After months of brainstorming, planning and collaborating, the Juneau Skating Club is ready to premier its spring show, “Nursery Rhymes to Fairy Tales” Saturday at 3 and 7 p.m. at Treadwell Arena. Adult and children tickets can be purchased online (see club’s Facebook page) for $12 and $7, respectively. Tickets purchased at the door will be $3 extra.
Acts will feature both of Juneau’s synchronized skating teams, solo performers such as Keegan Messing and Laurie Balstad as well as four different “learn to skate” groups. All in all, JSC coach Pam Leary says over 80 skaters will have a part in the production. The show includes such wide-ranging fairy tale characters as Alice, Mad Hatter, Belle, Oz, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and the Ghostbusters.
Debbie Tseu directed the show with Balstad and Katie McKenna serving as assistant directors.
Messing, a Girdwood native with international skating experience, most recently placed fifth at the 2017 Canadian Tire National Championships in Ontario, Canada. Balstad skated in the 2016 United States Figure Skating Pacific Coast Sectionals with fifteen of the best junior figure skaters on the West Coast.
Other featured performers from the JSC include: McKenna, Olivia Gardner, Katherine Fritsch, Meredith Fritsch, Emily Bowman, Kara Hort, Allison Hoy, Melissa Maxwell, Reagan Mitchell, Haylee Hill and Adelie McMillan.
The program’s prologue is as follows:
Welcome to Treadwell story time. Mother Goose and Fairy Godmother will be reading some of our skaters’ favorite stories and rhymes. We are hoping that story time will go smoothly, however the Treadwell Ghosts have been playing pranks with our skates, music and costumes. We have even called the Ghostbusters to help! So, let’s start and hope for the best … Once upon a time in a rink not too far away …
