For this Disney on Ice skater, her job is a complete joy

It’s a long way from Nashville, Tenn. to the ShoWare Center in Kent, but it’s just the beginning for Soniah Spence, who will take the ice as part of Disney On Ice’s “Worlds of Fantasy” show.

“We started this year in June,” Spence said of the 30-city tour in phone interview Thursday. “Basically, every week we go to a new city.”

So far she has seen the East Coast and now the Pacific Northwest and when the show finishes its run in the States, she is headed to Australia.

On the ice, Spence plays the role of Iridessa, the light fairy as part of “Pixie Hollow,” the second half of the show, a friend of Tinker Bell’s whose power is manipulating light.

“My role is to help her find her talent,” Spence said, adding that in the end, it is about Tinker Bell accepting herself for who she is and helping bring on spring.

But Spence, 21, didn’t start out a fairy. Inspired by Michelle Kwan, she began skating at the age of 11 and skated competitively for 10 years, racking up four first-place finishes and a handful of second-, third- and fourth-place awards in her career.

But in 2008, Spence packed up her competitive skates and postponed her studies at Tennessee State University and applied for Disney’s program.

Spence said she started to lose the drive that led her into competitive skating and it just became too much pressure and too much work, taking the fun out of it.

“When you start skating, everybody thinks you’re going to be in the Olympics,” she said.

But she still loved to skate and loved to perform, making her current gig almost perfect.

“Right now, I have an awesome job,” she said. “It’s so much fun.”

Spence said the best part of her job is being able to see kids’ faces light up as they take the ice.

This year’s Disney on Ice show opens with a performance base from the move “Cars,” with life-size, talking cars on the ice. According to a press release, the cars are not skaters, but customized animatronics that are designed to look as though they drive right on to the ice.

“The kids love it,” Spence said. “They don’t expect to see full-sized cars.”

From there, the ice transitions into “Lion King” and “Little Mermaid” segments before the big “Pixie Hollow” segment that closes the whole show.

“Everything’s really colorful and dramatic,” she said.

“Pixie Hollow” is based on a new Disney movie that tell the story of Tinker Bell before she meets Peter Pan.

Spence said she has been a fan of Disney movies for her entire life and said her grandmother used to send every move that came out.

“Aladdin would be my favorite,” she said.

Spence said while she loves performing, her favorite aspect of the tour is the relationships she has built with the rest of the cast and crew, who spend almost all of their time together.

“My best friends now are the people I’ve been with for the past year,” she said.

Spence said she plans to go back to school when all of this is over, but for now she is just enjoying her time on the ice, without having to worry about a competition and enjoys putting on a good show.

“It’s really great for the kids,” she said. “Everybody finds something they really like.”

DISNEY ON ICE

• WHEN & WHERE: Nov. 11-15 at the ShoWare Center.

• TIMES: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11-13; 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14; and 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Nov. 15.

• TICKETS: $65 for floor/rinkside seats, $40 for VIP and $24, $18 and $16 for the rest of the seats. Everyone ages 2 and older must have a ticket.

Fans can buy two tickets for the price of one (except for front row and VIP seats) on opening night Nov. 11.

• BUY THEM: On the Web, go to ShoWare Center’s Web site. Or call 253-856-6999 or visit the arena box office at 625 W. James Street. The box office hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• MORE INFO: disney.go.com/disneyonice.