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Welcome to the Maple Springs Lake Side Inn
Bed & Breakfast
"Excellence On Ice"
For two years, I've attended
Excellence On Ice at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena, but for a
guy who makes a living putting words together, I'm coming up woefully
short in doing the experience justice.
So, I deferred to Paul Stage.
In the span of a five-minute
conversation, he tossed around the following descriptions of the shows
he saw in 2004 and 2005:
"It's awesome."
"It's truly world class."
"Absolutely fantastic."
"So cool."
And he was just getting
started.
"I think the depth of the
different age groups was significant, and then just the overall
experience," said Stage, the principle agent at Stage Insurance in
Jamestown. "Sitting down on the ice it was really neat."
Then I asked Jon
VanderMolen,
the president of Lakewood Furniture Galleries, his thoughts.
"I think the show keeps
getting better," said VanderMolen, who has attended the show every
year. "...It seems like you're in some big (show) in some big city
somewhere."
I couldn't have said it
better.
Excellence On Ice, produced
by Chautauqua Ice, will conduct two performances, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
on Saturday. Students of co-directors Kirk Wyse and Lenel van den
Berg and their gifted staff will spend the better part of 90 minutes
showing off the skills they've developed at one of the finest skating
academies in the country.
And it just happens to be in
the heart of downtown Jamestown.
"I had a lady in the store
(last) Saturday," vanderMolen said, "and she said she drives her
daughter from Erie (for lessons). She said Kirk and Lenel are so
professional and that there's nothing like them."
Unless, of course, you take a
trip to see an ice show at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. That's about the
best comparison I can make. For if I didn't know better, the
production that Wyse and van den Berg put together -- the skating, the
lighting, the costuming and the music -- might just as well be
performed by seasoned professionals and not just teens and pre-teens.
Stage has been so taken by it
that he's bought 12 tickets for Saturday's performances.
"I think we started out with
four tickets, then to six and then you want to share the experience,"
he said.
And why not?
To rekindle my
sometimes-faulty memory, I found my way to the Jamestown Skating
Academy's Web site, clicked on "Excellence on Ice" and then clicked on
the "2004 slide show" icon.
What followed were dozens of
photographs by Glenn Janowsky, who was able to capture through his
lens the essence of what Excellence on Ice is all about: the
opportunity to not only showcase some of the area's finest talent, but
also to provide the community with one of its most anticipated events.
This year's performances will
feature 14 of the Jamestown Skating Academy's national competitors in
addition to new lighting and new costumes.
And, who knows? Maybe
someone in the stands will be so overwhelmed by the experience, that
he or she will want to join the fun that Wyse, van den Berg and their
staff have created.
Allow me one more story.
Stage's wife, Rosemary, has a
bed and breakfast in Maple Springs. On several occasions, families
with children who skate with Wyse and van den Berg, have stayed there,
sometimes for several weeks.
The opportunity to get to
know the skaters and their families personally as well as being able
to see them perform at such a high level on the ice has hooked the
Stages on what's going on with the Jamestown Skating Academy.
"Kirk and Lenel have that
reputation throughout the United Stages," Stage said. "It's awesome."
It's obvious that the Stages
are set for next Saturday.
Are you?
Kindberg, Scott. "Excellence
on Ice." The Sunday Post-Journal, p. C-8. March 26, 2006 |
