Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) presents City Skate Pop Up Concerts at Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays in March 2021 at 1pm at The Rink at Bryant Park. ITNY performers include Kate Gautier and Val Levine, with choreography by Joel Dear and Jody Sperling. The events are free and open to the public. For more details, visit https://bryantpark.org/programs/pop-ups-with-ice-theatre-of-new-york.

 

Programming:

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

"Putting on the Ritz" skated by ITNY performing apprentice Ella Bauer, choreographed by Tanya Douglass

"I Will Fall For You" performed and choreographed by ITNY ensemble member, Sarah France

 

Thursday, March 18, 2021

"Trace" performed by Kate Gautier and choreographed by Joel Dear:

The blueprint of our lives is marked in the energy that surrounds us. Like a magnetic force, it can change our direction. It pushes us to new heights, pulls us through lows and sends us into orbit. These moments make us who we are and are imprinted on us in an invisible trace.

"Fragile" choreographed by Douglas Webster and performed by ITNY ensemble member Aaron Singletary and 2021 Novice Ladies Gold Medalist and ITNY performing apprentice Katie Krafchik

 

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

"Putting on the Ritz" skated by ITNY performing apprentice Ella Bauer, choreographed by Tanya Douglass

"Hip Hip Chin Chin" performed by ITNY performing apprentice Milly Wasserman, choreographed by Stephen Belanger

 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

"Trace" performed by Kate Gautier and choreographed by Joel Dear

"Arctic Memory" performed by ITNY member Valerie Levine, choreographed by dancer Jody Sperling

 

Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park is popularly known as NYC's only free-admission skating rink. Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park is open daily through March 28, 2021, and in addition to The Rink, the annual winter event features fun, outdoor activities including The Shops, delicious food offerings at the heated Lodge Deck, the Curling Café and Cozy Igloos.

  

About Ice Theatre of New York

Founded by Moira North, ITNY's mission is to celebrate and advance dance on ice as a performance art. Through its performances in both traditional and site-specific venues, ITNY presents ice dance that helps to open one's eyes to seeing skating in new and unexpected ways. ITNY was the very first ice dance company to receive dance program funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. www.icetheatre.org

 

About the Artists

JOEL DEAR has ten years of professional performance experience as a figure skater. Extensive partnering experience as a competitive ice dancer, show skater, and coach. Performed on TV with The World of Ice Dance International on PBS, Shall We Dance on Ice on ABC, Hallmark Home & Family Channel, America's Got Talent, season 8 on NBC and US Figure Skating National Championships on ESPN2. Joel has over ten years of experience of professional choreography. He has choreographed exhibition programs for US National Champions and World competitors. He directed and choreographed multiple shows and was Assistant to the choreographer for "Shall We Dance on Ice" on ABC. Amateur work includes US National Medalists (Sr. ladies and Juv Ice Dance), and International (JGP) competitors.

 

SARAH FRANCE originally comes from Pittsburgh, PA, but now splits her residences between New York, NY and Saint Paul, MN, where she has been an ice dance coach and choreographer since 1998 working with Regional, Sectional, National and International competitors across all skating disciplines. Before taking the ice, Sarah started her love of movement studying ballet and eventually transitioned to performing professionally in modern dance and several other disciplines as well as skating and teaching. Sarah is a five-time US Open Professional Figure Skating Championships competitor, US Figure Skating triple gold medalist, and national ice dance competitor. She is honored and excited to be performing with ITNY, having followed Ice Theatre of New York® since she was inspired by it as a young skater herself. Sarah debuted with ITNY in the spring of 2019.

 

KATE GAUTHIER grew up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Banff, Alberta. In true Canadian fashion, she learned to skate at the age of four on the pond behind her house. She is a Canadian Nationals Senior Ladies Competitor and Quadruple Gold Award recipient. After her competitive career, she spent eight years travelling the world as a Principal Performer for Disney on Ice. She has additionally had the privilege of performing with Ice Dance International and House of Mauro Productions. Her passion for entertainment also extends to the stage and screen. After studying acting at the New York Film Academy, Stella Adler Studio for Acting and The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, she has had the pleasure of acting in several film and theatrical productions. You can catch Kate in her monthly comedy show, 'Too Nice - A Very Nice Variety Show' at The Peoples Improv Theater, and another monthly comedic play series, 'Telenovela 101' by the Something from Abroad Theatre Company, at the Kraine Theater. Kate is beyond thankful to the ITNY for giving her a home on the frozen stage, here in New York.

 

VALERIE LEVINE has been dancing tap, jazz and ballet since she was 4 years of age and started roller- skating at that time. After begging her parents for figure skating lessons, she started training at 11. She auditioned for Disney On Ice during high school and was accepted but decided to get her bachelor's degree in college first. She went on to get her Senior Ladies Moves and Pre-golds in ice dance by 19 and skated as an ice girl for the NHL teams the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders during those years. She furthered her dance knowledge while in college getting her bachelor's degree in Product Management Textiles from the Fashion Insti-tute of Technology. She minored in dance and trained at the Broadway Dance Center in many dance styles, which led her to her current career as a professional belly dancer, ballroom dancer, Brazilian samba dancer, fire performer and the like. Valerie has collaborated on ITNY events for the past decade. More at Valerinadance.com.

 

AARON SINGLETARY grew up in Pennsylvania skating for the Penguin Figure Skating Club and started his national competitive career training with Craig Maurizi. Over the years Singletary has had many internationally revered coaches and singling one or two would be a dis- service to the others. Each left a prominent mark on his approach to skating. Aaron earned gold in moves-in-the- eld as well as freestyle singles. Aaron now coaches primarily in Newburgh, NY at Ice Time Sports Complex. His students include National medalists Jacob Sanchez and Olivia Alexander. He dreams to further his knowledge so that one day he too may be an internationally recognized performer and coach. The 2019 Home Season marks his debut with Ice Theatre of New York. 

 

A dancer-choreographer from New York City, JODY SPERLING is the Founder and Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance. She has created 40-plus works, including many furthering the legacy of modern dance pioneer Loie Fuller (1862-1928). Considered the preeminent Fuller stylist, Sperling has expanded the genre into the 21st centu-ry, deploying it in the context of contemporary performance forms. She has been nominated for a 2017 World Choreography Award for her work on the French feature lm "The Dancer" (which premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival), inspired by Fuller's life. Years of working in Fuller's idiom, which involves kinesphere-expanding costumes, has influenced Sperling's aware- ness of the body's relationship with the larger environment. In 2014, she participated in a polar science mission to the Arctic as the rst, and to date only, choreographer-in-residence aboard a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker. During the expedition, she danced on Arctic sea ice and made the short dance film "Ice Floe," winner of a Creative Climate Award. Sperling's current projects focus on using visual-kinetic narratives to connect choreography and climate science.

 

DOUGLAS WEBSTER has been involved in figure skating since he grew up in North Conway, New Hampshire. He is a graduate of The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. From 2011-2014 Douglas served as the Artistic Director of Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY). Since 1991, he worked with ITNY as Associate Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer and Ensemble Director. In addition to his current work with Ice Dance International as Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer, Douglas served as the Creative Director for Shall We Dance on Ice, a Disson special that airs on ABC and features ice dancing and ballroom. Douglas has choreographed for many skating companies in the world including Disney on Ice, Stars on Ice and Holiday on Ice; he serves on the board of the Young Artists Showcase and is on the staff of "Grassroots to Champions." He is also the Artistic Director of Labrie Family Skate at the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH, where he implemented IDI's outreach program, "Get Out and Skate" with the public schools.