Ice Show 2011

Maura has stayed busy since we came back from vacation. She hasn’t competed in figure skating recently but she hasn’t stopped skating. In fact she’s been skating more than ever the last two weeks. A few weeks ago she tried out for a synchronized skating team. We haven’t heard whether she will be on the team or not but Maura and I are both hoping that she will be. I think it would help her get better at her individual skating because she would learn to skate with precision, which she doesn’t always do now. She will have more time on the ice, which would help her improve even if she learned nothing new. She would also have a chance to make more friends at skating. Maura is a very friendly girl but she has only made a few close friends at skating so far. I’m sure that as time goes by she will make more but she is likely to get close to her teammates more quickly than to girls she doesn’t spend as much time with.

This last week Maura performed in the Rockland Rink’s annual ice show. She spent lots of extra time at the rink. The show was last Saturday Night but she’d had three rehearsals during the previous week to get ready. The dress rehearsal was on Friday night and I took her so I saw the show twice.

This year’s show was Broadway themed. The routines were all performed to music from Broadway shows. Maura was in two group numbers. One was “Strangers Like Me” from Tarzan and the other was a song from Hairspray. She had a great time and did a fine job skating. The Hairspray number was the most fun. She wore a sparkly shirt and a pink wig that matched the big smile on her face. She got to keep the wig and she plans to wear it to school on Friday.

We had a full contingent of Maura fans in the audience to watch her skate. Julie Tittler came to watch and so did Rheannon Swire and her parents. We took up a whole row in the bleachers. We had gone to see Rhea skate in competition earlier in the day and watched her take first place in her group. Rheannon is one of Maura’s idols and Maura was very happy that Rhe was there to see her show. Maura could certainly pick a worse person to idolize; Rhea is a great role model—not the least because she has done many of the things that Maura wants to do over the next few years of her life.

The ice shows that Maura has skated in so far have been her only experience with skating in a group but she seems to do it well.  I think she will enjoy skating on the synchro team if she makes it. I’ll get used to the extra hours in the cold.