As a part of their annual fundraiser for the DU Club Figure Skating team, the team performed a short routine to several hip-hop selections with members of the 2017-2018 Men’s Hockey team. The spectators present were treated to routines by individual skaters, as well as several group routines.
The skaters opened the program out with a group skate to Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody,” followed by individual programs with song choices ranging from Disney classics to top hits from Bruno Mars, as well as hits from Abba and Nelly, plus a few small group skates. The last program before a break to resurface the ice was the group number with the Denver Hockey team to a mash-up of Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say,” “One Two Step” by Ciara and “Break Your Heart” by Taio Cruz.
After a short intermission, the individual and small group programs continued. The audience was treated to original programs featuring songs from The Moody Blues, Cascada, Delta Rae and Lord Huron, as well as songs off of popular movies, such as “Burlesque” and “La La Land.” Each skater’s personality shone through their programs and garnered support throughout the audience.
Following a busy season in which the team traveled to University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles and Colorado College, the DU Figure Skating team placed eighth in the the Intercollegiate National Championships that they hosted at Magness Arena. The year’s end show, in the words of senior Ashley Pickhardt, “just let us go and be ourselves without having the rules of competition behind us and that stress.”
The feeling was echoed by the current president, senior Anna Williams. “It’s just a really fun experience, and we take the two to three weeks beforehand, too,” Williams said after the show. “Like we’re together every morning running these group routines, and you know it can be frustrating and hard and tiring, but in the end, when you’re out here, we’re having the audience watch, and you know you’re all coordinated it’s so worth it.”
The incoming president, sophomore Mo Windmueller, agreed, saying, “The ice show is the greatest thing we do all year because it includes every single skater on the team … This invites everybody onto the ice to express themselves. And there’s so much support and love between all of us no matter how anything goes, if it’s good or bad, we’re all giving each other hugs when we get off the ice.”
The support from the team is something that graduating grad student and show chair Emily Sacks will always be grateful for. “The teammates that worked with me for the past few months have been incredible. I have a lot of outside work that I do, so having them there, knowing that they’d respond to my texts within the next five minutes, was really nice,” Sacks said. “I don’t even know where to begin about my love for my teammates either. They’re some of the greatest people I’ve ever met.”
Freshman Kayleigh Barnhart and future vice president could not agree more, saying, “As a first year, I was nervous about all things college, but after the first practice, this team made me feel at home. This team supports me on and off the ice and has made sure I feel like I belong on the team.”
Sacks encourages students considering the team to “do it, it doesn’t matter if you had 20 years of experience, or 20 days, or if this is your first time on ice. I think everyone on this team is so welcoming to everyone else. We have girls that just put on their first pair of skates on September 10 or something, and they’re out here doing the show out here with us. Everybody wants to see each other succeed.”
