American Ice Theatre

*Photo Credit, Grace Wiley “Let’s Dance” 2014 Chicago / (AIT Utah Director) Stephanie Chace Bass, Mauro Bruni and Yebin Mok.

Check out this new article written by AIT founder Jodi Porter 

The short answer is “Yes” – well at leased I’d like to believe so having spent all of my adult life working toward the ambition of the art of skating by studying, dancing, choreographing, advocating, educating and producing skating as an art form extended from dance.

There are skaters who have “crossed-over” to dance and held professional careers in both. Historically here are some worth mentioning: Ricky Harris being perhaps the first, as a skater turned dancer receiving her PHD in Choreography from the University of California Irvine under the wing of Eugene Loring and then translating the choreography information back to skating, publishing her book Choreography and Style for Figure Skaters . Katherine Healy performing professionally in both Ballet and Figure Skating. David George a pair skater and professional Ballet dancer. David Liu, international skater and dancer. John Curry, who could have been a professional dancer, collaborated with many dance choreographers to bring classical skating style to the ice.

Pioneering companies such as The Next Ice Age who performed at the Kennedy Center, with awards from the NEA for their work bringing dance to the ice as well as Ice Theatre of NY who’s collaborations with dance greats such as Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, and Edward Veiella who have added to their 30 year repertory.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in making in the connection between dance and skating. The television show “Dancing with the Stars” bringing figure skating Olympians to ballroom dance has promoted idea to the general public in a very real way. Now Kristi Yamaguchi, Evan Lysacek, Meryl Davis and Charlie White can now also be seen and thought of as a dancers or skaters who can dance. Young coaches and choreographers have taken the leap into performing with dance companies, pursuing formal education and beginning the translation of dance to the ice.

Audrey Weisiger’s Young Artist Showcase (YAS) encourages skaters to express themselves as artists through a series of choreographic challenges presented on-line while using both skating and dance judges to adjudicate. New productions such as Parker Pennington’s Skate Dance Dream are bringing skaters and dancers together in one production.

As founder of American Ice Theatre, I’ve tried to bring my experience in dance and the arts to further the cause by providing accessible educational programs that make it easier for coaches/choreographers to gain practical information of dance and the translation to the ice.

The development of American Ice Theatre’s training program provides a new education tool for the transition of dance to ice with three major on-line programs. Master Choreography Techniques certification teaches the fundamentals of dance choreography: TIME / SPACE / ENERGY and FORM. This program which provides a framework for practical application on the ice has changed how choreographers speak and refer to choreography as an art. Learning the proper vocabulary and being able to critically asses work has help broadened the scope of skating to an art. AIT Workshops have taken place from Utah to Chicago.

Ballet for Figure Skaters founded by Annette Thomas has also made a concrete impact on the connection from dance to ice. Publishing two books and implementing a coaches certification program that teaches coaches the methodology of Vanagova based pedagogy from the inside out both on and off the ice. Teachers training is offered on-line beginning June 2015.

The third of AIT’s program offerings available on-line is Dance2Ice Barre: a modern dance approach to three dimensional movement on the ice. This DVD and certification program provides an in depth look at five basic core movements prominent in modern dance and translated to group exercises on the ice. Graduates are offering classes from Scotland to Canada and in the US.

Success of AIT’s education and practical applications have reached new heights in the past four years. With over 35 AIT graduates from all over the world including the US, Canada, Scotland, Vienna, and Singapore coaches are making artistic strides. AIT graduates have made great showings in the Young Artist Showcase including winners Zabato Bebe, and on-line winners Madeline Stammen and Mauro Bruni with runner-ups Garrett Kling and current YAS finalist Katie Stewart.

Thanks to the pioneers of Ice Theatre and the current direction of artistic skating, the foundation has been planted, performance opportunities continue as well as education and training to pursue artistic focus. The question is, have we reached our potential? Can figure skating exist not only to pursue competition, but can it exist with training and performance as the end goal?? I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on this…