PUMPED: Adam Loosely says he enjoys playing superhero Mr Incredible, saving the day every day, in Disney on Ice. Photo / Supplied
Adam Loosley, the Canadian skater who plays Mr Incredible in Disney On Ice. He's been skating since he was three years old, but swapped competing for the bright lights and bulky costumes of Disney shows five years ago.
You look quite slight in the small photo I have of you.
Why thank you, I'll take that as a compliment.
How do you bulk up for the role?
Oh Disney magic. They have a costume that builds the muscle on to me, so I step into legs that make
my legs bigger and more defined and a whole body-suit that gives me bigger shoulders, biceps, triceps, you know, the whole shebang. It weighs about eight pounds (3.6kg) so it is a challenge for me to skate in the costume. But that's normal for show skaters. It is very hot, I'm always very warm in there, that's for sure.
Your friends must be jealous that you get a muscle suit, other people don't get quite as flattering a costume by the looks.
That's right. It's good for the ego.
It's cheating a little though, not working out, just stepping into a muscle suit.
That's right but we don't have to tell anyone that.
It looks as though it might be your head though - is it?
It's my chin and my cheeks and my mouth and my eyes. The nose and the forehead is a prosthetic and the hair is a wig that is connected to the prosthetic. It gives me a receding hairline. Not attractive.
Your first Disney role was a suitcase [in Toy Story 2] is that right?
Yes! Where are you reading this? I was an orange suitcase.
Could you see?
Yes I could see but no one could see me.
Did you just have some little feet popping out the bottom?
You could barely see those. But what's funny about that is my mum came to the show for the first time. As the suitcase went by the audience I heard my mum clapping because she knew I was in there.
How difficult was that, you were used to speeding around jumping, flipping, whatever you were doing and then all of a sudden you were stuck in a bulky costume?
Oh, you know, you adapt, but I'm not in a suitcase anymore.
You have graduated. Were there any injuries at the start?
No, I have been very lucky I haven't been injured in a long time, knock on wood. But us skaters and performers have ways of keeping ourselves in good shape. We have classes each week, and then on top of that we do our shows, 12 a week sometimes, so a lot of the time that's what keeps us fit.
What is the trickiest part of your routine?
When [the Incredibles] first enter, Edna comes out and starts describing our supersuits, and we all do a little solo, where each of us get to show some tricks - that's my favourite part of the show but it's the trickiest part for me.
What do you do?
I do a double axel, a death drop - which is a big high spin, and a lot of other little tricks here and there.
Has it ever gone horribly wrong? Do you land it every time?
I wish I could say yes, but that's the beauty of live entertainment, right? There's always that risk. But when something goes wrong we get up and keep going. That's a good little thing for life isn't it? When you fall down you just get up and keep on going.
LOWDOWN
Who: Adam Loosely
What: Plays Mr Incredible in Disney on Ice.
When and where: Vector Arena from today until Sunday.
