A Story of Love & Cats at Disney on Ice
Where in the world?
Figure skater Jessica Hatfield doesn’t always know where she is or where she’s going next. As a performer in Disney on Ice: Follow Your Heart she is constantly on the go, skating somewhere new every week. This week it’s Carnie, Nebraska then she will slowly make her way across the country towards Fairfax, VA where her East Coast family is planning on paying her a visit and watching her skate. After ten years of skating professionally, Jessica is used to being on the road. So far, in addition to skating two years with Disney on Ice, she has also skated on cruise ships around the world and under five contracts with Holiday on Ice throughout Europe.
A real-world Prince Charming
Many skaters become lonely and homesick on the road, but there is a good reason Jessica does not and has been able to travel happily for so long. While skating with Holiday on Ice in the Netherlands, Jessica met her husband, Brendyn Hatfield, and the two then-solo skaters started practicing as a pair to increase their chances of getting to skate on the same show long-term.
Their plan paid off when they landed not just one, but two, pairs scenes with Disney on Ice. Jessica and Brandyn now get to skate two very different characters each week together as Jesse and Woody from Toy Story and Jazmin and Aladdin from the popular fairytale. Jessica feels very fortunate to be able to skate not just with her husband, but also to get to perform such different stories in Disney on Ice. As Jesse in the Toy Story act she focuses on the character’s attributes while Jazmin’s routine is very technical and has more tricks than many of the princesses since Jazmin wears pants and can move more freely than a princess in a gown.
Animals everywhere
There is one sdownside to being on the road so much — Jessica cannot have a pet of her own. Jessica has always been an advocate for animals and pets every dog she sees while on the road. When traveling, Jessica always looks for interesting things to do on her days off and loves it when she finds activities involving animals. When skating in the DC area she plans on visiting a Cat Café and when she gets closer to home in New Jersey she plans on visiting an animal sanctuary Jon Stuart recently opened there. One of the reasons she loves visiting her family is that she gets to see not just her parents but the cat Dolly she and her husband rescued while on the road in Tennessee. Next year, she hopes to tour Asia with Disney on Ice and is looking forward to experiencing the “cat culture” of Japan.
A perfect future
Although Jessica loves Disney on Ice and does not plan on stopping performing with them any time soon, she is looking forward to a time when she and her husband are able to open their own animal sanctuary and farm.
Once this dream becomes a reality, Jessica will miss the magic of Disney on Ice shows and hearing kids in the audience sing and laugh along with her as she skates. She will miss seeing the tricks her fellow performers have mastered, such as Rapunzel flying on silks and Ariel swinging from a webbed rope high above the ice.
But, fortunately she will have other animals to keep her company, this time at home, when she is no longer seeing Dory, Mickey, and Goofy every day on the ice.