As Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” played over the speakers, John Gilmore ’17 took to the ice in Thompson Arena, displaying all the swagger of Joel’s 1980 hit, tossing his hat and throwing his tie over his shoulder.
The figure skating team hosted its annual Winter Ice Spectacular on Sunday, skating in Hanover for the first time this year, returning after a third-place finish behind the University of Delaware and Boston University at the Nov. 16-17 Cornell Invitational.
“It was great to see so many of our friends and faculty out here,” Maddy Thornton ’17 said. “It’s really nice to be supported.”
Skaters crafted their routines at the beginning of the term and had three weeks to practice them for the show, according to team co-captain Caroline Knoop ’15.
The team, she said, is building for a strong season.
“Starting off with a show program really builds endurance, and then we build to our competitive programs later in the season,” Knoop said. “It just gives us a chance to perform in front of a crowd without some of the pressures of competition while providing performance experience.”
The team came in second place at the U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate Team Competition last year, which the team hosted at Thompson Arena in April. Overall, the Big Green has won six national titles since it launched the team 17 years ago, including five in a row from 2004 to 2008. The team’s most recent national crown was in 2012.
After Gilmore’s performance, Iris Yu ’14 skated to “Hearts without Chains,” followed by Thornton, who performed a steady, graceful dance to John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Her only mistake occurred when she leaned too far backward and slid on the ice, but she bounced back up and finished strong.
Elana Folbe ’15, Alyssa Mahatme ’17 and Knoop also performed in the first half of the show, skating to Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” Suzie McNeil’s “Believe,” as well as Demi Lovato’s “Let it Go,” respectively.
After a brief intermission, Christiana Johnson ’17, Clara Guo ’17, Pinar Gurel, a Geisel School of Medicine student, co-captain Jojo Miller ’14 and Katie Bates ’16 took to the ice. After a running start, Miller slid on his knees toward the audience, a highlight of the show.
Armin Mahbanoozadeh ’17 finished the string of individual performances with an impressive display, surprising the crowd by successfully finishing three triples, the only triples of the afternoon.
The team then lined up on both ends of the ice for the final performance of the afternoon, a synchronized skating routine set to Owl City’s “Good Time.”
During the routine, the skaters formed a circle in the middle of the ice and jumped around, pumping their arms in the air and eliciting cheers from the crowd.
“Our group number was pretty epic,” Knoop said.
Skaters each selected their songs, according to Esther Wu ’16. Many of the songs were ballads, including “Hearts without Chains” by Ellie Goulding, but other more upbeat songs provided some measure of contrast, including “I Don’t Wanna Be” by Gavin DeGraw and Michael Jackson’s “Bad.”
Sunday marked the team seniors’ final performance for the greater Dartmouth community.
“The Dartmouth Skating Team has been very near and dear to my heart, and I’m glad that I’ve devoted four years of my time to them,” Miller said.
Now, the team will prepare for its upcoming competitions at Liberty University Feb. 28 - March 2. From there, the team will compete on March 22-23 at the University of Delaware and, if it qualifies for Nationals again, the U.S. Intercollegiate Team Championships hosted at Adrian College in Adrian, Mich., April 11-13.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: January 29, 2014
A previous version of the story included a misspelling of the last name of Caroline Knoop '15. It has been revised to correct the error.
