ITNY's Fall Frolic honors Shae-Lynn Bourne
After a wonderful skating exhibition, the legendary Canadian ice dancer was given the Will Sears Award.
I had the pleasure of attending Ice Theatre of New York’s Fall Frolic on Thursday, and I cannot express enough gratitude for ITNY, particularly Moira North and Jirina Ribbens, for not only hosting this event, but for upgrading me to an on-ice seat so I could have an unobstructed view of the wonderful skating on display at Sky Rink.
Many of the programs were ones I’d seen performed before (so I’m not going to share every single video), but it’s always a pleasure to see them. There were some new pieces as well, through I wanted to start with the show’s opening number “Lark Ascending,” which was originally choreographed by Rob McBrien and restaged by Sarah France. The nearly 11-minute piece features music from Vaughan Williams and was performed by Sarah Baetge, Georgina Blackwell, Elizabeth Ehrhardt, Sarah France, Ale Izquierdo, Joe Johnson, Karina Manta, Libby McGrosky, Liz Yoshiko Schmidt, and Aaron Singletary.
Though it wasn’t a new number — I’d seen him perform it last month in Philadelphia — Emmanuel Savary’s Lion King program is always a pleasure. Because this is a Theatre on Ice show, there aren’t a lot of jumps in the programs, and his delighted the crowd.
I’m looking forward to seeing Savary compete in January at U.S. Nationals, where he placed 13th last season.
One of the new pieces was Modigliani, skated by Sarah Baetge and choreographed by Lorna Brown. The dress, created by Leanne Marshall, is stunning — and doesn’t contain any hidden mesh! Those are real cutouts!
The show was closed by the night’s honoree, Shae-Lynn Bourne, performing a solo dance routine to “All That Jazz” from Chicago, and she knocked it out of the park.
After the show, ITNY hosted a gala, where Bourne was given the Will Sears Award. Sears was a U.S. novice pairs champion who died unexpectedly at the age of 20 in 2002, and his motto was “Dare Greatly,” something Bourne has embodied in her career. She was introduced by fellow Canadian ice dance champion Kaitlyn Weaver, who began training with Bourne back in 2007.
Bourne and her partner Victor Kraatz won nationals 10 times and in 2003 became the first North American ice dance team to win a world championship. However, shortly after that, Kraatz retired, leaving Bourne wondering what was next.
“Once the disbelief wore off and I realized it was really over, the beautiful, scary question surfaced: ‘What do I really want to do?’ I want to dance,” she said in her speech. “And that’s when I knew I needed to be brave, feel the fear, and do it anyway. I needed to be completely open to the unknown, the unplanned and the un-danced.”
Bourne went on to do incredible things in the field of solo ice dance, and performed in shows for years. She still makes a mark on the sport through her unmatched choreography.
“I don’t know what will come,” she said. “But I know that I’ll continue to skate and dance both on and off the ice.”
Ice Theatre of New York® (a 501 C (3) since 1984) has been creating new artistic opportunities in figure skating and providing educational programs in various communities for over three decades. Contributions to Ice Theatre are essential to their efforts to create dance on ice. Please visit icetheatre.org to learn more about supporting ITNY.