a seminar there. She was talking to everybody about show skating as an option, and it literally hadn’t even crossed my mind at that point. I was training with the mindset of ‘okay, maybe if I can get good enough, I’ll be able to compete or something.’ But then she came in and did the seminar and talked about show skating, and I was like, ‘wait, this actually really resonates with me a lot more.’ So I started talking with her about it. Because she was based in Minneapolis at the time, I ended up driving up there ‘cause I lived about four hours away. So I would drive up to Minneapolis for a couple weeks at a time, and she introduced me to some other people who had skated in shows, and it snowballed from there.
Q: How did you get connected with Disney On Ice?
A: THE VERY first show that I did professionally was at SeaWorld Orlando. And that was in 2018. And our stage manager at the time was Chantal Stringer, who now does casting for Disney. She had reached out to me in late 2020 because D35 was going to be restarting in February 2021. Since I had worked with her in the past and we had this rapport and we knew each other, she reached out to me and thought I would be good for it, which I’m so, so grateful for, because Disney hadn’t really been on my radar at that point. I was leaning more towards doing park shows. But I’m so grateful that she did. I did get hooked into the Disney family because I cannot see myself doing anything else. It is the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done, which is so cool, because I’ve never felt anything like that before in my life.
Q: What was your first impression of joining D35, the cast, and taking part in a show that has a lot of different segments?
A: IT HONESTLY was a little intimidating at first, especially because 35 has so many other elements to it besides just the skating. They have the Spanish web, they’ve got sway poles, they have the tumble tracks, so many different things. And then on top of that, a lot of the people that were in that cast were returning from 35’s first season. And so everyone already knew each other. I was going in totally blind, and it was pretty intimidating at first, but thankfully, everyone was really, really welcoming and supportive, and it was kind of easy to get into a groove.
Q: In a way, you’re repeating that this year because you’re again joining a show that is in its second season. So what has it been like hopping on with D38?
A: IT’S DEFINITELY been easier than joining a tour for the very first time, just because there are a lot of people on this show that I’ve been lucky enough to work with in the past on other units. There are a lot of familiar faces, which has been nice. Also, at this point, I feel a lot more secure in my abilities, and I feel much better prepared to kind of go out into these new ventures, I suppose. There’s this comfort of finding a unit that you really like and staying on it for season after season after season. But with joining a new one, I still have that sense of, not anxiety, but you don’t know how things are going to play out. You know, like, how the show is going to resonate with you, I suppose, is a good way to put it. But I feel very lucky, because everything has gone really wonderfully so far.
Q: What is a typical day like for you when you’re out on tour?
A: AS FAR as the off days go, depending on the city, I do like to kind of go out and explore. And it’s nice because since we’re doing a West Coast tour, I had done one two years ago, and it’s a pretty similar schedule, so I kind of know the cities I want to go out in, go see things. But then as far as once we open, I really like to try and lock in as much as I can. If we have opening day, I’ll usually get in around 12, one o’clock, something like that. And I just like to get in, be there early, and kind of get my bearings, walk the venue, feel things out, and just familiarize myself with the space. I think with the nature of this job and being in different places every single week, whatever you can do to help ground yourself is going to work wonders for your psyche and just help you feel really comfortable and settled into what you’re doing. So, I like to get in pretty early, get my bearings, and then we get into our opening night edge class, we have our warm ups, and showtime from there.
Q: You mentioned going to a lot of different cities. You also, as part of the show, portray a lot of different roles. So what is it like preparing for all of that, and not just going in, doing necessarily the same role every single night?
A: IT CAN be a little bit nerve-wracking at first, but that’s why I think it’s really important for anyone on these shows to really, really familiarize themselves with all the numbers. That was a mistake I made my first year on tour. There were a couple numbers that I wasn’t that weren’t a part of my track, and it wasn’t very often that I would spare them, so anytime I would have to go into them , it would feel like my throat was closing up. I couldn’t breathe. I’d be panicking about it, you know? So I think familiarizing yourself with all of the numbers and just being prepared for anything is the best thing you can do. And then as far as going into any specific roles, my methodology for it is, especially if it’s new to me, even if I’ve seen whatever movie it’s from, I like to rewatch it again and kind of really get a feel for how that character is, how they behave, their interactions with other people, Just everything I can absorb about them, so I can do my best to put that into what I’m giving the crowd.
Q: Do you have a favorite role that you’ve gotten to portray so far?
A: I THINK my favorite one I’ve done so far is Hans. Just because I have kind of a thing for Disney villains. I think it’s so fun and, a lot of them, it’s really campy and kitchy. I really liked it, and luckily my partner for anytime that I would go in, my Anna was Natalie [Dayvault], and she was so much fun to work with. We had a really, really good connection, which almost made it better for me than doing something that would be a complete solo role. We get to feed off of each other’s energy, whereas if you’re doing something all by yourself, like, it’s not to say that you can’t bring that same level, but having someone else to bounce that energy off of and give it back to the crowd with was really, really cool. So, I think that’s definitely been my favorite so far.
Q: In D35 as Hans, do you get to do the kiss fake out?
A: I WAS actually Hans on D34 when I got to do it. So honestly, that made it all the more special to me because getting to have the opportunity to portray Hans on the Frozen show was so cool. Because of how much we were able to fit into that first act, we had the kiss fakeout scene towards the end of it, and I’ll never forget, it was so funny. The first time that Natalie and I did that scene, we brought our faces up to each other, and right when I’m showing my true colors, I just had my index finger on the tip of her nose, and I just flicked her nose back, and she fell in the most dramatic way possible. And it took everything in me not to start cackling right there. It was so good.
Q: D34 right now is Frozen and Encanto, and one of my favorite parts of that show is “Surface Pressure” and the dancing donkeys. I know that you’ve gotten to portray that, so what is that experience like?
A: THERE IS nothing else in my life that I have ever done that I could compare to that, really. The costumes themselves are so ridiculous in the best way. We have these big bodysuits underneath the donkey costumes to really help build them out. For the scenes right afterwards, you’re supposed to try and act like an actual donkey, but in the number before that, you’re just, like, going crazy and throwing out all of these nutty dance moves. It’s... It’s really, um... I don’t know, unique. I can’t really think of a good word for it. I’ve never done anything like that before. So, it was very much something that I had to work at, the first few times.
Q: Is there a role that you haven’t gotten to portray yet that you’d really like to do someday?
A: YES, I really want to do Scar, which is another reason I’m so happy I’m on 38 for this season. Because again, there’s something about the Disney Villains that I just love. And the way that Adam Blake and Arielle Trujillo worked on the Scar solo, what they did with it, is so good. That would genuinely be a dream come true.
Q: I want to go back to, because you mentioned Holiday on Ice at SeaWorld, and that’s a park show where you’re at the same venue every night. So, do you have a preference? Would you prefer to be at the same place every night or do you enjoy traveling around the world with Disney?
A: THERE ARE pros and cons to both for sure. And I think it really kind of varies person to person. For me personally, I think right now touring is better for me. Just because I’ve noticed in the past when I’ve done jobs where I kind of stay in one place, it’s still temporary enough that you don’t really feel like you can put down roots. So even though it is a more grounded setting, it’s still not the same as being at home, having your own place, and really just getting to build your own life, you know? Whereas with tour, I know exactly what to expect, and I guess I’m just used to it by now, but, I think the pros for this definitely outweigh the cons. At least for me personally.
Q: Do you have a favorite city that you’ve gotten to visit with Disney?
A: I’D SAY domestically, my favorite city has been Boston. Something about that kind of old school style of architecture and just the entire layout of the city. It was so beautiful and just really, really cool. And I have some really good friends there that I got to visit. So I had a couple of tour guides to kind of show me around. And then internationally, I think the coolest place I’ve been to with Disney is Hong Kong. I had never been to anywhere in Asia before. And it was just like stepping into another world, and it was, it was very, very surreal and very cool.
Q: When you were there, did you get to go to Hong Kong Disneyland?
A: I DID, yeah. We actually had a raffle for tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland, and I won one of them.
Q: When you go to a Disney park as a Disney on Ice skater, do you make it a point to meet the characters that you have portrayed?
A: I TRY to. I actually haven’t been to a lot of Disney parks. So at the point in time when I had been to them, the only face character that I had been was Hans, and I did not find him at either of the parks that I went to, unfortunately.
Q: I know they have a Frozen Land at Hong Kong, but Hans is not one of the characters there.
A: YEAH. NOT yet, but you know, one of these days, depending on who I end up getting to be, I will get to meet someone.
Q: Now let’s do a little lightning round here. What is your favorite move to perform on the ice?
A: My favorite move is butterfly.
Q: Your all-time favorite Disney song?
A: Oh, oh, that’s hard. Oh, what’s the name of it? Um, It’s from Encanto. It was, I don’t know the name of it, but it’s the, it’s the one towards the end of the movie where Abuela and Mirabel are reconnecting.
Q: Dos Oruguitas?
A: Yes!
Q: All-time favorite Disney movie?
A: The Little Mermaid
Q: All-time favorite figure skating movie?
A: Oh, I’ve got to say Ice Princess.
Q: There are six basic types of jumps in figure skating: Loop, Toe Loop, Flip, Salchow, Lutz and Axel. Which one is your most hated?
A: Flip, by far, which is actually insane because my favorite jump is Lutz, and my flip is on an outside edge. So my flip is a Lutz, but when I set it up with the mindset of flip, everything goes wrong, and literally, it’s a disaster.
Q: That’s like the reverse of everyone else, because everyone else turns their Lutz into a flip.
A: Everyone that I talk to about this, they take me for being crazy, but no, Lutz supremacy all day, every day.
Q: Last but not least, one piece of advice you would give to anyone starting out in skating.
A: I would say don’t compare yourself to anybody else, and make sure you’re doing it because you love doing it. Do it for yourself. No other reason.
You can see Nicholas in Disney On Ice: Let’s Dance throughout this season. The show will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba this weekend, one of three stops it makes in Canada this month. I’ll be catching it later this year in Los Angeles. And you can follow Nicholas’s adventures on the road on Instagram.