Skating school exhibitions that don't make you want to poke your eyes out

Anyone ever been to a 3-hour skating school exhibition?

How about an 8-hour one, where your skater is at 10:30, her best friend is at 11:15, her synchro team is at 1:30, her tot class is at 3 and her best-friends-group is at 6:30. So you have to sit there all day, because heaven-forbid you should miss a single precious moment.

How about the ones that front-load the tots and beginners, and lump all the high level skaters who can actually skate in a single flight starting at 9 p.m., so that the only people left in the stands are the other skaters (even the parents have gone home, let alone the little kids).

It's time for a revolution.

First, if your exhibition goes 2 hours or under, suck it up and sit through the whole thing-- the kids deserve an audience, even the tot who just sits on the ice and cries (there's always one). Personally, I think that "free" exhibitions should have a refundable ticket fee-- but it only gets refunded if you stay through the whole thing. If you come late or leave early, you've just made a donation to the rink.

If your exhibition lasts more than 2 hours, it's time for some creative thinking, because even with a refundable fee, no one is going to sit through three hours of alpha level skaters performing to "Let It Go".

An exhibition can be made interesting, like anything else, by mixing it up. Make sure each flight (defined however you want-- by number of skaters, or by time), has a nice range of skating, and no repeated music. For instance, segments  of 15 (two warm ups), with at least 2 high level skaters and one or two group numbers in each flight to guarantee audience and give people something to watch. Then people can choose which hour to attend. 

Put in some tots, both solo and group, in each flight for the awwww factor.

Make sure there are boys. If you don't have any boys, invite a hockey team to demonstrate drills, or speed skaters to stage a race. (Do this even if you do have boys.) 

If you've got Special Skaters, give them a spot as well.

Finish each couple of flights with a local star, to entice people to come, and to stay. And by star, I mean someone that non-affiliated people would want to see-- the kid who made it to Senior Nationals; the coach who is a former international medalist (if s/he's still skating), the award-winning synchro team. The definition of "star" should be decided by the skating staff, or else every coach is going to want their own "star" to be the "star" even if they're not a "star" and no one cares to see them any more than they want to watch the tots cry.

If you've got a small unusual program-- theater on ice, special disciplines like pairs or ice dance, make sure you highlight them, as well. These kids don't get a lot of credit, and you might help build the program (which is the reason you do exhibitions in the first place).

Sell tickets. Seriously folks, stop with the free exhibitions. Make it $5 for a single flight (at least 45 minutes), and a discount for multiple flights. If you need to make it palatable, use the money to fund skating scholarships.

People will stay and your program will grow.

And no one will want to poke their eyes out.

A community ice show done right

"Done right" is perhaps a little unfair.

I've done ice shows at many different rinks. They are universally adorable, inspiring, and lots of fun for the kids. They're even fun for the coaches, although you'll seldom hear the coaches admit it.

They make the programs a little money, and they give kids in the recreational side of a very lonely sport something to aspire to.

And then there's Northbrook On Ice.

If you're a coach or skater in north Chicagoland, you know about Northbrook. Their kids win all the competitions. Second place to their Synchro team kinda counts as first place because Northbrook always wins. Their class standards are legendary.

And they brag about their ice show. To which everyone just rolls their eyes and says, yeah yeah, Northbrook whatever. That and a buck fifty will get you a ride on the bus.

Well.

I have to say, I'm about as cynical as you can get about local ice shows but I just saw "NOI" last night for the first time and wow.

It's a tight, professional production with great skating and great choreography and everyone in the show smiles.  This is worth pointing out because getting kids to smile during ice shows is like pulling teeth. In fact, I think most kids smile more when they're getting their teeth pulled.

But I'm not going to talk about the gorgeous costumes, well-rehearsed numbers, superior choreography, tight tech, superior production values, or the fact that the finale was actually an interesting, well-choreographed extra number.

I'm going to talk about all the things they do to make those kids feel incredibly special, things that I've never seen at any other ice show, however well done.

• Their graduating seniors get their own marquis display with a huge poster portrait, plus a page (each of them) in the program plus a special step out number. This is such an obvious thing to do. When I suggested this at a different rink (which shall go unnamed) I was laughed at.
• The Synchro girls made dresses for American Girl dolls to match the costumes of each Synchro team. Beyond adorable.
• All the group photos are prominently displayed in the lobby. (In fairness, Northbrook has a huge facility with lots of display space, which is rare in municipal ice centers. However, the fact that they spent the money to have that display space I think says a lot.)
• Their specialty group is called the Icettes, and you have to audition. In September-- and then they spend a year making these kids feel successful and special. It's freakin' Girl Scouts on ice.
• They send parents and coaches frequent, concise, informative emails about what to expect, when to get there, where to park, who to talk to. So even a newbie like me didn't feel completely at sea.
• They announce the soloists by name during their time on ice. So you don't have to try to read the program in the dark.

And finally,

I have not heard one child being yelled at. Not for forgetting choreo, or freaking out over quick change, or missing a cue, or falling, or any thing else.

The show's theme is "social media" and I would have live tweeted the whole thing last night (look for #NOI to see what people were saying), but I can't get a signal there with my crappy phone.  There are three more performances (you have to buy tickets in person) twice today and once tomorrow.  If you're in Chicagoland, drop the cynicism and the parochialism, and go see it.

What is your ice show like? How do they make the kids feel special?

Applaus-o-meter: Ice Show, Day 3

It's great to see how the girls at an ice rink support each other. Everyone cheers and claps for everyone else, and the whole group comes together as a happy family supporting the year of hard work, spills and chills, love and camaraderie that got us...

huh? whu? Wake up now?

Oh, sorry.

If you've ever been to a community ice show, you know to bring ear plugs, because the girls don't cheer for each other. They SCREAM.

And it's a contest-- whose friend will get the loudest cheer.

I'm not too proud to admit that the year my daughter graduated she not only got the noticeably biggest cheer, she got a bigger cheer than her arch rival, whose mother I still, 4 years later, cross the street to avoid.

The reason the girls need to scream is because of the cliques.

There's always a coach with a giant roster, so her kids always get high decibels, which means the smaller cliques have to up each individual's power to match it.

There are girls who aren't really part of any clique, you will see their grandmothers drumming the benches in order to raise the volume. (And then loudly complain in the stands how "no one applauded for Suzy. These girls are so selfish." Gee, maybe if Suzy talked to other people every now and then someone would know who she is. It ain't Stars on Ice, folks, no one's applauding because of the amazing skating.)

Now here comes Synchro, really giving Popular Coach a run for her money. Popular coach may have to make sure that extended families are in the stands to increase the sound.

Then there's that girl who doesn't really hang out with the cool kids, and doesn't have a popular coach, but ties all the little guys skates, and talks to parents, and helps out with the Learn to Skate classes, and knows everyone's name. Plus, her mom is nice.

Guess who's getting the biggest cheer.

And just in case you really want to know: http://www.theapplausemeter.com/

Stress Rehearsal

Day one of the spring show.

Observation 1: nature abhors a vacuum
Manifestation: if you put all the disappearing coaches at a single station, the closest moms will step into the void. Better hope they know what they're dong.

Observation 2: The costume ladies are the ones who are actually in charge
Manifestation a: Kids are not allowed to wear the costumes that were ordered for them because they are "too fragile."
Manifestation b: It somehow makes more sense to require that 27 children ages 7 to 11 to go back and forth to the costume room four times (for the group number and back, for the finale and back) and "sign out" the costumes, and then go back and sign them back in. Twice. Did I mention that they're asking second graders to sign a piece of paper stating that they will bring the costume back? Have these people ever actually met a second grader?
Manifestation c None of the girls actually managed to get into a costume. Everyone in the number was wearing something different.
Correllary: See Observation 5, conclusion

Observation 2: the most clueless person in the room will ultimately be the only person anyone will believe.
Manifestion: Oh, you mean the children are all supposed to be together when you need them? I didn't think you were serious when you said you wouldn't hunt for the children in the stands.

Observation 3: there are 2 kinds of moms in the world.
Manifestation: The sensible ones ask for instructions from the people most likely to know what's going on. The ninjas will dispute this and stand there arguing until it's too late to actually fix the situation. The nearest coach will be blamed.

Observation 4: the children are actually the ones in charge
Manifestation: Wrong costume, skates in dad's trunk, glitter, lipstick doesn't match my dress I have to go to Walgreen's, missing the group number so you can get your picture taken with grandma (and then ninja mom wants to run the number again), glitter, "stay in your area" means "go where you want when you want," glitter, and the unshakeable belief that you can be in a dance recital and a skating show at the exact same moment because "daddy said I could do both."

Also, glitter.

Observation 5: no one is willing to concede authority to anyone else
Manifestation: I feel like the lines of authority are clear. First line: official volunteer Kick it upstairs to: any coach or actual employee of the rink. If still in dispute: person in charge of specific area (lighting director, costume director, etc.). Final say: Skating director.
Conclusion: The person who actually turns out to be in charge is the visiting grandmother of the child who has missed every single rehearsal.

Observation: your ability to relax falls in direct proportion to the number of people telling you to relax.
Query: Did telling someone to relax ever actually have the effect of helping that person to relax?

For the view from the rafters, check out Why Me, St. Lidwina.

Preparing for the audition

Auditions for the spring show all done? Disappointed? Here's what to do before the next one.

There was a lot of activity at my home rink in the past two weeks, because qualifying auditions for the spring ice show were coming up. Kids who skate once a week were suddenly there every day, working hard.

The bad news is that it's too late.

The time to start preparing for something like an audition is 6 months ahead of time. Double jumps are not something you can cram for-- it's not like the date of the invasion of Poland, which you can memorize and forget, and then look up when you need it. Muscle memory doesn't work like that-- your muscles won't "remember" the jump unless it was really really solid in the first place. Michelle Kwan can skate once a year and still land an axel. You can't. Once or twice a week skaters seldom achieved that kind of competence. So here's a step by step calendar for preparing for that audition:

At least six months prior
Find out exactly what will be required at the audition--what jumps, whether it's a skills-only, or a program presentation. Make sure your coach knows the requirements and the date. Evaluate those skills with your coach and develop a plan to solidify those skills over the next 3 to 4 months. If you're only skating once or twice a week, look at how you can increase that. My rule of thumb is 30 minutes on the ice for every rotation in your jump repertoire. So if you need an axel, a double, and a double-single combination (5 1/2 rotations) you need to be on the ice about 5 hours a week (including lesson, practice, and class). The time to increase the amount of skating you do is not at the end of the process, but at the beginning. (If anything, you'll drop off a little in the final week.) This is where you'll gain that all-important muscle memory, not in the last 3 days before the audition.

The period from three months to one month prior
Continue perfecting each skill and start to work on conditioning and presentation, especially cardio and nerves. Ask the coach if she can set up critiques with judges or other skaters or coaches to try to emulate the performance (i.e. nerves-inducing) aspects of the audition. Continue working on good technique, and keep skating as much as possible.

The period from one month to one week prior
Confirm the requirements and dates; make sure they haven't changed. Figure out your actual activities at the audition: off-ice warm up, ice entry, on-ice warm up and presentation. You should practice this every time you're at the rink, as well as getting regular lessons to solidify the skills, so that you're not making it up when you get there. Every step once you're inside the building on audition day should be 'choreographed'.

One week prior
Keep practicing as though you're at the audition: do the same off-ice warm up, ice entry, on-ice warm up and presentation. Minor corrections from coach. The skills should be ready. The focus now is on confidence and presentation. Practice smiling while skating (this is harder, and less silly, than it sounds).

Day before audition
No skating. Eat three good meals and get a good night's sleep.

Audition day
If you want, do a brief on-ice practice, just emulating your warm-up and presentation. Your coach can be there, but this is not a lesson. The time for corrections is past.

The Audition
No worries. The jumps and spins are solid, the confidence is high, you're prepared. You've got your nerves under control and all you have to do is smile and skate.

I see a lot of good skaters flubbing auditions because they don't think far enough ahead. For younger skaters, mom and dad need to keep their eye on the prize and work this plan out with the coach. For teens, the coach needs to lower the boom on the skater and get mom and dad on board with the increased skating this far out.

(P.S. The consensus from the judging panel is: work on those spirals. Jeebus, kids, spirals?)

How To Survive the Ice Show

After a night like last night, you'd be amazed to hear me say that the winter ice show (Nutcracker at my rink) is still one of the best, most fun jobs I've ever done. But it was one for the record books. After a stuttery start, we had two text book performances. Then came Saturday night. I may never have another normal bowel movement, I had so many new ones drilled for me.

By day three of an ice-show marathon, the pros start getting a little glassy-eyed, the volunteers are sneaking liquor into the stands, the kids reach waaay too much of a comfort level, and the parents are feeling their oats, meaning they've seen the show 3 whole times now and are ready to share their feelings on "fixing it" with every pro they encounter, or seek out.

Tempers flare, tears are abundant.

So here's how to cope:

Know and accept who's in charge
Just like in school, the teacher is in charge. If the rules are posted and you need special dispensation, you must tell the person in charge before the show. Children who receive conflicting instructions will insist on following the parent's instructions, which can run the range from confusing to wrong to dangerous (like telling a 6-year-old "find daddy at intermission, I'll be in the stands"). Better yet, don't give the child any instructions at all, because they will garble it, which is confusing, and time-wasting, and distracting for the volunteer or pro.

The best thing you can do to ensure your child's safety and enjoyment is to drop the child off with a volunteer or staff person, and then leave. The chaos and confusion is created by too many conflicting authority figures.

Conflicts with pros or volunteers
If you think there's something wrong with the set up, you may be right, or you may be out of your head. Once the show is running, you have exactly two options. One, if you really feel your child is in danger, then pull them from the show. We will understand. Two, call the skating director the week after the show and ask for an appointment to voice your concerns. If it's about observed behavior, be sure to have documented it, with names, times and the day it occurred.

Do not confront the first random pro that you see and start yelling. If you're really upset and you find yourself in this situation, stop and let the pro explain or apologize. Stun and run complaints don't help anyone. Here's what's happening while you are screaming at the pro-- they are unable to do their job. You are worried about one child. They need to worry about a hundred or more. Let them do their job, you protect your child, and document the incident.

Lost children
If your child is lost, here's what to do: make sure someone the child knows well is at the child's locker or chair or wherever their temporary "home base" is. Send another person to watch the main exterior door to the facility. A third person should find the pro and ask for help locating the child. Save the screaming for after we find her. I promise I will stand there and take it. While you're screaming, I am not looking for the child.

Here's a harsh, home truth: children wander off, especially after a couple of shows are under their belts. An ice rink is a sieve, it is nearly impossible to block all escape routes. The kids often don't know they're lost. They think they're fine. We've had a lot of children wander off at ice shows; it's terrifying. We've never had one actually go missing (we're talking 30 years of ice shows at my rink).

The biggest problem with wandering children is parents who bring them in and out of the dressing room, who have large groups of extended family coming and going into restricted areas where they are not supposed to be, and basically teaching the kids that it's okay to wander around. The kids really don't get the distinction between going off on their own, and going off with mom or dad or uncle or whomever. If they are regular students at the rink, they know a lot of people, they know the facility, so they feel perfectly safe. We understand this, which is why every rink I've ever worked at has a policy that the children are not supposed to leave the dressing rooms for non-emergency reasons.

The only instruction you should give your child is-- ask the coach.

Mistakes in the show
If the choreography is bad (folks, it's a kiddie show, who the hell cares if the choreography is bad), the children fall, miss a cue, forget the steps, run into the soloist, sit on the ice, refuse to perform, have I missed anything?- I have one thing to say, very loudly. DOESN'T MATTER. It's not the Olympics. There is quite literally nothing at stake, and furthermore at this point, complaining about it is beyond pointless, because if something can be done, the staff is doing it, and if nothing can be done, incredibly, the kids will cope.

We had a group of learn-to-skate level students who improvised their own choreography last night when they finished way ahead of their music. I'm just betting that no one watching the show last night could tell. Kids are amazing. You are out of control.

Don't compare this show to the other rink's show
They aren't the same. Rink cultures vary; some are very permissive with kids in the stands and parents in the restricted areas; some are little police states. Some rinks are set up in such a way that security is easy, and some have so many possible egresses that you just want to cry. Some provide extra security staff, others require the pros to provide the security and run the show. Some have long rehearsal periods, some throw the show together in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy yourself
I love doing the ice show. Don't ruin it for me, yourself, your child, and everyone around you.

I got the test session horror stories a few weeks ago. What are your ice show horror stories?

Running a volunteer effort

In my other life I'm a development consultant (that's fundraising) for nonprofit organizations. I do fund appeal letters, grant writing, and organizing events and volunteer efforts.

The two worlds intersect at volunteer management, as I organize the ice show volunteers at my rink.

All rinks, in fact youth sports in general, rely on volunteers-- everyone has moms who help with the ice show, as well as practice ice monitors, club officials, etc.

The trick to getting a volunteer effort to work is to seek involvement at a level that people are comfortable with. You want to have a wide range of jobs so people can choose what they like to do. It also includes accepting that some people do not want to participate. If the first rule of fundraising is "you don't get donations you don't ask for" then the second rule is that you cannot compel giving. Some people simply to do not give (or at any rate don't give to you or your cause). Once you're comfortable with those two things-- asking for help, and taking no for an answer-- it's simply a matter of keeping the balls in the air.

And volunteering is giving. A gift of time is actually a deeper level of commitment than a gift of money, and should be honored as such. When cultivating donors for a cause, the first thing you seek is a small cash gift; recruiting for volunteers is way down the line.

Therefore, when recruiting volunteers for an effort like an ice show, the first thing to remember is that these people are already big donors in a way-- their commitment, via the checks they write for classes and lessons-- is considerable. The more they are already involved in your program, the more receptive they are to the "ask."

An ice show needs a lot of volunteers. I start 10 weeks out to make sure I have time (in fact I start several years out, to make sure that I have experienced parents in 5 years, when this year's high school Freshman parents are gone).

The mechanics
Start with a "passive" ask-- simply a form in the show packet, at least 10 weeks out. It's going to take you right up to the day of the dress rehearsal to get everyone you need; if you don't start early you're going to have to be a nuisance at the end, which will turn people off. It's also another one of those little fundraising rules that very few people give the first time they are aware of a need. You have to advertise over and over.

Up until a few years ago, I would attend the second rehearsal of every skating group and just talk it up in the stands. You want to recruit the parents of children old enough to be on their own-- parents of children 7 or younger generally need to be with their own kids (and this may include younger sibs who don't skate). You also want to get parents committed while their kids are young, because these are going to be your long term volunteers, who will use the gossip machine to help you recruit. Don't forget the nannies and the dads.

Nowadays I do some on-site recruiting, but mostly I do it through email. Once rehearsals start I send out a blast to every family in the show, with a fairly strong pitch. I follow this every 10 days or so with progressively less strident messages, and making sure to remove the people who have already signed up. The final week before the show I amp it up again, both at the rink and in email, that "we really really need your help"!

The message
Any good fundraising pitch emphasizes that the giver benefits from giving. Use the word "you" a lot, make sure they understand how vital the effort is, and how easy it is-- you give as much or as little time as you can. I always include in at least one pitch that it's also okay not to do this, much as we'd like everyone to participate.

The goal
To reach your goal, you first have to know what it is. I generally aim for 60 to 80 volunteers for show week (about 12 to 15 per show); since my target population is only 200 households, that's a very high participation rate. And I hate to say it, but I aim that high because there is always attrition in volunteer efforts-- 10 people will sign up, but only 6 (or fewer) will actually show. Accept this. The only consequence for not showing up is that person doesn't get a thank you letter. It is OKAY not to volunteer. (Well, it's not, but I understand it.)

Since the major need for volunteers at an ice show is "baby wrangling" (i.e. supervising the kids), a good guideline for the number you'll need is whatever the local school teacher-ratio mandate is. Generally, one adult for every 20 to 30 kids will work, especially since you've also got actual staff, and each child's parent is going probably going to tie their skates. So for my approximately 100 younger skaters, who all gather in the gym, I like to have 3 to 5 volunteers per night. If possible, arrange for separate dressing areas so that fathers can also participate in supervision.

If you get to show week and you don't have enough people, recruit on the spot.

The response mechanism
The "response mechanism" in fundraising is the form you fill out. A good form will increase your participation rate, because people like to fill out forms. This year I pioneered using the two-click calendar at Volunteer Spot, which has the additional advantage of being widely used by grade schools, so a lot of parents are already familiar with it. However, I also had paper forms, both emailed and available at the rink, and allowed people to leave me notes, or send their preferences straight to my email. It's a little more work for me, but allowed the donor to use a response mechanism that they were comfortable with.

Make sign up as easy as possible-- use a form with check boxes, but keep the options few and clear-- a list of dates, and a list of jobs. The form should be simple, with minimal graphics. Jobs should have obvious titles so people don't have to guess, e.g. "supervise Boy's Dressing Room." Leave training/actual enumeration of duties for the event itself. If you have the staff for it, sometimes the easiest thing to do is have a knowledgeable staff person at a desk called "Volunteer Sign Up." Since a lot of people now carry their calendars around with them in the form of smart phones, this can be extremely effective.

The schedule
Put the schedule up well ahead of the event, so that people can complain that they NEVER said they would do that (you have the form, but fine, let them change it). I make a simple grid using the table option in Word-- one row for each date, one column for each volunteer location. People then check to see if their name is on the correct date and assigned to the correct location.

For experienced volunteers, I always alert them that they may not get their first choice of job, depending on volunteer turn out. New volunteers get the job they ask for. (So you can suck them into your evil web...)

The Reward
I take the concept of altruism with a giant grain of road salt. People want quid pro quo. The trick is understanding what value they are assigning this. For most donors, the altruistic reward is actually fairly far down the list. Donors like being part of an effort; this is why web-based fundraising is so successful-- even a minimal donation makes you part of the herd, a powerful incentive. People who give to galas and other public events like access and recognition, which is why you see donor lists divided by level, and why organizations give freebies to famous people. (hmmm, I wonder if I can get Michelle Kwan to volunteer....)

Some volunteers like to know what's going on, so be sure to give them lots of information-- take them aside and do a brief orientation and pep talk, let them know where everything is, and who they can come to with problems. Watch for the petty dictators; find them a job where they can be in charge without stepping on people's toes.

Make sure people know who the volunteers are. They are often motivated by a desire to be in the inner circle, but not so inner that the outsiders can't identify them. Give them a badge in a bright color; if it can be nicely designed or presented in a badge holder, even better. (These are expensive, so a lot of rinks won't foot the bill. But a label on a bright piece of card stock works just as well.) Have extras, have blanks, so that people who lose them or last minute sign ups still get a badge.

After the event
Say thank you. Put up a sign. Send a card or an email. Do both. Let people know you appreciated their help. Let them know how important they were to the success of the show. (They are.) Tell them that you're counting on them to help next time, too.

A really good volunteer effort will hold an annual recognition luncheon, with public thanks and if possible actual awards. All volunteers- costume shop, show, ice monitors, hockey score keepers, whatever- should be included. Even if you "pay" your volunteers with ice time or comped classes this is very important to a strong program. Unfortunately it's also expensive, so not every program can do it.

This is what Preliminary Run Through is FOR

Nutcracker on Ice--a really magical and unique show that my rink is known for. It's also 6 weeks of getting yelled at by parents, cried on by children, and bitched at by other coaches. All for minimum wage. It is my favorite part of our calendar. Perhaps thirteen years of doing it has numbed the area of my brain that should have made me hate it.

Today was the first run-through; no tech, just run the show through from start to end. One hundred eighty-six families, more than 200 children. There are probably close to 500 people in the building at the height of the madness.

Right off the bat, I commit the cardinal sin of assuming someone else is doing a specific job, which turns out to have been MY job, and miss getting two groups onto the ice. This is the only mistake I am present for all day for which I do not get blamed. It is the only one that is actually my fault.

The costumes, which usually arrive a month ahead of time, all get here today. Approximately 200 families descend on the costume room, more or less all at once. There are nearly 400 costumes, and they all need to be fitted by Thursday.

The parents, who all know me because I run the volunteer program, all seek me out to ask questions which a) they don't really need to know, b) don't have an answer, or c) they don't like the answer. The ones in category "c" will continue to ask me the same question all day, on the assumption that eventually they will get an answer they like.

One of the key soloists has decided that he has plenty of time to wander down the street to get a sandwich, as there are two whole 2-minute solos before he has to skate. He does not share this decision with anyone. We finally find him by getting one of the other kids to text him and let him know he needs to be on the ice.

The tots are getting restless. I tell them the story of the Nutcracker, into which they immediately manage to insert scatalogical references.

Speaking of which, the 6 to 10 year old boys are playing "who can fart the loudest."

The littlest girls' coach is gossiping in the stands, so I line them up, except I'm not their coach, so I don't know where they go. Coach comes and reads me the riot act for not knowing where her group belongs. Um...

One of the 6 year old girls decides she can't wait to skate, so she doesn't! We look up and she's improvising a lovely and spontaneous solo in the middle of the Spanish Dancer solo.

Step out trio runs into the group that they share the ice with. Their choreographer seems to want to know why I let them do this. That would be because that's how you choreographed it? Is this a trick question?

Concessionaire has run out of ingredients for her wonderful fresh sandwiches. I have a hot dog for lunch. (I do not eat processed food, as a matter of health and philosophy. This helps me remember why.)

Everyone has to hang around for a staff meeting at the end. I'm sitting around in the office, waiting for it to happen. Except it's happening in the sound booth at rinkside, so I miss it.

The magic starts again on Thursday with the dress rehearsal. Somehow it will turn into a spectacular and professional show; it does every year, despite my griping, the parents' panic, the mistakes and tears and costume snafus.

The Robert Crown Nutcracker on Ice is as magical as today's lovely snow storm, with these hundreds of skaters ages 3 to 50 in beautiful costumes, participating in this wonderful tradition. It is what inspired me, nearly 20 years ago, to encourage my daughter to skate.

If you're in the Chicago area, come and watch. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday December 10 through 12 at Robert Crown Center in Evanston.

Disclaimer-- couple a people were a little put off by this post. Rest assured, details of some incidents have been altered; if you recognize yourself, that's on you! Also, as I said, this is fun--Nutcracker is one of those "I can't believe they pay us to do this" sorts of jobs (and since they don't pay us much, it sorta works out). Really, come and see it!

So you want to join the ice show!

by guest blogger Nora Chin

Joining a show is a great way to travel the world, meet lots of cool people, and develop your skating in a whole new way!

Choosing a show
The first thing you need to decide is what you want out of your show experience. If you want to travel the world, your best bet is to join either Disney on Ice or Holiday on Ice. Both are great shows! On the downside, you move around a lot and are often far away from home for 9 or 10 months at a time. Sometimes it can be kind of a bummer not having the same room for longer than a week. If you want to be closer to home and have your own room, working on a Cruise ship is a nice alternative, plus you can get in lots of beach time! (I was with Disney, so that is what this is all based on.)

(Here's all the princesses. When they do these meet-and-greets, they're required to stay in character no matter what. That's our guest blogger as Mulan.-- Xan.)

Who's who?
I don't really remember what I was expecting when I joined the show, but there are some things I wish I did know before joining. An ice show is a traveling circus, really-- there's the skaters, the Production Manager, Line Captains, often a rep from the home company, the technicians and stage crew, costume mistress, and all of our concessionaires as well. I even worked on the stage crew for part of one tour to earn extra money.

The Production Director (PD) is basically your boss and is someone you can talk to for advice on how to achieve your goals. They make sure the show is running the way it is supposed to (lights, sounds, costume everything!). They have a very extensive knowledge of the show and also are in charge of progress reports for every skater. Your PD can suggest understudies that you would do well in. If you are interested in trying something like adagio pairs, your PD might be able to partner you with someone you would skate well with. Figuring out what your goals are for your time on the show and talking with your PD about achieving them is a good thing to do.

Your line captain is another person you can talk to. Line captains are kind of like assistants to the PD. They give notes to skaters for the PD and run rehearsals. They can help you if you are having trouble with any steps. If you get any notes, or corrections, from the PD, your line captain can help you fix them.

Make sure to always try your hardest. Sometimes it can seem like your hard work is not being recognized, but remember, no notes are good notes!

Where do you sign up?
It's good to know what production companies are looking for as well, when deciding where to go. With Disney, having a few doubles is a good idea but not strictly necessary. A strong skating resume (gold tests, national experience, etc.) can help but again is not a prerequisite. You don't see that many people with international credentials on Disney, more on the cruise ships which tend to have a more discerning audience (i.e. fewer 3 year olds in princess costumes). Many people do character work (like Snow White's dwarves) and don't need to do any jumps or spins, so it really depends on what you want to do. For a cruise and Holiday on Ice the expectations are higher. They usually want to see at least a double axel from a singles woman and more from the men (a backflip is a bonus for a guy!).

Look up how to audition on the company's website, and check the ads in Skating Magazine and the PSA Magazine. For Disney, you can audition after a show when they are in your home town, or you can send in a video (I think it is the same for Holiday). For the cruise, you can send in a video. Sometimes you can post it on YouTube and send a link to whoever casts the shows, but once again you'll need to look up who to send it to on their website. The website can also tell you what they want to see on a tape. It's good to have a few takes of each element on your tape to show consistency.

Disney on Ice is run by Feld Entertainment, and the ships are Willy Bietak Productions. Holiday is its own company.

Life on the road
Sometimes the schedule is so light, it's pretty relaxing! When the show schedule is light (meaning there are only a few shows that week), you have a lot of time off to explore whatever city you are in. (There are also weeks where you work three shows a day 5 days in a row, but they're rare.) Food on the road tours isn't provided for you so you need to buy your own groceries, which can be difficult since there isn't always a fridge in your hotel room. Sometimes people buy little portable ones and travel them. It's a great idea to have a hot pot (like this one) so you can boil water and make pasta. Some people have hot plates and pots and pans so they can make an array of dishes, but it takes up a lot of space in your luggage. I suggest being on the road for a few weeks before making any final decision on cookware. Be careful as well, because not all hotels allow you to cook in your room.

One of the hardest things for me was saving money. It can get pretty boring sometimes, especially when touring the states, and it is very tempting to go shopping A LOT. Be super careful with your money! Other skaters might spend more so you might think nothing of it but you need to remember that they might make more than you, and in some cases their parents give them money too.

There can be a lot of drama on a show (putting all those figure skaters in one place!) and my advice would be to try and stay out of it. Just do your best and don't apologize for it! I barely skated my first year and only auditioned for one thing, and was resentful of other skaters who seemed to get all the stuff I wanted, but didn't get that you had to ask for. Once I started taking my career on the show more seriously by skating more and talking to my PD, I got all those things I wanted before. It can be hard but try and see everything from the point of view of your PD. Even if your PD knows you are a good skater and would be good in a role, they aren't going to give it to you if you don't show them you want it and are willing to work for it.

But really, just wing it! I loved being on the show! I made great friends and saw more of the world than most people even dream of. Even though I made mistakes and could definitely have done things differently, I wouldn't trade my time on the show for anything! If you are on the fence about joining, this is me SHOVING you over to the yes side!!!

Love,
A former Disney Princess

This former Disney Princess (that's her in the pictures as Mulan, as an Evil Stepsister, and practicing adagio lifts) is my personal princess, now home and putting herself through college as a skating coach and sales clerk. She has her gold tests in Moves, Free Style, and Ice Dance, and once managed to get herself to Junior Nationals (in dance). She skated with the show for three years, straight out of high school. She has traveled to, I think, 17 countries on 4 continents, and 9 American states and likes to brag that she's been to every Disney World in the world, except the one in Florida.

And we begin

It's Nutcracker time at my rink.

Every year we stage The Nutcracker on Ice with nearly 200 skaters, about 400 costumes, and a parent volunteer corps of 80 or more. (Full disclosure-- that counts the parents who sign up, but don't show up.)

We've just finished the first week of rehearsals; I'm "choreographing" the tots, which, for tots, means getting them from one side of the ice to the other before the music ends. Last year we nearly had the soloist take off a kid's head with a poorly placed camel spin. This year looks like they can all actually move; whether they will actually move on demand remains an exciting mystery!

I got to choreograph my first Freestyle 5 solo, including a footwork sequence, which was very exciting for me, since my niche is Learn to Skate. I'm working toward my PSA Master Rating in Group and Registered Rating in Free Skating so it's something I need to be able to do, and it's great to have this opportunity. It's a "couples" number (i.e. two girls) so I also have some Pairs skills in it, which is also an area on the Master Group test. Fortunately, one of the girls' regular coaches is a former Pairs world competitor, so I'm definitely mining him for pointers.

The last group I'm working with is Intermediate Freestyle.

Thirty-eight teenagers.

Kill me now.

No place like an ice rink for the holidays

We're coming up to the holiday season, with family in town and time off from school. I've already been fielding questions about what skates to buy those new skaters for Hanukkah or Christmas.

It's a great time to think about skating just for fun, or getting a little extra practice time in. A lot of rinks have extra public and practice ice during the holidays, so here's some things to do:

Have a family skate day
Especially if your rink has a "studio" sheet (a smaller sheet of ice, typically 1/3 the size of an NHL standard sheet), think about renting it for the day after Christmas or for New Year's Day or New Year's Eve (or just any random school break day). A skating rink is surprisingly cheap to rent (generally around $100 for studio rinks in the Chicago area, your pricing may vary), and the rink will often also have a package that includes a party room and skate rentals. If you've got family in town that you need to entertain, this is a great all-ages activity. (Some rinks will even let you put Grandma in a chair and push her around!)

Arrange a holiday exhibition
Again, rent the rink and have the young skaters in your family put together a show for the relatives-- they can invite their friends to skate, and even choreograph their own synchro or theater on ice number. Kids as young as 10 can handle this with guidance, and teens can do it on their own (um, using your money...). Probably best to rent the big rink for this, but even that can be surprisingly cost effective, especially if you share the price with other families. And with on-line media, it's really easy to get the word out. Add an auction or a gift bin and donate the proceeds to Toys for Tots.

Arrange for a group lesson with your rink or area's "favorite son"
Does your coach know any famous skaters? (Hint-- yes. We all do, figure skating is a very small world.) See if they could arrange for someone from Jason Brown (at the getting famous end of the spectrum) to Ben Agosto (superstar!) to come and do a group lesson (any level), especially if they know they'll be in town for the holidays, so you're not paying travel costs or accommodations. If you're at this skater's home rink, chances are they'll be at least receptive if not eager to come. (Again, possible rink rental, definitely coaching fee or really really nice gift.) Make sure to have someone to take pictures and arrange for the skater to do autographs.

Add extra practice time
The kids are off school and under foot. Find out if the rink has added additional practice times or is running clinics. Some programs even run all-day mini-camps and clinics the week between Christmas and New Year. If your rink doesn't offer a program, see if your coach can set one up. With 5 or 10 kids in a group, this can be way cheaper than taking the week off work.

Going to a winter holiday?
Bring those skates! If you're heading to Lake Placid, Southern California, Boston, or Denver, you're bound to be near some famous ice rink. Bring your skates and skate on Olympic ice. My friend Adam ended up with a friendly (free) lesson from no less than Brian Orser at Lake Placid recently, just because they happened to be on the ice together.

Take a break
If your competitive skater is "done" with their season-- i.e. didn't make it past Sectionals-- think about offering them this time off. Have them try hockey, or basketball mini-camp, or volunteering in reading corner at the library for a week. Or just let them hang out all day playing video games. Skaters work really hard and need rewards too! (Chances are by Day 3, they'll be begging to go to the rink).

What are you planning with your skating this holiday season?

Getting things to change

I'm a squeaky wheel, although my experience has been more that they keep letting the air out of me, than that I get greased.

I'm a big advocate of talking, asking, demanding, writing letters, and getting petitions going. I'm an inveterate writer-to-my-congresscritter. There is almost certainly an FBI file on me somewhere, not to mention a personnel file full of memos about what a troublemaker I am. It's important to let the powers-that-be know when you're dissatisfied. You have to do it gently, most of the time, and you have to be willing to bear the consequences of both the complaint and the change.

But you can complain, safely, and things can change. I hear about dissatisfaction from many parents, both at the rink and through this blog. I'm happy to be an outlet for the venting, but if you really want change, do it right.

Before you march into your skating director's office with guns blazing, here's some things to consider:

Is there really a problem? Think about the situation that you don't like. Try to step outside it and decide if it really requires systemic change. If you don't like the way practice ice is run, is it because it's run badly, or because you got annoyed one day and decided it was someone else's fault? (Harsh but true.)

Are you the problem? More home truths. You want the ice show changed, because your daughter is tired of being stuck at the same level. Is the problem that the ice show should be changed, or that your skater should work more effectively toward the goal of passing that level before the next ice show (i.e. more practice or additional lessons, which might mean giving up something else)?

How will the change that I am proposing affect the rest of the program? Will my solution create new problems? The problem you are experiencing may have been recognized and considered by the powers that be already. That thing you're complaining about may actually have been the solution to an entirely different problem. If you want your skater to be able to jump on moves ice, the kids working on moves are going to start doing moves on freestyle ice. Trust me, you don't want the Senior sustained edge step charging through the spin circle.

If you're sure that none of these apply to you, I still want you to keep that pistol holstered. Try these steps:

Talk to the people directly involved: Do you have an issue with the way a coach is running practice or class? Talk to the coach, not the skating director. Is the monitor favoring one skater over another? Go to the monitor, or the volunteer coordinator, first. Is your child not doing well at auditions? This is not the skating director's problem, or fault, or purview for that matter. This is probably the kid. Talk to her.

Talk to the skating director in private first, and explain your concern. Ask her what you can do to help alleviate the problem, and if any solutions have ever been proposed. You might find out that the current situation was the solution and that it used to be worse. Send her a note or an email afterwards thanking her for her time. If you're not satisfied, warn her that you'll be sending a letter, because you're still not comfortable with the situation.

Write a letter that clearly states the problem, and frame it in terms that benefit the entire program and not just your child. Express your desire to be part of the team that works for a new solution, and that you will accept the solution that the team decides on.

Ask other families to sign the letter. If they won't, take a step back and think about it. Either there isn't a big enough problem, or they don't like your solution.

Don't threaten to leave the program if your demand is not met. The response to threats, 100% of the time (in private anyway), will be, ok buh-bye! This is blackmail, and will instantly put the person you're trying to influence on the defensive, and take them forever out of your camp.

Don't expect instant change. There are needs and systems of which you are completely unaware. Many park district programs have insanely long lead times for changes to the program schedule. The one I work at requires changes TWO sessions ahead. So any class or date changes set in motion now will not show up until the spring 2011 book.

Don't expect any change. First, your proposal may not be realistic. Second, your proposal may have been tried and discarded. Third, the skating director may not like your proposal, and she has the final word.

Don't expect to be kept in the loop. You don't work there.

Finally, unless the safety of a child is at stake, do NOT contact the press, the alderman, the mayor, your sister-in-law's cousin who used to work for a U.S. Senator, or anyone else not involved. If you're just pissed that your kid didn't get a good solo in the ice show, or failed the FS7 test, well, my goodness, get a life. It ain't world peace we're talking about here.

The show always brings out the weirdness

I teach a girl with a cognitive disability, and am skating the group ice show number with her. Earilier this week I had this dream:

We're waiting to go on at the show, and I look down and realize that Miss E is wearing speed skates (yellow speed skates, for the record). I know this can't be right, so we race back to the dressing room, which for some reason is in another building, to change her skates. Miss E thinks this is hilarious, and really fun, because we run so fast in our skates.

I put on her regular skates, but the laces keep getting messed up. Finally, they're on, and we're back at the show, where the last little girl in front of her has just gotten on the ice, so no one can tell that we were late. I look down, and realize that Miss E is only wearing one skate; the other one is in my hand.

There is no way we're going to get on the ice in time.

At this point I realize, "hey! this is a dream! I can just make this happen." So I think, let's pretend that I actually got Miss E's skates ON and we can skate. This happens, and we get out just as they're starting their circle, so we're just a little late. Then there's a place where apparently, in the dream choreography, everyone is supposed to get off the ice, pick up a toy, and get back on the ice. Only Miss E and I remember to do this. The rest of the girls are just milling around on the ice (NB: this was approximately what the rehearsal was like because they changed the choreography and it was 25 seven year-old girls completely at sea). Miss E thinks that she and I can go back to the room, get ALL the toys and save the day. So we go back to the room, but the toys aren't there, because my friend Rachel, who has nothing to do with the rink, (this made perfect sense in the dream), put them in a different room, and none of the regular coaches are around.

At this point, they stop the show and tell everyone in the show that we're going to have free time while they find the toys.

Then the dream morphed into Jason Bourne, which I had been watching the night before. Fortunately Miss E was not along for that part.

Miss E's psychologist mom tells me I'm feeling anxiety over the show, but am confident that Miss E and I, at least, know what we're doing. Theoretically.

UPDATE: The actual show went pretty much like the dream. Backstage, all the kids were making weird sounds, and stomping their feet, and waving their hands around. On ice, Miss E went to all the right places, even when the other skaters did not. I just had to laugh. How do you tell again which six-year-old has the disability?

That is never going to come together

Ever watch the first day of the ice show rehearsal? What a mess. I always lose my voice because those kids are Never Going To Pay Attention.

But by the third or fourth rehearsal it really starts to come together. We're lucky at my current rink, because we get six 30-minute rehearsals with the ice to ourselves, plus a run-through, plus a tech/dress rehearsal. But even at my former rink-- with three and four groups sharing the ice for a rehearsal, only 3 weeks, no run-through, and two casts, it followed pretty much the same pattern-- chaos giving way to a really good time.

Here's how choreographing the ice show tends to work.

Once the music has been assigned, the pro or pro's in charge of each group number listen to the music and map out a basic pattern. Some coaches do this on the fly at the first rehearsal, some do it in advance. I love seeing people's different notational systems; since there isn't a set system it's like reading heiroglyphics. First rehearsal for some reason NEVER has all the kids there. I've had first rehearsals with fewer than half the participants. So you sketch it out, see how it fits the music, then clean it up as the rehearsals progress and parents remember to start bringing the kids. sigh.

Here's a good sign-- if the kids run over the music by 10 to 20 seconds at the first rehearsal, it's going to work out with very little additional choreography. This is because as inexperienced skaters get comfortable with a pattern, they will skate faster, and will also tend to jump cues and shrink the pattern. So choreography that's too long for the music at the first rehearsal with tighten up and fit. Choreo that's on time or, worse, short, will need to be expanded.

There's a LOT of yelling in rehearsal. The kids have more ice, and know that it's just for fun (I agree) so they're a little less disciplined than in class. There's also not that much time in each rehearsal, so the coaches tend to yell a lot. Sorry.

You will usually start to see it come to together in the third rehearsal. If it really starts to come together you can add dance steps and other fun accents. I don't start to worry until the last rehearsal. If it's still not coming together there, you're in trouble. But I've seen numbers get fixed at the run-through and even at the dress rehearsal. I always remind the kids not to let on if there's a mess up, because the people in the stands won't know unless you signal it. After all, they don't know the choreography!

Oddly, it's the higher level numbers that seem to have the most problems. Even though the choreo is going to be more complex, I somehow expect the older and more experienced skaters to pull it together sooner, but this is not usually the case. It's the little guys that seem to rock the choreography.

Here's my advice to parents-- don't watch the rehearsals. Let it all be a surprise, with the lights and the soloist and the music at the actual show. Let your child have her mess-up with her team; she's entitled to do the hard work without having to share the mess ups with you. You'll find it's really enjoyable when all you're seeing is the end result.

Tightrope walking over the Grand Canyon

Tot number, first practice, 5 weeks out: Everyone is there, everyone is happy, everyone skates. However, the designated choreographer for the group doesn't come. By default, I am now the head coach on this number.

Second practice, 4 weeks out: 3-year-old V falls and bumps his head. He gets off the ice, but now sister is also upset and doesn't want to skate without him. 3-yr-old G won't move. One of the dads manages to antagonze every coach in the rink.

Third practice, 3 weeks out. S has her own skates, but mom bought them 2 sizes too big, "so she can grow into them." This is a common phrase that strikes fear into a skating coach's heart. V is refusing to skate. L decides he's done. Forever! V finally gets on the ice, but only if he can sit in my lap and push the Play button on the CD player. G still can't move, but she doesn't want to hold anyone's hand. M is 5 times faster than everyone else, but can't stop and can't stay on her feet, although she doesn't seem to mind crashing periodically, so that's good.

Fourth practice, 2 weeks out. L has the mother of all temper tantrums, but does eventually get on the ice. V is at grandma's, so I only have to juggle one super-reluctant skater. Y is wearing a jacket at least 4 sizes too big for her and can't move.

Fifth practice, 1 week out. First time on the main rink. Only 3 kids show up. This does not bode well.

Preliminary run-through. L screams all the way across the ice.

Dress rehearsal. Soloist has managed to arrange being exactly where the kids are throughout the entire number, including a camel spin right at their entrance. Parents are freaking out. I have to yell at them, and then apologize while making it clear that they are in the wrong. It's like tightrope walking over the Grand Canyon. Tape has to be stopped, because there is no way this group is going to make it all the way across in the time allotted. Stopping the tape is the cardinal sin.

First performance, school matinee. V, who has barely tolerated rehearsal, takes off and does a happy little solo in the middle of the rink. Unfortunately, nobody else makes it past the first hockey circle, except M, who has skated straight into the soloist. Everyone still on the ice with the high freestyle group bearing down at warp speed. I race back out to pick up M, who turns out to be packed with lead, and is furthermore apparently glued to the ice.

Remaining performances. I have figured out to have the top freestyle girls come out onto the ice and literally scoop them up, so they get off in time. V, miraculously, is still doing his happy dance. L is carrying a stuffed dinosaur. Three girls make it all the way to the middle on their own and with the music, and get to do the actual choreography, which we had by this time forgotten we had. S gives me a flower. Group hugs all around.

For the spring show, I'm choreographing the adults.

Volunteers

Email. I am sold on email.

I manage the backstage volunteer effort at my rink for the ice shows. We do two ice shows a year, including an all-out Nutcracker on Ice with a couple of hundred skaters in 15 groups, and 85 soloists/duets/trios (sharing parts). The coaches manage and direct the show, but all the off-ice traffic, kid wrangling, security and costumes are handled by parent volunteers.

We had 70 people working these areas over the four days of the run, and they were the best volunteer crew I ever had. And I owe it all to email.

I've written before about the importance of communication; the more pertinent information you share, the better your experience will be. Better information means less drama because people get uncomfortable when they don't know what's going on. Because all the coaches now have park district email accounts, I was able to send emails first to every parent in the show asking for volunteers, and then to communicate easily with those who signed up. Everyone got pre-show emails to make sure they knew where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there, and what they were supposed to do once there.

First, every parent knew that there were volunteers in charge, because they had all gotten an email asking for help. Even though most chose not to volunteer, everyone had gotten a direct communication dedicated to the subject, rather than just a passive "sign up" request with the show packet. The most critical question that every ice show parent has when they see the chaos that is 220 children backstage, is "who is watching my child." Because of the good communication effort this time, everyone knew that there was someone watching.

Second, the volunteers knew what they would find, and what they should do before they ever walked through the door. To the uninitiated, an ice rink can tend to seem like a mysterious society with arcane rules and impenetrable power structures (it certainly seems that way to me, and I've been living in one since 1992). Open communication bares the mystery: what does a volunteer do? I was able to let them know upfront that they really didn't need to know anything about skating-- that's our job. They were there to watch the kids, something they all know how to do.

Any public enterprise--be it a business, a school, a place of worship, or an ice rink--has proprietary information. There are things management knows that staff does not need to know, and there are things that staff needs to know that customers don't need to know. But it's important to make that distinction, and to let people know what they need to know. It's also important not to assume that people know more than they do, and to identify information that will increase both their buy-in and their comfort level. If you want to have any sort of control over your program, don't control the information by withholding it-- people will just make up shit if you do that (pardon me, it was really the best way to put it). Control the information by sharing it.

And just in case I haven't said it enough: thank you volunteers. You made my job easy.

Another great article on volunteers over at IceMom!

Dress Rehearsal

Three things about a community ice show dress rehearsal-- photos, costumes, parents.

Photos: at our rink, 15 groups and as many as 60 individual pix in a 2 hour span WHILE the show is running. Trying to find a schedule that makes this work within the run of the show, so that everyone gets a picture and the show does not get delayed, I truly believe, is impossible. While the staff seems to run with the idea that dress rehearsal is to iron out the show, the parents believe it is for the purpose of getting photos. Unfortunately, the way it is set up, they are both right. Both things have to happen, but the goals are incompatible.

Fortunately it's only one night, and it makes the staff seem like geniuses at the subsequent performances, because without all the photo calls the chaos disappears.

Costumes. Never done. Break. Not where they're supposed to be. Don't fit. I just mouth my mantra: "This is what dress rehearsals are for"

Parents. Okay. I know it's parents reading this, and mostly I am squarely in the parents' court; I don't think skating parents get enough good consistent information on most things. But I'm going on the side of my adopted tribe on this one. Parents. Have. To. Let. Us. Do. Our. Jobs.

Always remember when dealing with service personnel like teachers and waiters that we don't want to yell at you. In fact, we can't. You're our customer and our livelihood and at the basest level of motivation we don't want to piss you off. At the highest level of motivation, we like you. Remember the mom whose coach only told her things that made the coach look good? This is kind of where we are all coming from. We want you to feel comfortable with our authority over your child.

This means that during the juggernaut that is an ice show, when parents confront a staff member they are more likely to get a platitude: "thanks, I'll make a note, but don't worry we have done this before." Most of the things that parents are concerned about we are already aware of, or it's an annual issue that we deal with. Or, we are dealing with it, or would be, if we didn't have to stop and explain it to you. You need to let us deal with it, rather than demanding on the spot explanations. Don't exacerbate the problem.

The best way I can put it is-- parents don't need to know what's going on, because the coaches do know what's going on. You don't need to know which widget the car mechanic turns, and you know better to demand an explanation while he's doing it. Well, in a funny way, your kids are our widgets, and we know how to turn them.

This goes for competitions, too. If we say something you don't understand, now is not the time to challenge it. Call me tomorrow. The show doesn't stop because you think we're doing it wrong. The wandering child doesn't get found because you are yelling at me. No Parents Allowed at the rink door means, um...no parents allowed at the rink door.

There are reasons for this. Reasons which I will be happy to explain.

Tomorrow.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Nutcracker Prelim Run Through today. The preliminary run through is a sort of subdued tech-- no sets or lights, but all 203 kids on the ice together for the first time, running all groups and solos. I should have carried a little tape recorder or notepad around with me to just make little notes about some of the more amusing moments.

Rounded up my little boys for the toy soldiers number. All there except one, they go on the ice, and the missing one's Grandma comes up to ask what's going on. We said, get him on the ice right now, but he never shows up, although everyone says they've seen him. An hour later he's there for the finale practice and says to me, quite aggreived (you have to imagine a perfectly adorable ants-in-his-pants 5-year old in a too-big skating helmet here) "what a waste of time, we didn't even get to practice the number." Hey, kid, WE practiced it, where were you?

I brought my camera to get a shot of the beautifully executed end-pose of the Delta-Pre Freestyle girls. Except for the part where I completely forgot to watch them skating.

Lined up for finale. Beta-Gamma girls standing in front of Alpha group. Tiniest Beta, maybe 3 feet tall about as big as a flea, turns to the tiniest Alphas, all of whom are taller than she, and says, "are you the tots?"

Tot girl takes off straight into the soloist, who is doing a camel spin. Iron Lotus, tot version.

I'll update as I remember stuff.

Zombie Apocalypse: Tales from the Nutcracker

Well, mouse zombies, anyway.

Subbed for the Battle Scene rehearsal last night because the regular coaches were out of town (including Chris Hyland, busy supervising Chris and Angel's silver medal in Juvenile Dance at Mids!). Because I'm not the regular coach, I didn't want to add or change any choreography, just wanted to clean it up, keep it fresh and punch up the details, one of which is the acting.

The Battle Scene is the first part of Clara's dream in Act 1, where the enchanted Nutcracker and the toy soldiers battle the evil Mouse King (or in our case, usually, since it's skaters, Mouse Queen) and his/her mice. The soldiers were easy enough-- got them to march in unison and showed them how to stand at both attention and parade rest, which they were pretty into. However, I couldn't get the other girls to be mice-y enough, until I got the brainstorm to tell them to be Zombie Mice. This worked brilliantly. Most Evil Mice Evar.

Nutcracker memories

Watching the "big girls" get on the ice yesterday after rehearsal, I was reminded of a nutcracker maybe 5 years ago. We had just finished a performance with the tots-- got them through their number and across the ice without incident, despite one little girl's fears and tears at the start. She got to the end, came off stage, stopped, and looked at me. "That was so much fun!" she exclaimed, really excited.

And turned around and skated right back out onto the ice to do it again, straight into the high freestyle group that was barreling full-speed onto the set. I will never forget the look of horror on the lead skater's face as I raced out to scoop the tot up and get her out of the way.

Good times.