The Georgetown University Figure Skating Club’s (GFSC) annual winter showcase will return Dec. 6 to the Washington Harbour Rink on the Georgetown waterfront after the event was cancelled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The holiday-themed showcase will feature five solo and one group performances choreographed by GFSC skaters to the song “Let it Snow.” After the show, there will be a public skating event at the rink, which was closed last year because of the pandemic.The first 100 Georgetown students to arrive will be able to skate for free.
The event will be the first holiday-themed performance for many GFSC skaters, according to GFSC member Elizabeth Rauenhorst (SFS ’25).
“All of the solo programs are kind of mish-mashes of old Christmas or holiday programs that people have done in years past,” Rauenhorst said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “Most of us have done little holiday shows before we came to Georgetown.”
The performances will differ from competition-style figure skating, in which routines must satisfy a certain number of technical requirements, according to Rauenhorst.
“They’ll probably be a lot of fun because they will be geared towards just having something fun for the audience to watch,” Rauenhorst said. “We designed the program so that it’s pretty easy to learn.”
Preparations for the event began last month. While skaters do not have to try out to be in the showcase or the club, most performers have had several years of skating experience, according to Madeline Tirschwell (COL ’24).
“On our own, we are each working on our solos,” Tirschwell said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “Most of us skate one to two hours a week or more.”
GFSC Co-President Lauren Russell (COL ’22) said because of the outdoor nature of the event, she does not anticipate any significant changes from pre-pandemic showcases.
“We’re lucky in the sense that since it’s outdoors, we can mostly do everything pretty much the same way,” Russell said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “We unfortunately, of course, weren’t able to have our show last year, but this year, we’re back and so I think that pretty much everybody can do what they did a couple of years ago. I don’t think things are going to be too different.”
However, this year, fewer skaters are performing than usual, which Russell said could be due to the pandemic.
“I think with COVID a lot of people have taken time off the ice,” Russell said. “It’s obviously a little more difficult to arrange practices and get everybody in the same place at the same time just because COVID makes things a little more challenging.”
In past years, GFSC has collaborated with local universities including American University and The George Washington University, according to Russell.
The smaller size of the group has some benefits, however, according to Tirschwell.
“In previous years, we worked a lot harder on choreographing a cohesive group number,” Tirschwell said. “That’s a lot easier to do with a smaller group.”
Although the club practices around once a week at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Virginia, Tirschwell said she hopes the team can get into a more regular practice schedule as the competition season nears.
“I’m really hoping we can just get a lot of team practices in and just build a better team dynamic,” Tirschwell said. “We’re trying to foster more of a community where we can all work together.”
While the club will shift its focus to competitions for the spring, non-members can still look forward to future events, including free skates, according to Tirschwell.
“I’m super excited for the free skate because I think it’ll just be super fun to have regular people from the community come and skate,” Tirschwell said. “We are hoping to host some more open skate nights where community members can come and skate and hang out in the future.”
