The Sooke Skating Club is again sharpening its skates and skills for the upcoming year-end Figure Skating Show this Thursday (March 10) at SEAPARC Leisure Complex.
With nearly two dozen performances composed of group numbers and soloists aged four to 19, the show’s theme this year takes on the world of mythical fantasy, complete with spirits and vampires of all kinds.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we’re all pretty excited,” said Lindsey Haldane, one of the club’s coaches, adding that costumes this year are more intricate, more colourful, and, in most part, handmade.
“We make sure that the costumes are bright and colourful and that the kids have fun. Our older kids will dress up as spirits and vampires, so that will be exciting to see.”
Like previous years, performances are split into two major groups, notably kids from the club’s Can Skate program and the older, more seasoned members from its figure skating program.
The skating club has held skating performances at the SEAPARC since the complex was built in 1976.
During Christmas season last year, the group performed at the Butchart Gardens in Central Saanich for its year-end performance. The club also had five Sooke-based competitors at the Vancouver Island Ice Skating Regionals.
Haldane said despite its potential in competition, the club remains family focused, not on high-end performance, allowing skills on both ends of the scale to flow through the club with ease.
It also takes effort out of everyone to bring it all together into a coherent, beautiful experience for the audience, said head coach Colleen Randale, who works with older and higher-level competitive skaters in the club.
“They’re mostly girls, so there’s a lot of hormones, nerves, so you gotta be part psychologist sometimes. Being a mom helps,” she said. Like Haldane, she’s been involved in the sport of figure skating for more than 20 years.
Randale said that despite all the hard work that goes into it, it’s still immensely satisfying to see kids go from barely standing on the ice to learning how to do double jumps.
The skating show begins at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 for adult, $2 for child (13 and under) and $10 for a family (two adults and up to four children).
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