Skater Stories: Tess Terpos
From my own alma mater to Disney On Ice, skating has taken Tess all around the world.
Many eons ago (okay, 23 years) I attended Towson University, where I wrote about lots of sports (shocking, I know). I covered football, basketball, lacrosse, gymnastics, tennis, track, ice hockey, field hockey… you name it.
Amazingly, one sport I never covered in my four years at Towson was figure skating. I didn’t even know there was a figure skating team at Towson (and it’s possible there wasn’t when I was there). But there is one now, and I recently discovered that one of the skaters I know from Disney On Ice not only attended the same school as me (many, years later) but also skated there.
Ahead of seeing her skate this Saturday in Providence, I spoke with Tess Terpos about her career.
Q: How did you get started in figure skating when you were a kid?
A: Well, I started skating when I was five. Basically my parents had the mindset that everybody should be able to skate because people go to public sessions with their friends. They just wanted me and my brother to be able to safely skate and have fun. They put us into every sport. I did soccer, lacrosse, swimming, pretty much everything, and they just put me in group lessons thinking it was just gonna be like anything else, but I immediately took to it and loved it, and just thought, “Okay, this is what I do now,” and just wanted to keep doing it. That just kind of became my thing.
Q: What did you love about it back then?
A: I don’t really know. I remember that whenever I would play other sports, I would always complain beforehand and be like, “I don’t want to go.” For soccer and stuff, I would always complain. And then when I’d get there, I’d have fun. And then I kept volunteering to be the goalie so that I could practice my spins on the grass while everybody was actually playing soccer. But I don’t know what it was about skating. It was just kind of an understanding that I had, that this is what I did now. I don’t know how to explain it, but my club had shows that we did every year. We had Nutcracker on Ice, and then a spring show, which was different every year, and I loved performing so much. Even though I was mostly focused on competing while growing up, that was always my one true love was performing and getting to skate with my friends and just express myself.
Q: Now, speaking of competing, I looked up some of your old results and I saw that back in 2011, you competed at nationals at the intermediate level. And among the other girls in that field were Amber Glenn, who you finished two spots behind, and Brady Tennell, who you finished three spots ahead of. And I’m curious if you remember anything about competing against them.
A: Yeah, I do. Karen Chen also was the winner of that, I believe, so it was quite the group. I think I’m still friends with all of them on Facebook. That was a great time. It was a huge accomplishment for me at the time. And it was, of course, the biggest competition that I’d been to and really cool to see those girls go on and do great things. They probably don’t remember me, but I’m rooting for them, knowing that at one point we were peers back when we were like 12 or 13.
Q: Now, at that time, and even younger, were there skaters that you watched and really admired and were like, oh, I want to be her?
A: Absolutely, all the time. I think I’ve always loved watching skating and I’ve always, I’m a visual learner, so I love to watch other people skate and kind of take little things that they do and make them my own. So, yes, there were competitors that I loved to watch that I looked up to, but I think mostly just the girls at my rink, the older girls and even the girls my age. And just people in my circle. I loved to admire their strengths and see what really made people shine and try to make it my own. I think everybody has such a unique take to skating, even if we grew up with the same exact teaching, everybody has their own style. And I loved to watch the way people did things, do things, and I love to feel like I’m doing my own thing and making it something cool and unique.
Q: Now, you’re with Disney On Ice now, but before you went into that, you were at Towson University, which happens to be my alma mater. I’m curious if you have any favorite memories of your time there.
A: I loved my time at Towson. I always knew that I wanted to do shows and I also knew that I wanted to have a college experience mostly because I wanted to have a college degree. I thought it would be a smart thing to do, considering how easily one can get injured and things can change, and then you can’t always rely on skating. I never loved school itself. It was never my strength, so I figured if I was gonna get a degree, I would probably need to go and get the fun part out of getting a degree, having a community.
I joined a sorority while I was there, and I met some of my best friends. And I look back on that time really fondly. I think probably one of the highlights was doing Greek Sing. We would do our dance rehearsals in the parking garages at night. Spending time with all my friends learning a choreographed dance is just right up my alley. I think those times, when we were all deliriously tired and doing some ridiculous dance at night in a parking garage, those were probably some of the best times. And just living with my friends, of course, which I still get to do now, but.
Q: Now, I have to be honest, I was there 23 years ago. I don’t remember there being a figure skating team there, but I know there is one now. Did you participate with them while you were there?
A: Yes, I did. I was on the team. I competed for a few years. I don’t remember exactly when I was competing or when I wasn’t, it was just kind of a low key thing. But yeah, we had a team, we had ice time once a week, and we traveled to competitions, and it was really fun. I loved it. It was really convenient that the rink is quite close. That was really important to me in college that I was still going to be able to skate. So, yeah, that was, that was a fun time. And doing the team maneuvers too. That’s something that they do at collegiate competitions is team maneuvers. And I always wanted to be a part of a team sport, but I never really got to be a part of that until then, so that was really fun for me.
Q: You were also skating with The Next Ice Age. I’ve seen some of their programs and they’re so beautiful. What is it like skating artistically like that compared to skating competitively?
A: I actually grew up with The Next Ice Age. Nathan Birch and Tim Murphy, the co-founders and co-directors of the company were both coaches of mine. My whole life, they choreographed my programs and I spent an extensive amount of time every time I skated with Nathan just working on my skating skills alone, just perfecting a crossover and a 3-turn and where my head goes, where my pinky goes, so very detailed work, and I was so fortunate to have that. I was a part of a Next Ice Age apprentice company when I was growing up, we did some artistic things, they would create some masterpiece for all of us, and we got to perform it for whoever was around, and we did some cool things with that. So I learned how to be an ensemble skater and skate with people, and do that at a really young age. And then I started my professional career with The Next Ice Age in Ocean City, Maryland in 2016. They’re one of the best things in my life. I am so, so, so grateful that I have that foundation. Because there’s really nothing like artistic skating. I think it’s a really, really special world. And when you have that foundation, you really can build anything off of that.
Q: I love what they do. I love artistic skating, and obviously I love Disney On Ice, and you’re with Disney now. So what made you decide to pursue the Disney route?
A: I performed for The Next Ice Age in Ocean City every summer when I was in college. So that’s how my professional career got started. And then when I graduated in 2019, that’s when I like to say I became a full-time professional figure skater. I went on tour with Holiday on Ice. So at that time, I was doing Holiday on Ice, and then Ocean City in the summers, and then COVID hit. And we all got sent home, of course, and then, that summer, we were with The Next Ice Age in Ocean City again. Then I performed at SeaWorld Orlando, and then went back to Holiday when they reopened the following year. Then we got shut down for COVID again because of Omicron. That was December of 2021.
Now, at that point, I had known that I wanted to continue professionally skating for a really long time. I honestly didn’t have plans of coming to Disney anytime soon. It was something I definitely wanted to do in my career, but I didn’t see it for myself in the near future. But in that moment, when we got sent home for COVID again, I sent an email, and I was placed on D32, Into the Magic, like 48 hours later. I went home, and I didn’t even repack. I kind of just opened my suitcase, and then closed it again, and suddenly, I was with Disney. It just kind of happened that way, and I didn’t know what to expect, and it was a very different world than what I was used to. But I ended up loving it and decided to stay because I love to skate. Skating is my true passion. I think all of the travel and the stuff that comes with this job is just a plus for me. And this company allows me to really skate and to grow and to have more opportunities to keep growing and keep getting better and just to skate more. And so I’m so happy that it worked out that way, that I ended up here.
I love every company that I’ve worked for. They’re all so different, but ultimately, this felt like the best fit for me, but it really was just kind of fate that I ended up here when I did.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you as a Disney On Ice skater?
A: That’s a good question. Well, I love to do open ice. So on a Saturday, let’s say a typical Saturday, I wake up pretty early, and I get myself together, I have breakfast, I have a green tea, then I head to the venue. It’s usually still dark outside. Maybe it’s like a nice sunrise. The world is not awake yet, but I am, and then I go to the venue, I skate for an hour. I just kind of do my maintenance things. I make sure all my tricks that I’m expected to do are in line and then if I have extra time, I work on developing the artistry and the details. And then I just skate for fun, of course. And then, three-show days, I do the show, I hang out with my friends in between. And then I go home at the end of the day, and then I wake up, and I do it all over again.
Q: I’m just so curious because the way that you describe skating, what would you describe the feeling you get when you’re on the ice like that, just skating for yourself?
A: I think that’s when I feel most like myself, when I’m just skating to skate. It’s something that feels so personal to me and is so close to me. Because it’s been a part of my life in every, every stage of life. And it’s something that I use to connect with other people, and I use to really check in with myself and connect with myself. So I would say that that is how I feel. I just feel like myself, I feel at home, and I feel motivated and strong to do things that scare me.
It’s also just a nice moment of silence sometimes. If I’m just doing edges and working on artistic skating things. It’s a really good opportunity for me to just breathe. I think Nathan Birch talks a lot about the breath and how sometimes he would have to choreograph breath into my programs because I often hold my breath. And so it’s a really nice exercise for me to almost meditate when I’m skating if I just focus on my breathing.
Q: Obviously, when you’re skating in the show, it’s kind of the opposite. You are not skating as yourself. Do you have a favorite character that you’ve gotten to portray so far?
A: They’re all so different. I love getting to embody a character, and I love getting to research and do all those small details and learn about the small details. The one I do the most now is Belle. I absolutely love portraying Belle, because I think it comes more naturally to me than the other characters. She’s very poised and artistic, so I love doing that. I used to understudy Anna a lot back in the day, and that was so much fun for me, because she’s a princess still, but she’s a little quirky and a little clumsy.
I would say probably my biggest accomplishment was getting to... well, I don’t know if that’s my biggest accomplishment anymore. I think it’s hard to really say what my biggest accomplishment is, but I got to portray Ariel on D33, which was a big role with a pair, a solo, and a web routine, and that was something I worked really hard for for a long time. That was a really special moment in my career to be able to do that. That’s a long winded way of saying, I’d love all of it.
Q: What is it like when you put on the wig and the makeup and the costume and you look in the mirror and you have that moment of like, “oh, God, I’m actually a Disney princess?”
A: Yeah, that can be overwhelming sometimes, to be honest. I do get nervous when I do things. I think people have different levels of nerves. I’ve struggled a lot with how nervous I get before doing an understudy or something of the sort. I’ve gotten a lot better, but that is a moment I take with myself when I look at myself in the mirror, in the costume for the last time, make sure everything’s okay, and I just say, “Okay, this is what we’re doing. It’s gonna happen. I’m her. Let’s go.”
Q: Is there a character you haven’t gotten to portray that you really want to someday?
A: There’s so many things that I would love to do. I think I want to do just as many things as I can. If it’s something that is in my capabilities, I want to do it someday. I think something that is a really far off goal for me, but I would like to do someday, is like a bucket list thing for me is to be, to do live host. I would love to do live hosting, even just once, because it does not come naturally to me at all. I think it would be a really good skill for me to acquire, I think I could be really good at it if I worked really hard. That’s something that I would really like to challenge myself on, but there’s other characters, skating characters, that seem like closer goals. So I’m more focused on that now, but someday, I’ll get on the microphone and it’ll be something.
Q: Now, I know between the shows themselves and the open ice and the practice time and working on new skills, skating must take up so much of your time. But what do you like to do in your downtime when you get to a new city?
A: I love to just explore and walk around. I usually Google things to do in the area or I just look at the map and kind of zoom in and scroll around and see what’s around. I am very easily entertained just to walk around and look at things. I love to go shopping and not buy anything. I’ll just wander around, walk around, try a new coffee shop. You know, everything. This week there’s some water nearby. I like to go look at the water. Really anything. And spend time with friends, of course.
Q: Is there a favorite city you’ve gotten to visit in your time on tour?
A: There’s so many, it’s hard to say. And I will say I don’t mind the cities that don’t seem like they’re gonna be super exciting, because sometimes we might be somewhere that doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be a big destination, but there ends up being just one restaurant that everyone goes to, so everyone spends time together and it’s really fun. But in recent years, I would say we visited Santa Fe last year. We performed in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, but we stayed in Santa Fe and Santa Fe was really, really cool. I loved it there.
Q: And wanted to finish this up with a quick little lightning round. What is your favorite move to perform on the ice?
A: Probably an Ina Bauer.
Q: Favorite Disney song of all time?
A: “Part of Your World,” from “The Little Mermaid,” for sure.
Q: Favorite Disney movie of all time?
A: Probably “The Little Mermaid.”
Q: Favorite figure skating movie of all time?
A: Oh. That’s a hard one. Let me think. “Ice Princess” came out when I was just at the right age. I think I’d just landed my Axel, probably around that time. So, I really liked that movie when it came out. I haven’t seen it in a long time. I don’t know. I haven’t seen any skating movies in a while, but there’s none that I that I don’t like or that I’m against. So I love a good skating movie.
Q: There are six main kinds of jumps in figure skating: Loop, toe loop, flip, Salchow, Lutz, and Axel. Which one is your most hated?
A: Oh goodness. If you had asked me that three years ago, I would have said Salchow, but now Salchow is my go to mate and jump that I do. So... I don’t know, I go through phases. I think, I like Salchow. I like loop. I’m not a huge fan of flip. Never really loved a flip. But I’ll do it. Yeah, but I don’t love it.
Q: And last but not least, one piece of advice you would give to anyone starting out in skating?
A: I would say find the joy in skating for you, find what it means to you and just like hold tight to that. It can be easy to compare yourself to others and think of a big goal and then be frustrated when you don’t get there, but skating doesn’t have to be about reaching a big goal. It can just be about the everyday stuff and connecting with your peers, skating with your peers, and connecting with yourself, and just keeping the joy alive. And if it’s not fun anymore, then reevaluate, but skating is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be hard, and it is really hard, but it’s supposed to be fun most of all.