Sam Bauman: Reno ice show relies on trick: Plastic surface

Seniors who remember dazzling ice skater Sonja Henie may want to take in the current show at the Eldorado in Reno, “Ice Fantasy, Where Cirque Meets Ice.” Seniors get $5 off the admission price for this entertaining holiday presentation.

Of course, there’s a bit of trickery involved. The cast of 11 skates on plastic. That’s lots easier then keeping ice frozen on stage. And doing all that big swings is tough on the small stage.

The producers have wisely decided that 90 minutes of pure ice skating could get a little boring, so about half of the show consists of acts having little to with ice skating. Frozen Statues is a muscle act that never touches ice, as they do tricky lift-and-balance stuff.

The weakest part of the show is a dog act where pooches skip, jump and slide. One can only feel sorry for dogs being put to such use. Where’s the SPCA?

A French lady, Melody Le Moal, also isn’t much on the ice but sure keeps things moving with tossing burning torches around while looking pretty snazzy.

Nope, no Sonja here, but seniors may remember those old movies where all she did was skate, but it was enough.

GOOD NEWS ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE

While the talking heads are bemoaning about the website mess for Affordable Care, they might want to look at some of the sites set up by individual states. Nevada’s apparently is working fine, as is the one in Minnesota, where my son Nick, a software engineer and independent contractor, recently signed up for insurance. He was paying $2,000 a month to cover himself and his wife. Now he’s forking over about $600 month for better coverage. Is he happy? He’s going to pay my airfare when I got to visit over the holidays.

SKI SEASON IS HERE FOR ALL, SENIORS INCLUDED

If the slopes are beckoning and you’re getting your ski gear out, a couple of reminders before you ride the chairlift.

If you backed down your safety bindings at the end of the last season, remember to bring the release level back to what it was when your took it down. I forgot to do that once and only realized it when I was on the lift. You can bet I skied carefully until I could tighten them up. If you don’t remember or have gained or lost weight, have the bindings checked at the ski resort first time out. They’ll usually do that for free in the interests of safety.

Did you wax your skis or snowboard before tucking them away in the garage? If not and you aren’t a do-it-yourselfer, take your boards to a ski shop, such as CV Sports off Topsy Lane. They’ll do a professional job and clean up nicks and gouges in the edges.

Waxing isn’t just for speed. Waxed skis and boards turn easier, and that’s something we all can enjoy.

If you’re just coming back to skiing or riding after years of sitting it out, be aware the skiing technique has changed over the last decade. If it’s been that long since you took to the hills, your old long, straight skis have been outdated. Today’s skis are shorter and have deep sidecuts, rendering the old reverse should technique obsolete. The reverse shoulder required the skier to turn the shoulder in the direction of the next turn and shift weight from the downhill ski to the uphill one, which became the downhill ski.

Sam Bauman writes about senior issues for the Nevada Appeal.