Exeter Township School District

Leocadia Lellig of Exeter Township has passed on her freshman year at Penn State to join the Disney on Ice tour as a performer. About three weeks of intensive rehearsing is next.

At age 4, Leocadia Lellig was a bored younger sibling watching her big brother learn to skate.

Christian, now 20, never really took to the ice.

But Cadia, as she’s known to her family, convinced her mom to get her lessons, too. She wowed the Learn-to-Skate coaches at the Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex in Spring Township, and they quickly referred her to private lessons.

Now 18, Lellig will be making dreams come true this fall as part of the Disney on Ice Worlds of Enchantment show, performing alongside the likes of Ariel the Little Mermaid, “Toy Story’s” Buzz and Woody and “Frozen’s” Elsa and Anna.

An ensemble cast member, she has a nine-month contract that carries her through a new season, which starts Sept. 27.

“I always thought Disney on Ice was so cool,” said Lellig, who graduated from Exeter High School in June. “The level of skating is pretty professional. I’ve been really focused on making sure all my jumps are up to par and trying to get my double axles consistent.”

Most days this summer, she spent about 45 minutes at Body Zone’s gym working on strength and cardio training, followed by 90 minutes of skating practice on the rink downstairs.

By Lellig’s side has been Andrei Lavrentiev, her coach for almost all of her childhood.

He was there as she struggled with her first scratch spin at age 6— “That was a big episode, especially for my poor mom,” Lellig remembered — and when she traveled to Brazil to promote figure skating prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Having passed her senior free skate, Lellig could have continued to compete at the highest levels of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. But she said she prefers to put on her best performance rather than simply outdo other skaters.

That’s one reason Lavrentiev encouraged Lellig to send in an audition tape last year.

“You have to like to perform, and you have to have artistic skills,” said Lavrentiev, who spent six years with Disney on Ice before an injury led him to coaching. “When you’re competing, you might do it once a month. In Disney on Ice, you have to perform every day — and you have to be happy and smile no matter what.”

Lellig was one of three women to audition in person for Disney last year in Newark, N.J., between two shows with current cast members. Now that she’s been named to the cast, she’s gearing up for an intense three-week rehearsal period during which she will have to learn complicated sequences, get fitted for costumes and keep up her skating endurance.

An Olympic freestyle skate runs about 4 minutes. A Disney performance can last up to two hours, and on some days, the cast squeezes in three shows.

Performers travel from city to city on buses, sharing hotel rooms and making meals on the fly. Lellig said she recently discovered she’ll be accompanied by Rachel Wegfahrt, a Lehigh Valley skater who spent the last four years at a Minnesota boarding school known for its skating program.

Lellig’s lifestyle will be a departure from what she envisioned happening this fall. Recognized by the Reading Eagle as a Berks’ Best 2018 visual arts nominee, Lellig was accepted to Penn State University, attended orientation and set up her fall class schedule.

In high school, she enjoyed art classes, earning accolades at the Berks County Intermediate Unit’s Secondary Art exhibit and a GoggleWorks art show; kept herself flexible by performing with the Berks Ballet Theatre since age 3; and performed in Exeter’s theater program in shows ranging from “Bye Bye Birdie” to “Shrek the Musical.”

When she found out she made the cut at Disney, she deferred her Penn State admission and started buying hot pots and other dorm-like accommodations for her life as an on-the-road skater.

She also stopped her job as a Learn-to-Skate instructor to focus on improving her own skills.

Once her tour starts, Lellig won’t have much access to the ice outside of her call times, Lavrentiev said.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Lellig showed off her smooth style, marked by tight layback spins, breathtakingly fast spirals and graceful waltz jumps.

When Lavrentiev cued up Michael Jackson on the rink’s audio system, she tried to string together a few of the moves that got her into Disney’s good graces. Though the exact choreography escapes her, Lellig smiled easily as she mimicked Jackson’s iconic moonwalk and a lean made famous in the “Smooth Criminal” video.

In just a few weeks, the music will be bubblier, the costumes bulkier and the fresh choreography drilled in to her.

“I’ll need to know all the numbers, to be able to do the footwork, the turning, the edge work,” Lellig said. “I think it will be fun. I’ve always loved to spin, and I like to do tricks.”