Jimmy Hake rapidly skated around the ice at the Covelli Centre, practicing for his performance with Cirque Du Soleil’s “Crystal” before it opened on Wednesday night.
Hake, a Mahoning Valley native, was jumping off intricately placed ramps placed throughout the ice, getting a feel for his turns and landing marks.
Once, he over jumped, then slipped and slammed into the low wall that divided the ice from the seats. The sound echoed, but it appeared to look worse than it felt. Hake got right back up.
“I crash hard all the time so it’s nothing new to me. It was more the turn I made than the jump,” he said.
Hake’s experience with high-flying tricks and body-aching falls goes all the way back to when he was five years old and inline skating in his hometown of Boardman.
“After I learned how to skate, I started seeing people doing tricks and thought I wanted to do that,” he said.
Hake’s passion for inline skating eventually led him to a career in extreme sports. He gained enough skill to gather sponsors to help pay for his gear and become an X Games qualifier in 2004 and a Montreal Classic winner.
Last August, Cirque Du Soleil saw videos online of Hake skating and reached out to him. Hake said he didn’t have try out or audition.
“They reached out to me and wanted to find out if I can do what I do on ice skates and I guess they liked me because they wanted me to join,” he said.
Hake said he had little experience on ice skates, let alone performing stunts in them. He noticed some differences immediately.
“I ice skated a little bit as a kid, but not much, so it was a big transition for me. I’m working on the technique of skating and trying to get used to the sharp turns.”
The skates that Hake uses in the show are top-of-the-line hockey skates. They help with skating around the rink at high speeds, but aren’t really meant for jumping off ramps. He said there’s currently no skate created specifically for what he does.
After being selected, Hake said he also helped contribute to the creation of Cirque Du Soleil’s production of “Crystal.”
Julie Desmarais, publicist for Cirque Du Soleil, said the show is principally about a girl name Crystal who is trying to find herself in a sometimes dull and confusing world. (Metro Monthly electronic image by John Stran)Julie Desmarais, publicist for Cirque Du Soleil, said the show is principally about a girl name Crystal who is trying to find herself in a sometimes dull and confusing world.
Hake is part of a dramatic group sequence near the end of the first half of “Crystal” where extreme sports meets hockey. Other parts of the show involved more graceful figure skating, juggling, acrobats and a trapeze performance by the female lead.
Jimmty Hake is part of a dramatic group sequence near the end of the first half of “Crystal” where extreme sports meets hockey. (Metro Monthly electronic image by John Stran)In Cirque Du Soleil, Hake shares the ice with elite skaters with some having a background in professional hockey and Olympic ice skating. Crystal contained 40 performers hailing from a wide variety of countries.
One performer is Lkhagva-Ochir Erdene-Ochir from Mongolia. His talent involves balancing, at sometimes alarming heights, on his hands and contorting the lower half of his body to do splits and bend forwards and back. In order to do this, Ochir said he does a lot of stretching and workouts involving his own body weight, things like handstands and pushups.
Another performer is a juggler named Jorge Petit who is from Chile.
Petit said he started juggling at 16 just for fun. His association with Cirque began a year ago when he took a trip from Chile, up to Canada to try out. The goal to become a skating juggler was something Petit’s family did not fully support.
“They don’t really understand it,” Petit said. “My family all have normal jobs, so for me to become a professional juggler was very strange to them.”
Conversely, Hake appeared to have a family supportive of his most-recent endeavor. Family members attended the opening-night performance at the Covelli Centre and a pre-show event the day before at OH WOW!
Off the ice, Hake said he still inline skates, but is not competing while he’s on the road with Cirque. He said he’s also trying to become a better ice skater.
Cirque Du Soleil’s “Crystal” continues at 7:30 p.m. on Friday; 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Visit for ticket information, visit Covelli Centre.
Covelli Centre
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