New Prague’s Cale Ambroz performs with Disney on Ice

By: 
Chuck Kajer, The New Prague Times

Disney on Ice will be playing this weekend, with eight shows at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and a New Prague native will have a featured role in the production.

Cale Ambroz, son of Chuck and Cindy Ambroz, got his start skating with the New Prague Area Figure Skating Club when he was six years old.

"I didn’t really like it. I thought it was too hard and quit," he recalls.

But a year later he gave it another try and fell in love with the sport. Eventually, he transferred to the Bloomington Skating Club, where he practiced year-round. He was a multiple time Minnesota State Champion and competed at the US Junior Nationals.

Once he decided to stop his competitive skating career in 2013, he auditioned with Disney on Ice during a tryout in St. Paul, and got the call a few months later.

On the ice, Ambroz plays the role of Hans from the Disney movie Frozen. It is his first feature role after six years skating in the ensemble cast. The season started in October and continues through July, with a onemonth break. That means he will spend most of nine months traveling around the world with the show, winding up in Colombia, South America.

Disney on Ice has a number of different touring groups, and while the show makes an annual stop in Minnesota, this will be his first time performing in his home state.

"I’ve travelled all around the world," he said. "I’ve been to Europe twice, and earlier this year I was on the Asian tour, which also took us to Australia and New Zealand.

"It’s an incredible experience. I’ve been to so many places most people only dream of," he said. It’s been a life-changing experience."

It is also a demanding experience. Last weekend they performed in Sioux Falls, SD. Starting Thursday, Disney will perform eight shows over four days at the Xcel Energy Center. Ambroz said it’s a typical schedule, with one show on Thursday, two on Friday, three on Saturday and two more on Sunday before they move on to their next stop in New York.

"It’s physically demanding," he said. "It requires a lot of strength. We work out all the time to keep in shape."

The theme for the current show is "100 Years of Magic," celebrating 100 years of Disney and Micky Mouse’s 90th birthday. The show has routines from a number of different Disney movies, both classic and more recent. Ambroz performs in the ensemble in an opening routine, and then plays Hans in a segment from the movie Frozen. He said the show is for all ages. There’s even a segment on Toy Story. While Ambroz is not in that segment, it is special to him. "One of my first skates in a show in New Prague I played Woody from Toy Story," he said.

"I’m thrilled and excited to be performing in the Twin Cities," he said. "I get the opportunity to show my friends around in my home state, and I’ve got so many friends and family members who will get to see me skate for the first time in this show," he said. He encouraged people to come and see the show this weekend.

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