A love story with a twist. A turn. And maybe a few double axels ... Meet Robin Johnstone and Andrew Buchanan. Both from Canada, the pair are currently touring in the ice spectacular, Disney On Ice presents Princess Wishes, portraying the Aladdin pair. While Aladdin (Andrew) finds his princess Jasmine (Robin) on the ice, he also made her his real-life princess when the pair married recently!
ourbrisbane.com caught up with Robin and Andrew to find out more about their own love story.
We started by asking them when they knew they wanted to be ice skaters.
"I started figure skating to improve my hockey skills," Andrew said. "A year later I entered my first competition and won. That was it, I was hooked!"
Robin started a bit younger than Andrew - when she was just two years old.
"Everyone skates in Canada," she said. "I began taking lessons at five and have loved it ever since."
She's worked hard at her skills, with gruelling hours of training.
"As a competitor I skated about 5-6 hours a day," Robin said. "Putting a new show together is about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for about 5-6 weeks. While we are on the road, we train about 1 hour a day to maintain fitness and skills."
The pair met in 2000 on another Disney on Ice production, Jungle Adventures, and started dating two years later.
A love story with a twist."I always thought that Robin was a knock out," Andrew said. "We knew of each other when we were younger, as the ice-skating world is quite small. But as I was a bit younger, and probably hadn't hit puberty, she didn't notice me right away. Then we ended up becoming best friends, and now we are still best friends AND married!"
We asked them what they liked most about each other.
"I love Andy's enthusiasm about everything he does," Robin said. "He is very motivated and loves meeting people."
Andrew couldn't limit himself to one thing about Robin. "Robin is the funniest person I know," he said. "She always puts others before herself."
Many people would find it difficult to spend all day every day with their partner, but this couple loves it.
"It's great," Andrew said. "We know each other better than anyone. I would say, be grateful for all the time you get to spend together. Most people aren't so lucky!"
We asked them what they'd be doing if they weren't skating.
"I would be playing in a band for sure," Andrew said. "Guitar is my other passion."
For Robin it wasn't quite so easy. "Skating will always be a part of my life in some capacity," she said. "Maybe coaching or something else in the show."
Princess Wishes is on at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre from 9-12 July 2009.
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