Hollywood comes to Shaker Heights for 'A Red Carpet Affair' ice skating spectacular
By Lindsay Betz, Sun News
May 19, 2010, 8:54PM
Skaters from Kenston, Shaker Heights, Solon, Beachwood, Orange, Laurel, Hathaway Brown and Perry will take to the ice this weekend for “A Red Carpet Affair.” Ice show director Erin Schopf, center in yellow, directs the girls during a recent dress rehearsal.
SHAKER HEIGHTS -- A little bit of Hollywood will come to life this weekend when more than 100 ice skaters take to the rink for the 31st annual Shaker Spring Skating Spectacular.
“A Red Carpet Affair” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Thornton Park ice rink, 3301 Warrensville Center Road.
Tickets for the evening shows range from $12 to $240 for a VIP table for six. Tickets for the Saturday matinee are $10 to $180 for the VIP table. Call (216) 491-1290.
The ice show will have an Academy Award theme with a modern twist, Ice Show Director and skating coordinator Erin Schopf said.
The skaters will perform to Academy Award winning songs and various movie themes.
Schopf is literally rolling out the red carpet for this show. Guests will be treated like movie starts with “paparazzi” snapping their pictures and asking what they are wearing.
The show will feature students in the Shaker Figure Skating Club and the Thornton Park Learn to Skate program.
Erin Schopf, director of the ice show, hugs skaters Alexa Beegun, 5 of Solon, Malek Askar, 4, of Shaker Heights, Lillian Potiker, 5, of Shaker Heights and Ava Kanj, 4, of Solon, after a recent dress rehearsal.Skaters in the figure skating club are competitive skaters from all over the region and most have been skating since they were three or four years old.
For these skaters, the ice show caps off the skating season as a fun and stress-free event.
“It’s nice for these girls to finish and have a good time,” Schopf said. “It’s not about competing, it’s more about performing and being with their friends.
For the red carpet show Schopf wanted to encourage the skaters to bring out their creative sides, so she choreographed many “theater inspired” numbers.
Competitive skater Cassandra Wood, of Shaker Heights, has been skating for 10 years and loves the challenge of the sport.
“There’s no real point where you’re as good as you’re going to get,” she said. “You can always get better.”
Wood, 13, said she is looking forward to the ice show as a way to unwind after the competitive skating season.
“With the ice show you don’t have to worry about being perfect and landing every single jump,” she said. “Competitions are a lot more stressful, and this is just fun.”
Schopf said the ice show is a full theatrical production, with full lighting, music and a fiber optic screen. Expenses are covered by ticket sales and skating registration fees.
Shaker Heights skating coordinator Erin Schopf leads skaters Alexa Beegun, 5 of Solon, Malek Askar, 4, of Shaker Heights, Lillian Potiker, 5, of Shaker Heights and Ava Kanj, 4, of Solon, out onto the ice for a number.
Schopf has been skating since she was three years old and has been the skating coordinator here for almost eight years.
“I really love it,” she said during a recent rehearsal for the ice show. “The kids are now kind of my family. To just see the product that comes out during this show, it’s just unbelievable to me.”
She lives in North Olmsted with her husband and their two children.
Junior National Intermediate Dance Competitors Greta Riebe and Jacob Jaffe and Midwestern Sectional Competitor Hannah Kimberly will be featured as guest skaters.
Contact Betz at (216) 986-5867 or lbetz@sunnews.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment