Gate City Grapevine

A Publication of the Gate City Club Volume 3, Issue 3 Spring 2016 Gate City is a I Dream of Disney! community oriented skating club Rehearsals for the 13th Annual Spring Show are underway and we are pleased to announce that for recreational, as well as over 90 skaters will be participating in this year’s event! competitive, figure skaters. GCFSC exists to encourage year-round A sneak peek at rehearsals revealed performances to the music of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, instructions and individual The Lion King, Hercules, Mary Poppins, and more. You’re sure be entertained by our princesses, chimney sweeps, genies, and mermaids. And I’ll bet you will leave the show humming your favorite development in the sport of Disney tunes! Circle June 11th on your calendar and join us for an afternoon of Disney Dreamin’! figure skating. Spring Show Rehearsals What’s Inside: Important show dates are listed in “Mark Your Calendar.” Please check your individual performance email/show packet for specific details about dates and times for rehearsals. Welcome 1 Upcoming Events 1 Test Session Happy Birthday! 2 Wednesday, May 25th Meet & Greet 2 Applications are available to register for the upcoming test session. Ask your coach for details. Skater Spotlight 3 Cast Party Skater Achievements 3 A cast party for all cast, friends and families will take place immediately following the Spring Show Spring Events 3 on June 11. RSVPs and payment are due in the club box at the front desk of Conway Arena no later Synchro Stars News 4 than May 28th. Workshop with Douglas Webster MARK YOUR Professional choreographer, Douglas Webster, has worked with all the major skating companies in CALENDAR! the world including Disney On Ice, Holiday On Ice, Stars On Ice, and the Sun Valley Ice Show. And he’s coming to GCFSC to conduct a workshop for our skaters! The date is set for June 18th. Stay

tuned for further details.

GCFSC Annual Spring Show  May 13, 20, 27—Friday Night Saturday, June 11 at 1:00 pm Show Rehearsals Join us for a spectacular showcase of skating set to all your favorite Disney tunes!  May 14, 21, 28—Saturday Show Rehearsals Caught On Camera...  May 22—Show Picture Day  May 25—Test Session  June 3—Opening Number Rehearsal  June 4—Show Run Through  June 10—Dress Rehearsal  June 11—Spring Show & Cast Party  June 18—Workshop with Doug las Webster  June 24—Annual Skating Banquet Lisa Langley & Candace Sullivan catching up with & in Boston before Worlds. (above left) Julia Fellows chatted with while skating at Stars on Ice. (above center) The JAC strategized an afternoon of activities for the Spring Meet & Greet. (above right) Making New Friends at the Meet & Greet!

On March 19th, the GCFSC hosted a Meet & Greet to introduce new skaters to the Gate City Figure Skating Club. Conway Arena’s Learn to Skate students were invited to join current club members for an afternoon of skating , fun & games, and refreshments. The Junior Activities Committee was on hand to coordinate and officiate a host of exciting on-ice games, to the delight of the young party-goers. Photos by Allison Clark

Be sure to wish these skaters a Happy Birthday! April! May! June!

Isabella Cornaro Alexandra Benson Christine Silver Cassandra Child Dominique Dame Lena Cook Ashley Stewart Alba Clement Priscilla Garcia Anne DelSignore Ava Thomas Kelsey Cochran Isabella Hesselton Genevieve Gratton Jia Waterman Meghan Dugan Catherine Hovan Jessica Hanifan Julia Fellows

Grace Jones Ekaterina Johnson Maggie Fitzgerald Jackie Knight Merida Kepnes Jenna Guild Tyler Kuslaka Preetika Kulkarni Kat Howland

Annabella Lafond Sarah Lapointe Emma Kelsey Nicole Lawyer Ella Marcum Kimberly Koschek Grace Lumley Katelyn McCarthy Alison McGonagle Kathryn Miele Lexy Powers Angelina Piscitello Vivianne Snell Bethany Robbins Laura Piscitello Courtney Tello Sophia Tomasello

Gate City Grapevine 2 Spotlight on… Ben Becker! Spotlight! by Kaylee Murphy It is easy to spot Ben Becker: He’s the one zooming around the ice while wearing his signature In each issue, we backward baseball cap. Since joining the Conway Arena coaching staff last summer, Ben has been will introduce you livening up the Saturday mornings with his infectious laughter and perpetual smile. He has been to some of the coaching for about two years and currently has three private students. He got his start coaching many familiar faces as an assistance coach for Theater on Ice at Nashoba Valley Olympia Ice Rink in Boxborough, MA. Ben loves around the rink. coaching and enjoys working with kids. Ben’s parents enrolled him in skating lessons about 20 years ago because his sister did it and the rink was really close to his home. Ben enjoys public skating. He loves the freedom and joy that a simple glide can give him. Ben’s biggest accomplishment in Ice Dancing is passing his Gold Dances. He has also passed his Intermediate freestyle for singles. “The thing I prefer about ice dancing is that it’s mellow. There aren’t any jumps, and it focuses on technique,” Ben said. He explains that even if a figure skater is interested in singles, ice dancing can improve a skater’s technique and skating ability. Overall, it makes a skater well rounded. If a skater loves skating but isn’t a huge fan of jumping and spinning, they may want to focus more on the dance and footwork part of the sport. Ice dancing is also a good thing to learn because it may increase skater’s chances of performing for Disney on Ice. A lot of Disney characters need to know how to skate with a partner. Ben is currently in his third year at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts. He is studying English. He has a passion for reading and writing Fantasy. When he is not skating, Ben enjoys playing tennis and watching basketball.

If you are interested in scheduling a lesson with Ben or any of the Conway Arena coaches, please contact Lisa Langley at [email protected].

Guest writer, Kaylee Murphy, has been skating since she was four years old and has been skating at Conway Arena since it opened. She will be graduating from Lyndon State College this spring.

“Ice dancing can improve a skater’s technique and skating ability. Overall, it makes a skater well rounded.” - Coach Ben Gate City Skaters’ Achievements Please let us know when you have represented Gate City Figure Skating Club, either at a competition or at another club’s Test Session. Don’t be shy! We would love to share your successes with the whole club! Please email [email protected] or leave a note in the Skating Club Mailbox behind the front desk. Congratulations to the following skaters, who passed tests between December 2015 — March 2016:

Pre-Preliminary MIF Preliminary MIF Pre-Juvenile Intermediate Free Skating Katherine Gage Katherine Gage Jennifer Brady Kiley McNeil Katherine Gustafson Shreya Khanal Allison Clark Senior MIF Victoria Maney Victoria Maney Ashley Stewart Julia Fellows Mariella Tomasello Marina Mousis Juvenile MIF Kaylee Ouellette Preliminary Dance Test Pre-Preliminary Free Skating Bethany Carver Jasmin Sabah Kiley McNeil Alba Clement Daphne Child Sylvia Weiher Maggie Fitzgerald Allison Clark Pre-Bronze Dance Test Katherine Gage Preliminary Free Skating Maggie Fitzgerald Kiley McNeil Eliza Howley Cassie Child Jia Waterman Intermediate MIF Ekaterina Johnson Sarah Lapointe Hannah Goldthwait Solo Bronze Dance Test Victoria Maney Pre-Juvenile MIF Catherine Hovan Meghan Lapointe Marina Mousis Cassie Child Anne Nyland Kaylee Ouellette Alba Clement Alyssia Perron Sylvia Weiher Gracie Dortona Morgan Read Taisiya Sereyeva Gate City Grapevine 3 ISU World Championship in Boston! When the ISU World Figure Skating Championships came to Boston from March 28—April 3, for the first time in its 130- year history, these lucky skaters were on hand to witness this landmark event and meet some of their favorite skaters!

Synchro Stars Synchro Stars, Gate City FSC’s Organization, traveled to Richmond, VA, in January for the 2016 USFSA Eastern Sectional Championships. The three-day event began with the Open Juvenile Team who skated to a creative video game theme. They thrilled the audience when they performed their strongest, cleanest program ever. The team was rewarded with a seventh place finish amongst some fierce competition, and even better, the pride of a great skate. Skating in their first Eastern competition ever, Synchro Stars’ brand new Preliminary team was up next. They earned a qualifying spot in the medal round with a strong third place skate in their flight. In the medal round, facing the toughest competition in the East (some of the best in the country), they wowed the crowd with their Stray-Cat Strut and in the process, scored a fourth place pewter medal to become Synchro Stars first Eastern Sectional Medalists! Closing out the weekend was Synchro Stars’ very first entry in a Qualifying event (IJS scoring and a trip to Nationals was at stake). The new Intermediate Team performed a Hawaiian-themed program to a huge audience in the Coliseum. They hula'd their way to their highest score of the season, and made lasting memories of the Kiss and Cry.

We would like to express our continued thanks to Hewlett Packard for their generous support in the production of the Gate City Grapevine.