In Pictures: The Skating Club’s Our Precious Planet
By Jason Portras
This past Thursday night, the Revelstoke Skating Club presented its year-end carnival, entitled Our Precious Planet, to a packed house at The Revelstoke Forum. The program was both produced and choreographed by Head Coach Nina Greschner, and featured four scenes around the theme of environmental stewardship. It was a very enjoyable and entertaining way to spend an evening with friends and family.
Here’s a pictorial overview of the show, easily one of the best the club has presented:
Scene I: Arctic Megan Cottingham & Makenna Howe were the first out on the ice, playing a pair of polar bears. Here they perform a manoeuvre called a backwards shoot-the-duck. Jason Portras photoThese three seals are Lauryn Kline, Karlie Beattie, and Andie Reynolds. Jason Portras photoHere comes the Sun, as portrayed Jacqueline Cottingham. Jason Portras photoMegan reprises her role as a polar bear performing a Biellmann Spiral, which is an acrobatic manoeuvre named after Swiss skater Denise Biellmann, who was the first skater to use it to win a major international title. Jason Portras photoA group of young skaters play Inuits who clean up pieces of their igloo that was knocked over by the Sun. Jacqueline did a superb job of making it look like an accident, to the surprise of the crowd, which soon turned into a delighted laugh. Jason Portras photoScene II: Oceans Here are the Water Ripplers performing two-footed spins, as played by Cassidy Legebokow, Jaimie Reynolds, and Samantha Veninsky. Jason Portras photoA school of young skating fish is chased down by a large shark named Shawn Bracken, who is the PowerSkate & PreNovice coach. Jason Portras photoNext up was a cute little turtle named Sophie Dorrius performing a variation of an inside spread-eagle. Jason Portras photoShe was followed by sea otter, Alexis Larsen, who waved to the crowd. Jason Portras photoWhile frolicking in the ocean, the turtle and sea otter were soon taken over by an oil spill, as played by Cathy Cameron-Suchy. Jason Portras photoNot to worry though, because Marine Rescuer Sheri Zebroff was soon on the scene to clean up the distressed animals. Jason Portras photoScene III: Rainforest This scene starts off with a group of insects, an amphibian, and some monkeys being terrorized by a couple of loggers. As noted in the program, one of the biggest threats to the world’s rainforests today is clear cutting. Jason Portras photoA machine used for deforestation moves towards the rainforest. Here is a nice view of the shadow show designed by Kidskate and Canskate coach Adrienne Schurdevin, which added a very beautiful element to the performance. Jason Portras photoMakenna Howe skates a melancholy solo as a lone monkey through her devastated homeland. She soon bands together the other animals to protect their homes. Jason Portras photoWorking together, the rainforest inhabitants drive the machine out. Jason Portras photoScene IV: Savanna A couple of poachers, played by Ryan Howe and Zach Veninsky, seek out and kill big game in the grasslands of Africa. Jason Portras photoThe poachers are soon rounded up by Eco-Guards, Jackie Bracken, Rhenna Secord, Rayah Vigue, and Holly Hamilton. Jason Portras photoThe Native tribe and their leaders celebrate the capture of the poachers by dancing in a pinwheel formation, which was fascinating to watch from a bird’s eye view over the ice. Jason Portras photoThe tribe’s dance ended with them uniting in a circle. Jason Portras photoThe night ended with thunderous applause from a very appreciative audience as all the skaters lined up and took their final bows. Jason Portras photoCoaches Nina Greschner and Adrienne Schurdevin celebrate a great end to their season with their pupils. Jason Portras photo
