Today I went to see "Showtime on Ice" in Denver. What made the show extraordinary was that ten of Dalilah Sappenfield's pair skating teams performed including 2008 U.S. National Pair Skating Champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. Sappenfield made history in 2008. Her students won the novice, junior, and senior pair titles at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. This is the first time in U.S. figure skating history that one coach taught all the national pair champions. She was introduced at the beginning of the show and presented with flowers.
In addition to individual performances from the champion pair skaters, ten of Sappenfield's pair teams performed together in a group number to "Breaking Free" from Disney's High School Musical. In that number I saw twists, throws, and lifts. Death spirals were done in groups of two - picture this: two guys doing back outside pivots and two girls circling them with their heads upside down as one! Larry Ibarra, Dalilah's adopted son, did a back flip near the end of the spectacular performance. There is only one word that can describe what I saw: Wow!
Keauna McLaughlin, Dalilah Sappenfield, and Rockne Brubaker - Photo Copyright © JO ANN Schneider Farris
Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker - Exhibtion Performance - Photo by Junko Kimura - Getty Images
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