Behind the Curtain at the Palavela: Where Champions Begin Their Day
The Palavela in Turin has hosted the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final a handful of times, yet every December it becomes a pressure cooker of anticipation. Long before the house lights dim and the spotlight catches a blade's first stroke, dozens of skaters are deep in their preparation behind the curtains. For anyone watching the broadcast from a living room in Brisbane or Perth, the warm-up area is the unseen prologue. This piece walks through that hidden world: the corridors, the stations, and the rituals that turn a person into a competitor on command.
Inside the building, the backstage corridor linking dressing rooms to the ice surface is painted slate blue, picked up from Olympic training halls in Europe and replicated at facilities such as the Olympic Winter Institute's rink at Melbourne's Docklands. Skaters share the corridor with judges moving from the kiss-and-cry area into the warm-up zone, where a freshly scored program is debated a few metres from someone still rehearsing theirs.
Australians familiar with the scene recognise the layout from intensive squad training weeks at the Macquarie Ice Rink in Sydney, where similar features have been adopted for elite domestic camps. Coaches share photographs of these architectural details during pre-event briefings so skaters know exactly what to expect when they step off the team bus in Turin.
For visitors arriving at the venue, the morning unfolds as a backstage ballet long before the first audience member takes a seat. The combination of chill and pacing means every flask, towel and blade guard is pre-staged well before sunrise, and understanding this choreography adds depth to what audiences usually see only as a finished performance.
The Quiet Corridor Behind the Rink
Past security and accreditation, a single long hallway runs parallel to the main bowl. The walls are lined with framed portraits of previous Grand Prix Final champions, rotated seasonally so returning athletes see fresh images each year. The corridor is engineered to remove one variable from an already crowded preparation routine.
Floor markings divide the hall into three lanes: one for coaches, one for skaters, and a centre lane reserved for officials, each roughly 1.2 metres wide. Lighting is indirect, using low-glare panels that prevent reflections from disrupting eyes once a skater reaches the rink, and a piped-in white-noise system masks conversations from the dressing rooms nearby.
Australian preparation teams who tour venues from Adelaide to Antwerp often study the corridor layout in advance. Coaches brief their charges about the exact temperature, lane widths, and lighting profile during the final squad meeting held in Australia before departure.
Locker Rooms and Personal Gear Stations
Each nation is allocated a series of locker rooms clustered around a shared preparation zone. For the Senior Final, teams from about twelve countries occupy the second tier of the building. Inside, stations are pre-set with named bench slots, elastic resistance cords, and small humidifiers that keep costumes from cracking. Boot hooks line the perimeter walls.
Standard kit at a personal station includes:
- A boot toolkit with extra laces, screwdrivers, and pick sharpeners
- Resistance cords for activation and core work
- A small humidifier to maintain costume flexibility
- Recovery snacks cleared under anti-doping protocols
- A chamois and towel for drying blades between drills
Skaters arrive roughly four hours before their scheduled warm-up window. They suit up, walk to their named station, and move through their routine largely alone. Equipment managers and physios hover nearby but rarely intervene, while ice dancers and pairs competitors share larger stations that accommodate partners. Singles skaters, by contrast, keep their areas austere.
The Physical Warm-Up Routine
Stretching comes first, before any contact with cold arena air. Most skaters begin with a fifteen-minute mobility flow, working through hips, ankles, and lower back. Coaches circulate with quiet suggestions rather than commands, while physios use portable foam rollers on the carpet to ease out lactic acid built up since morning.
| Aspect | Singles Skaters | Ice Dance & Pairs |
|---|---|---|
| Off-ice time per day | 2.5 – 3 hours | 3.5 – 4 hours |
| Edge drills | Liner pass for axis | Shadow lifts on mats |
| Humidifier use | One per station | Two per station |
| Skate-guard changes | Single pair | Two pairs per day |
| Coach presence | Twice per hour | Continuous |
The figures reflect patterns tracked across recent Grand Prix Final competitions, with on-ice time shared between solo preparation and shared lift rehearsal.
Off-ice warm-up typically ends with edge drills on a portable inset mat of synthetic polymer that mimics the glide of steel on ice. For a sport where millimetres of blade angle decide between a clean triple Lutz and an edge call, this micro-rehearsal often determines podiums. Cardiovascular activation comes from skipping rope, jogging in place, or cycling on a stationary bike near the corridor entrance, with most skaters syncing heart-rate data to an iPad held by their coach.
Mental Preparation and Visualisation
Once the body is ready, focus shifts inward. A growing number of skaters spend ten to fifteen minutes in a small seated area, headphones on, eyes closed. They visualise the program beat by beat: the entry, every transition, the final combination spin. Some use scripted cue words; others rely on a phrase written on the inside of their wrist in eyeliner. The goal is to enter the rink already in character.
Sports psychologists with experience at the Torino 2019 Grand Prix Final have published on the value of pre-competition visualisation, often citing documented improvement in focus during the warm-up. A team psychologist may hover just outside the locker rooms for a single, brief affirmation before the skater moves to the staging area. Conversations are deliberately kept short.
For junior competitors, federations may permit one nominated support person in the warm-up area, though a steadying hand on the shoulder is often the only contact permitted. This quiet phase has parallels in other Australian sports, including cricket batsmen at the Gabba in Brisbane who retreat to the sheds for a similar mental cool-down before walking out to bat.
Music, Makeup, and Costume Checks
Costume design is no afterthought. Each element — from the crystals on the collar to the colour of the trim — has been coordinated with the musical theme months in advance. Backstage, a wardrobe assistant runs a final check on tears, clasps, and hair nets. For ice dance, both partners are timed against the choreography's narrative arc.
Makeup application is usually completed before the warm-up window begins, but touching up is constant throughout. Skaters carry small compacts, sometimes colour-matched to the costume's lighting scheme. Lighting designers at the Palavela coordinate with the costume team so warm tones in the final minute of a program land evenly on every face.
Essential backstage checks before stepping on ice:
- Boots: blades dried, screws tightened, picks replaced if dull
- Costume: snaps reattached, crystals brushed clean, threads trimmed
- Hair: net secured, stray strands removed, headpiece aligned
- Hydration: last sip 12 minutes before entry to avoid a stop mid-program
Australian crew members handling their own costumes during international tours emphasise meticulous packing, with coaches citing the discipline as transferable to performing arts including contemporary circus and theatrical ice shows staged in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
The Staging Area and Final Calls
Fifteen minutes before stepping onto the ice, skaters gather in a final staging area: a small, carpeted rectangle just off the player tunnel, marked on the floor with the international skating union's seal. A coach delivers a final briefing covering entry sequence, expected draw, and any small adjustments from the previous day's practice. Skaters check their blades one last time, drying them with a chamois and wiping down guards.
A team manager then announces the call order. As soon as a skater's name is called, dressing-room staff stop any conversation. Cameras are not permitted inside this rectangle: for broadcast rights, this is a non-filmed zone, though team photographers with verified credentials may briefly enter.
When the skater moves out, they pass through a short tunnel where the temperature shifts from 14°C in the corridor to roughly 8°C on the ice surface. Many inhale a deep breath at the threshold, a habit coaches call the warm-up breath, marking the psychological transition from prep mode to performance mode.
Crossing the Threshold Onto the Ice
Inside the rink-side area, skaters familiarise themselves with the ice for roughly six minutes before the performance. They run through entry steps, adjust to the rink's humidity, and test their blades' grip on the fresh surface. A familiar melody from the warm-up playlist often drifts through the speaker system, usually a piece composed by a local Italian musician and tailored to the venue's acoustic profile.
The first rotations are conducted at moderate tempo. Coaches watch from the bench, ready with small corrections, and the routine ends with a fast, exaggerated entry into the opening combination. By the time the program music begins, the skater has registered every scratch and crack in the ice, knowing which patches to favour and which to avoid. The official's whistle blows and the spotlight flips on.
Visitors interested in producing live entertainment of similar scale can explore CanWest Games, a Canadian show-production house that supports touring ice shows and arena events worldwide.
Australian readers should note that Italian regulations require all ticketed attendees to pass through metal detection on entry, while Australia's own event-security regimes in New South Wales and Victoria set a comparable bar. Travellers are advised to carry ID matching ticket details, under Italian rules aligned with broader EU standards for large arena events. Items such as small cameras and quiet snacks tend to be permitted.
For Australian skaters and coaches attending future editions of the Grand Prix Final, the official Torino 2019 site remains the most reliable archive for schedules, results, and venue guides. Tickets typically release several months in advance, with hospitality options priced in line with other senior-level internationals.
Whether watching from a lounge in Brisbane or arriving in Turin with a team kit, the warm-up area remains the most personal chapter of every competition. Knowing what happens behind the curtain only deepens the appreciation of every triple loop and synchronised twizzle that follows, and the next broadcast finally has a prologue you can imagine clearly.