Non-Stop Skating Doesn't Melt Ice Rink Star's Zest for Work

$contem-Kramer bie Smith portrays super-sleuth 'Jane Blonde' in the Ice Capades,. Non-Stop Skating Doesn't Mejt Ice Rink Star's Zest for Work fine-tuned By Todd Webb Barbie Smith is a professional skater with the Ice Capades, an athlete who has some serious thoughts about the rigors of entertaining on ice. At 25, the often-airborne athlete is a veteran of four years of strenuous touring in an itinerary that would melt the blades of a lesser performer. "We will often do nine shows in six days," she said before a Monday night performance in Dallas. Her slashing skates will make their way to Oklahoma City today for a series of shows beginning Friday at the State Fair of Oklahoma. Not that she even hinted at fatigue. "We spend about eight to 10 months on the road," she said, but "everyone here enjoys what they're doing, and that's the key to most everything you do. You like it and always find the energy for it - ycu drink a lot of coffee," she said. "There's a lot of mental preparation that goes into it before we ever step into the arena. And we really do enjoy what we're doing. There are days, like anything else, when you're tired, but when you get out there you don't even notice it. You don't think twice about it. "You have to pace yourself," she said. "We have a lot of shows on the weekend and we try not to burn out. You want to make each person coming to that one performance feel that show is unique. We may do 20 shows in one week, but they're only seeing that one." Part of her daily dose of adrenalin stems from the lights, the music and especially the applause, which Miss Smith described as "a thrill that never goes away. It's something that you work all your life for." -. : ... One of Miss Smith's roles in the revue is a James Bond send-up, wherein the skater portrays Jane Blonde, an outer-space female spy. ..: "That's what ve call character skating, where you have a production number and a story line, incorporating some acting into skating. It!s all tongue-in-cheek a spoof. It's not myself out there. It's Jane Blonde that does that. I have to become that person doing that role." Barbie Smith began skating at age 6, likening the rink to a baby sitter. Soon her icy playground was a nine-hour-a-day obsession, as the skater strived to achieve competitive status. She then had to work feverishly tb"fe-turn to competitive skating after a stress fracture nearly dashed her career in 1976. "That was a very difficult time in my life,", she said. "I had to put everything in perspective and pick up the pieces." . Pick up the pieces she did, returning to form:in less than a year and winning a silver medal in the 1977 U.S. National Championships. "You have to work for success," she says. "There are always going to be times when you get stuck. You have to be willing to work through those bad times." '$