Registration is now open for Summer Splice 2017, an intense two-day camp led by top international coaches. The program includes a variety of training sessions that focus on individual skating skills, synchronized skating technique, conditioning, pair elements and more! Come join the fun and take your synchronized skating to the next level!

Skaters must be at least 10 years of age with Preliminary MIF or higher to attend the main Summer Splice camp. Younger skaters are invited to attend A Slice of Splice, an afternoon of synchronized skating and fun with Top Team USA coaches.

Dates: Saturday & Sunday, June 24 – 25 
Location:  Chelsea Piers CT
Summer Splice Cost:  $395 early-bird pricing*
A Slice of Splice Cost: $90

*Register by May 1st to take advantage of early bird pricing.  Cost of Summer Splice increases to $425 after that date. 

For more information: CLICK FOR FLYER

Have questions?  Contact: [email protected]

Wow! What a way to end the season! On Tuesday, February 21st, Skyliners Intermediate headed to Rockford, Illinois to compete in the 2017 U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championship. Not only would we have the chance to become the first intermediate team to win back to back nationals but we would also get to watch the phenomenal skates of the other lines...and skate our program and warm up dance in roller skates! When we arrived, the team was full of excitement. We started off a little nervous at unofficial practice and came in contact with the ice a little more than we had hoped. Having left our jitters behind, we moved on to Official Practice and had a great skate. By the time competition day finally arrived, we felt excited, confident and ready. We just wanted to get out there and skate! It felt amazing as we hit our ending pose. Some of us were crying because we knew we had just had the best performance we could have asked for. When we heard the announcer say, “For a total segment score of 65.31, placing them currently into first place” we went wild! We had done it. Gold!

We had a hard practice that night. We were all very tired from such a long day but we felt that it was important to fix all of the mistakes we had made. Pam and Natalie stuck with us, believed in us, and pushed us to do what we know we can do.  

The next day was a whirlwind. We had a great early morning practice which restored our confidence. Next came hair, makeup, lunch…and we were off. Ready to compete. We skated last in our division, both a good and a bad thing. Good in that we can prove to the judges, who have seen everyone else compete already, that we are the best. Bad as some great teams had already skated. We decided that, win or lose, our main goal was to skate the best that we could and leave nothing behind. Luckily, our hard work had paid off. We had one of our best skates of of the season, and we were crowned the 2017 National Champions! The first Skyliners Novice team to win Nationals!

When did you start skating?
I started skating when I was 3 or 4. I had an older sister, Rebecca, and a younger sister, Sarah. I did play hockey for a brief moment, and then I think it was easier on my mom for the three of us to be in skating. 

Describe your ice dance experience, competing with your sister Rebecca.

When I was about 14, I moved to Waterloo, Ontario and boarded with a family for two years. My sister boarded with another family. The Kitchener Waterloo Skating Club was where we skated. That was a hotbed for ice dance in Canada. Later, my mom relocated to Waterloo. I graduated high school, and went to Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo. 

That was the Junior Ice Dance Championship in 1998. What happened after that? 

I was 20, still in college. Then we competed internationally. Our very first international was in Zagreb, Croatia, which is why I’m so fond of that part of the world. Our competitiveness got much more serious. After the 1999 Nationals, we relocated to Lake Placid to train with Natalia Dubova, and then to Stamford when she moved there. After the national title, we kept competing for two years.  

What was it like to stop competing? 

Transitioning from being a competitive skater to just being a part of the regular world is one of the hardest things in the world to do. It’s your identity. You identify as an athlete all the time, so then you’re all of a sudden, “Well, I was an athlete and now I don’t know what I’m doing.”  

I stayed in the area. Believe it or not, my first boss was Nina Newby. Nina was the director at New Roc (Ice Skating Center). I was working at Harvey and then also doing a little bit at Twin Rinks. I was living in Stamford and then I moved to Manhattan. Sylvia Muccio from Team Image - they skated at New Roc - she saw me there and said, “Can you come in and do an edge class?” Then I got extremely busy with individual choreography, probably until 2010-11. Sylvia had asked me to choreograph a couple of her programs, and then I got inquiries from other organizations to choreograph for them. I was always extremely artistic on the ice, so choreographer was a very natural fit for me.

Do you have a specific style of choreography? 

I’ve been always known for a very classic style - dramatic, clean lines. I like to be able to use not only the tempo of the music but the melody of the music. I also always try to do something different every year. Everybody likes a program that’s super dramatic, like Phantom (of the Opera) and Swan Lake, but they also like the modern/dance programs. I try different music and styles with the different teams and see what the best fit is.

Where do you get ideas? 

From ballet, modern dance, Broadway, movies, TV shows like “So You Think You Can Dance”… music in general.  This year’s Junior short program, that all derived from one little section of a Michael Jackson piece that they used last year as the warm-up. I thought I would maybe like to do something with a gun number. Well, obviously I can’t do a gun number. Then I thought, well, okay, who uses guns? Gangsters. I’ve used “Untouchables” before for singles programs. I loved that music. Then Hugo Chouinard came up with the last piece of music.

Do you have a favorite Broadway composer? 

I love a good Andrew Lloyd Webber. I wish there were more composers like that who were able to create that kind of atmosphere with music because it’s so good for skating. Sometimes I’ll pick music and someone will say it’s been used too much. I’ll say, “It’s been used too much because it’s so good.” Good music is good music! I have a file of music on my iPhone. Every year, I revisit the same pieces that I’ve never used before. Sometimes I end up using them and sometimes I don’t.   

Do you plan your programs out before you introduce them to the skaters? 

I don’t do that. Some people, they sit down, they plan everything out, 8 bars this and 8 bars that. I get on the ice and I let it skate. I really don’t plan everything. I have an idea of where the elements will possibly go. I never come down and say, “It will be this, this, this.” I also see how the kids react. In order for something to be successful, the people who are doing it have to own it. I have to see how the kids feel it. I spend a lot of time in my car and I play the music over and over and over again. I sort of see how I’m going to be able to get a standing ovation. How’s it going to build so everybody’s going to be on their feet at the end? This year, when I watched Intermediate, Novice, Junior and Senior, I would want to stand up at the end.

How do you balance the fast sections and slow sections, the athletic moments and the graceful moments? 

It depends on what the music tells me to do. I do have a recipe for programs, how I build the music. Usually it starts off slow, then it picks up, then it goes in a little bit of a lull before the grand ending. The biggest compliment you can get is, “Oh I didn’t want it to end.” I try to keep my hand on the pulse of where the sport is going. It has to be a sport. It’s really important to not become theatre. The sport part of it is the athletic part, but there’s an artistic side of our sport that I think is crucial. 

What do you find challenging about coaching? What is most fulfilling for you? 

It’s gotten much easier over the years. I think the commitment of the skaters and families has really improved; it makes everything so much easier. I’ve always been a little bit of a perfectionist. I always wanted things to be trained, almost overly trained, to a fault actually, I think. I’m very passionate about my job. I really believe in ownership for them. “Listen I’ve given you the tools to the best of my ability. Now it’s up to you.” And I really think that’s an important thing for them to bring into their lives after skating. In a society where kids are often coddled and always told they’ve done nothing wrong, they have to realize what true responsibility is. It shows that you can achieve excellence with a group. And I also think in today’s day and age, it’s so nice to see people work together.  

What do you do in your spare time? 

I enjoy spending time with my friends. I enjoy spending time with my nephew in Brooklyn. He is two. I love to travel. I’ll be going to California for three days just after Worlds. I try to always go somewhere different. I love the coast of Croatia, I really enjoyed Malta, I love Australia. I love France for the food, same with Italy. I’ve been to southern Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco. I love to cook, I’m actually a really good cook! I enjoy Broadway. I’m a sucker for a good musical. I went to London with a couple of friends and we saw eight Broadway shows in six days. I’m really looking forward to “Come From Away,” a story about 9/11 when all the planes were diverted to Newfoundland.

What are some things that people might be surprised to learn about you? 

I think I’m a pretty open book. I’m addicted to Candy Crush, all the skaters know that because I play that all the time. I play tennis occasionally when I’m in Lake Placid. I work out when I can…which is not often, lol. 

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

I’m super proud of our organization. It’s still fairly young and the organization has really just built itself into a model for the country. I think synchronized skating is going to be really much bigger than it is now. Synchro skill is much harder than people think. It amazes me how they can go at that speed. One person makes a little mistake and it can be catastrophic. There’s so much chance for error. But they learn how to put trust in other people, and you also learn how to take responsibility for you.