Jamie Salé is spending a lot less time on the ice, but her passion to perform is still as strong as ever.
Salé and partner David Pelletier will be one of the main attractions during Friday’s Holiday Festival on Ice (7 p.m., Mosaic Place). The figure skating extravaganza will also feature Kurt Browning, Jeffery Buttle, Joannie Rochette and Kimmie Meissner.
“Wherever we are — it doesn’t matter what city we’re in — we love what we do,” said Salé. “We pour our heart and soul out every time. Because it matters to us. We take our job very seriously.”
Salé and Pelletier divorced in 2010 after four years of marriage, but they have remained skating partners and their love for skating hasn’t diminished any. Yet, the couple has a four-year-old son named Jesse and Salé said it is hard to be away from him.
“I love, love performing so much,” said Salé who has been skating professionally for more than nine years. “When I was younger it was great to make a living at it and doing so many shows. Now it’s all about my son. I just really miss being at home with him. He’s at such a fun age and I know I’m missing out whenever I’m gone.”
Salé said that she and Pelletier would normally skate in 80-100 shows a season when they first turned professional, but now she has cut that down to about 20 at the most.
“We’re really slowing down significantly,” said Salé. “I didn’t do anything all fall. We’re doing some Christmas shows this winter and then some shows in February and maybe Stars On Ice and that will be it this season.”
The Holiday Festival on Ice is only making three stops on their tour after debuting Wednesday in St. John’s, NL.
“The show was phenomenal. We had a sold out crowd and having the Canadian Tenors live was phenomenal for us,” said Salé. “It’s really nice to go to cities and towns that don’t get skating very often because there’s just such a greater appreciation for every little thing we do. That was apparent (Wednesday) that they were so grateful to have the skaters and everybody there.”
Salé and Pelletier won pairs gold along with Russia’s Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
