Ice Theatre of New York's City Skate Concert at Bank of America Winter Village, Bryant Park
Company:
Ice Theatre of New York
Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) continues the Winter 2022-23 City Skate Concert Series on February 21, 2023, at 11:50am at the Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit https://icetheatre.org/2022-pop-up-fall/winter-performances.html.
Be dazzled by some of the city's most talented skaters! Ice Theatre of New York brings breathtaking ice choreography performed by their young skating apprentices and professional ensemble members to The Rink. We invite you to watch from around the rink.
Ice Theatre of New York'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.
Program:
Preview of Connected
Choreographed by Lorna Brown
Music: Nocturne in D-Flat Major, "un reve" by Eric Christian
Commissioned by ITNY for the upcoming Home Season and Gala in May 2023
A duet by ITNY ice artists Liz Yoshiko Schmidt and Danil Berdnikov, the piece explores "Timelessness." This piece will preview at Bryant Park before its performance at ITNY's Home Season and Gala.
"Every shape that my body can make... flowing from one movement to another, being able to see yourself in yourself in your mind's eye... connected with every creature that has lived or died." -- Lorna Brown
Spring
Choreographed by Kaitlyn Weaver
Music by Vivaldi
ITNY has always taken great pleasure in introducing young competitive skaters to the pleasure of performing for an appreciative audience outside the rigors of testing and competitive skating. 2022 US Figure Skating Championship series medalist and ITNY apprentice Ella Bauer will perform "Spring," choreographed by Olympic ice dancer Kaitlyn Weaver in celebration of Kid's Week at Bryant Park.
Vogue
Choreographed by Joanne McLeod and Cesar Valentin
Music by Madonna and Shep Pettibone
ITNY will host Canadian guest artist Emanuel Sandhu. He will be performing "Vogue," which he choreographed in collaboration with his coach Joanne McLeod, and NYC "Ballroom" dance choreographer Cesar Valentin. The piece transcends an attitude and expression to speak what is unique about human individuality.
"The idea is not to live forever but to create something that will." - Andy Warhol
About the Artists
Ella Bauer (Junior Performing Apprentice) is a competitive skater at the Intermediate Level and a Medalist at the 2022 US Figure Skating Championship Series. She is coached by Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver, and has performed with Ice Theatre since 2019.
Danil Berdnikov (Performer) hails from the city of Samara, Russia, from which he competed as part of the junior national team as well as across his vast native land through high school. He then moved to Moscow both to continue his education and to join Stage Entertainment Russia to begin performing as a skater. Performing for an audience allowed Danil to fall in love with skating in a new way and his career has blossomed over eight years with Willy Bietak Productions and Wheeler Productions in the United States, Stageworks Worldwide Production in the UK and Holiday on Ice Productions and Dynamic Shows Entertainment in the EU. ITNY welcomes Danil as an artist, grateful to his parents, coaches, choreographers, and the fellow skaters who have supported him along the way.
Emanuel Sandhu (Guest Artist) an alumnus of Canada's National Ballet School, has been a three-time Canadian Men's Figure Skating and a Grand Prix Final Champion, back-to-back Skate Canada International Grand Prix Gold Medalist and a two-time Olympian. Emanuel's dancing placed him as a top three male on the number one rated television show So You Think You Can Dance Canada followed by the National Tour of the same name. The first figure skater in the world to complete a triple/triple/triple jump combination in competition, he has invented many never-before-seen spins, including the famously flexible "Sandhu Spin" and his skating performances have been recognized world-wide for their blend of art and technique. Proud of his Italian-East Indian heritage, Emanuel's awards include the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce Youth Achievement Award at age 17, the Premier's Athletic Award, and a nomination for Canada's Male Athlete of the Year Award.
Elizabeth (Liz) Yoshiko Schmidt (Performer) has been skating with ITNY since 2017. Luscious edges, artistic dynamic movement, and traditional ice dancing inform her skating and professional career which began in 2013, at the age of 18, performing internationally in Germany and across the United States. A Japanese/German American skater who hails from Chicago, IL, she recently moved from San Francisco, CA, to New York City. A U.S. Figure Skating double gold medalist in Freestyle and Moves in the Field, and a silver medalist in Ice Dancing, Liz received her BA of Fine Arts in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2018 and has exhibited her work across the Bay Area.
About Ice Theatre of New York
Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) exists to create and advance ice dance as (an ensemble) performing art form with its professional ice dance company. ITNY is also dedicated to providing education and to presenting public performances to people of all ages. We aim to inspire people to experience the balance, flow and flight of skating and to engage in a lifelong healthy activity.
Founded in 1984 by Moira North, Ice Theatre of New York has changed the face of figure skating by creating works that integrate the sensibilities of contemporary dance, music and art challenging the perceptions and conventional definitions of figure skating. Through its performances in both traditional and site-specific venues, ITNY presents ice dance that opens one's eyes to seeing skating in unexpected ways. ITNY was the 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. For more information, visit www.icetheatre.org.
Link to the ITNY Performers: https://www.icetheatre.org/performers.html.
City Skate Pop-Up Concerts are supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. ITNY is also supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and NYC Council Member Mark Levine and by Dance/NYC'S Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund.
Additionally, ITNY receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Lisa McGraw Figure Skating Foundation, the Will Sears Foundation, and its generous private patrons.
Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park is popularly known as NYC's only free admission ice skating rink. Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park is open daily through March 5, 2023, and in addition to The Rink, the annual winter event features fun, outdoor activities including The Holiday Shops by Urbanspace, delicious food and drink offerings at The Lodge, the Curling Café, Cozy Igloos, and Bumper Cars on Ice. For more information, go to WinterVillage.org.
