Getting To Know the Ice of the Tiger

Goings OnSports

Apr 15

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As the prefrosh snake their way through the Activities Fair at Dillon to grab free goodies from rows of tables this week, we at The Ink have been spending some time thinking about some of the quirkier, less-visible clubs on campus.A little review of upcoming events on Point led us directly to “Ice of the Tiger”, Princeton’s synchronized skating team. A branch of the Princeton University Skating Club, these tigers are busy preparing for their spring show, “Skating Around the World.”This week I spoke with Jessica Christy '13, the captain and choreographer of the synchronized team—and headed down to Baker Rink to snap a few pics of the team gearing up for Saturday night’s performance. What is synchronized skating?Synchronized skating is a relatively new but quickly growing discipline of figure skating in which a team skates in formations (circles, lines, blocks, etc.) while doing footwork to music. The focus is more on precise timing, alignment, and flow than on jumps and spins. I like to describe it as something of a high-speed dance line on ice. With knives on everyone's feet. I dearly hope it's only a matter of time before we see it in the Olympics.Have most members been skating for years? Do you ever get any new skaters? Everyone in PUFSC has previous experience on the ice, but plenty of people took a few years off in high school. While I've been doing synchro since third grade, most of the girls on the team were new to the discipline when they came to Princeton. We do offer lessons some mornings to newer skaters.Favorite famous ice skating routine? Ever since I saw his long program at this year's Nationals, my new love in life is Richard Dornbush. I had never even heard of him before, but then he got out there channelling this fantastic Sherlock Holmes character, skated the program of a lifetime, and shot up from 7th after the short program to take 2nd overall.What do you think of Johnny Weir?I'm very conflicted about him. I enjoy it when he's clearly having fun on the ice (see his Poker Face program) and admire that he refuses to bow to homophobia in the skating establishment, but his seeming obsession with his self-expression too often made him come off as a bad sport. I think that it's really telling that he's wearing spiky black heels and not skates on the cover of his recent memoirs.Tara Lipinski or Michelle Kwan?The Kween.Craziest outfit you've had to wear during a routine? When I was little, I had a program to a song from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I wore a sparkly Snoopy costume -- complete with ears, tail, collar, and a pillow potbelly -- and jumped out of a giant red doghouse at the beginning of the music. Those were the days.Pre-performance pump-up ritual?My most important ritual is the solemn process of terrorizing the rest of the synchro team with a giant can of aerosol hairspray before we take the ice. Having identical helmet-heads is the key to a good performance.The synchro team will hit the ice this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. And if you’re feeling inspired, there’s free skates for rental after the performance.