Nancy Churnin

It's hard to picture Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen without her skates. But she will enter without them in her favorite number in Smucker's Stars on Ice: Live and in Color on Monday at American Airlines Center.

"I get carried around a lot," the 23-year-old California native says by phone, sounding jazzed during a tour stop in Seattle, Wash., as she explains that she plays a doll that comes to life. "It's a Cirque du Soleil-like number."

Smucker's Stars on Ice is produced by Olympic champion Scott Hamilton, who founded the production in 1986. This edition of the show, which has won three Emmys in its 22 years, features an abundance of skating talent, so you can expect a lot of highflying razzle-dazzle. But you can also look for that ineffable something more, thanks to Ms. Cohen, who has made her mark with the emotion she brings to her dazzling execution.

"It is huge for me when I find something special in the music or the story. Everyone gets frustrated with me because I never do it the same way twice," the 5-foot-2-inch performer says with a laugh, acknowledging that being fully invested in the moment can pose a challenge to technical perfection. "Sometimes that can hurt. But even though skating is a sport, for me it is also a form of art."

And despite her long list of medals, Ms. Cohen, who fell in love with skating in Pasadena when she was 7, knows all about hurt and the high cost of art. She won the U.S. national championships, but fell twice in the first minute of her free skate in her 2006 Winter Olympics routine in Turin, Italy, which cost her the gold. Ever the trouper, she picked herself up swiftly as the crowd gasped and finished her still remarkable performance, coming in second.

That is why the silver medal, which sits in her living room, still fills her with mixed feelings.

"I've learned to look at it two ways," she explains. "It's a really hard memory, but it also represents being able to come back. Everyone has to deal with adversity, and it makes you stronger to get up when something goes wrong. That's what life is – getting up when you make a mistake."

Ms. Cohen not only gets up, she keeps taking chances. She's known for her portrayals of iconic figures on ice, such as Audrey Hepburn's Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady in 2004 and Juliet in that star-crossed 2006 Romeo and Juliet free skate. Last year, she played herself in the film Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell and took on roles in Moondance Alexander with Don Johnson and Bratz . And she aspires to do more acting.

"I love stepping into another character and exploring my emotions and possibilities," she says. "I think it's amazing."

At the same time, she has no plans to leave skating. She wouldn't mind getting another shot at the gold in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"Anything in life truly worth the attaining and achieving is worth persevering for," she says.

In the meantime, she says it's important to take life one step at a time, and for now that means focusing on having a blast as a full-time cast member in Smucker's Stars on Ice, after being a guest star for nine shows last year.

"It's such a great show because it has so many creative little transitions," she says, as she gets ready to step into the rink for another rehearsal. "We've spent a lot of time bonding and finding ways we can make it even better and more exciting."

Monday at 7 p.m. at American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. Ticketmaster.

$25 to $110 adults, $12.50 to $110

ages 2 to 12. Save $10 per ticket for groups of 15 or more, $11 for Scouts (patch included). A portion of the proceeds from each ticket will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

STAR-STUDDED LINEUP

In addition to Sasha Cohen, skaters in the ice show include:

MICHAEL WEISS: Two-time world bronze medalist and three-time U.S. national champion

KYOKO INA and JOHN ZIMMERMAN: World bronze medalists and three-time U.S. national pairs champions

JENNIFER ROBINSON: Six-time Canadian national champion

XUE SHEN and HONGBO ZHAO: Three-time world pairs champions and two-time Olympic bronze medalists

MARIE-FRANCE DUBREUIL and PATRICE LAUZON: Two-time world silver medalists and five-time Canadian national ice dance champions