Site search
sponsored by
sponsored by
33°F 
Monday December 1st
Monday December 1st 
| Welcome, Guest |
|
| LOGIN | Become a Member | What's This? |
Please enter the following information:
| Email or Screen Name: | |
| Password: | |
| Remember Me | |
|
Forgot Password?
Become a Member |
Close Window |
Classifieds
ENLARGE
U.S. Figure Skating’s National Showcase Competition in Rochester, Minn., was recently the stage for three local skaters, including two from Snowmass Village. Lucie Shore and Julia Anderson and Basaltine Liesl Bellack recently returned from the midwest with a pocketful of medals.
This unique competition features theatrical figure skating, which fuses artistic creativity, skills and showmanship for single skaters and for duets and small groups of three or more.
Single skaters can compete in three separate categories: light entertainment, dramatic entertainment and extemporaneous improvisation. The light entertainment has more funky costumes and music from musicals and movies, according to Shore, while the dramatic is more serious, usually with classical music.
In order to compete in the Showcase, the three teens had to qualify by placing in the top four in local and regional competitions. About 150 skaters from around the U.S. descended on Rochester for the three-day event, August 7–9.
In single competition Liesl Bellack, who skated at the Intermediate Level, won gold in the extemporaneous and fourth place in dramatic entertainment. Skating at the Teen Level, Julia Anderson came in third in light entertainment and Lucie Shore got fourth place in extemporaneous.
The extemporaneous improvisation competition was an eye-opener for the Snowmass Village skaters.
This competition begins when a group of skaters at the same level go in a room for about 40 minutes and hear the music they will skate to for the first time. With them, they bring a variety of props and costumes. While listening to the music they decide how they will perform the piece and what they will wear.
When the time is up, the whole group goes out on the ice and each skater works out a program while the music is played twice. Then the group goes off the ice, each skater is called out to perform their newly choreographed number.
“It was really fun,” said Anderson, who said she feels that these artistic competitions are less stressful than the freestyle ones that involve more technical moves such as jumps and spins.
“That was my first time competing in the extemporaneous improvisation. It was very interesting and fun. You have to make up the program by yourself, you can’t ask anyone for help,” said Shore. “Next year we are going to try to get more kids to compete. It’s really unique going to the Showcase. You get to see some very amazing numbers from the other skaters. The costumes and music can really get wild and it’s not as nerve-racking as the regular figure skating competitions.”
In addition to competing individually, Anderson and Shore teamed up for a duet and came back with silver medals, skating to “I Can’t Do It Alone” from “Chicago,” while Bellack won third place in the Novice Level duet with Juliana Lamb of Sun Valley.
Both Anderson and Shore spent much of their summer in Bariloche, Argentina, learning Spanish and only had about two weeks to train for the competition before heading off to Minnesota. They had choreographed their numbers with the help of their coaches Michelle Hocknell and Peggy Behr in the spring and thought about the Showcase during the summer, but their ice time was limited.
Anderson is a senior at Aspen High School and Shore is a junior.
The three local teens also won the silver medals in Mini Productions for their choreographed number to “America” from “West Side Story.”
Shore’s favorite part was the duet and trio.
“It was fun to work with other skaters. We had great costumes and make-up. It was more like putting on a show. I really enjoyed it and got to meet lots of cool people,” she said.
Ann Larson’s e-mail address is alarsonco@earthlink.net
This unique competition features theatrical figure skating, which fuses artistic creativity, skills and showmanship for single skaters and for duets and small groups of three or more.
Single skaters can compete in three separate categories: light entertainment, dramatic entertainment and extemporaneous improvisation. The light entertainment has more funky costumes and music from musicals and movies, according to Shore, while the dramatic is more serious, usually with classical music.
In order to compete in the Showcase, the three teens had to qualify by placing in the top four in local and regional competitions. About 150 skaters from around the U.S. descended on Rochester for the three-day event, August 7–9.
In single competition Liesl Bellack, who skated at the Intermediate Level, won gold in the extemporaneous and fourth place in dramatic entertainment. Skating at the Teen Level, Julia Anderson came in third in light entertainment and Lucie Shore got fourth place in extemporaneous.
The extemporaneous improvisation competition was an eye-opener for the Snowmass Village skaters.
This competition begins when a group of skaters at the same level go in a room for about 40 minutes and hear the music they will skate to for the first time. With them, they bring a variety of props and costumes. While listening to the music they decide how they will perform the piece and what they will wear.
When the time is up, the whole group goes out on the ice and each skater works out a program while the music is played twice. Then the group goes off the ice, each skater is called out to perform their newly choreographed number.
“It was really fun,” said Anderson, who said she feels that these artistic competitions are less stressful than the freestyle ones that involve more technical moves such as jumps and spins.
“That was my first time competing in the extemporaneous improvisation. It was very interesting and fun. You have to make up the program by yourself, you can’t ask anyone for help,” said Shore. “Next year we are going to try to get more kids to compete. It’s really unique going to the Showcase. You get to see some very amazing numbers from the other skaters. The costumes and music can really get wild and it’s not as nerve-racking as the regular figure skating competitions.”
In addition to competing individually, Anderson and Shore teamed up for a duet and came back with silver medals, skating to “I Can’t Do It Alone” from “Chicago,” while Bellack won third place in the Novice Level duet with Juliana Lamb of Sun Valley.
Both Anderson and Shore spent much of their summer in Bariloche, Argentina, learning Spanish and only had about two weeks to train for the competition before heading off to Minnesota. They had choreographed their numbers with the help of their coaches Michelle Hocknell and Peggy Behr in the spring and thought about the Showcase during the summer, but their ice time was limited.
Anderson is a senior at Aspen High School and Shore is a junior.
The three local teens also won the silver medals in Mini Productions for their choreographed number to “America” from “West Side Story.”
Shore’s favorite part was the duet and trio.
“It was fun to work with other skaters. We had great costumes and make-up. It was more like putting on a show. I really enjoyed it and got to meet lots of cool people,” she said.
Ann Larson’s e-mail address is alarsonco@earthlink.net
