Celebrating 50 Years of Skating

Published 10:00 am Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Albert Lea Figure Skating Club will present its 50th annual show, “Celebration! 50 years on Ice” at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at the Albert Lea City Arena.

The Albert Lea Figure Skating Club will present “Celebration! 50 Years on Ice” on March 19 and 20 at the Albert Lea City Arena. — Submitted photos

This year marks the club’s 50th anniversary and will include a variety of music from past shows, providing a mix of traditional, rock and country tunes.

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The club expects many alumni members to attend the celebration, and about a dozen members began practicing in January to perform “Perfect Day” at this year’s show.

This year the club has two high school seniors, Anna Brouwers and Courtney Hemmingsen. Each will perform a solo as well as a senior showcase number, “Butterfly, Fly Away” from the “Hannah Montana: The Movie” soundtrack.

Brouwers is a senior at Albert Lea High School and has been skating for nine years. Her solo will be to “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw, and she said skating has helped her get to know many other girls.

Anna Brouwers

“I like my coaches, it’s just fun,” Brouwers said.

Hemmingsen is a senior at Alden-Conger High School and has been skating for 12 years. She’ll perform a solo to “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle. She said she’s sad to be performing with the club for the last time, but that she’s had fun over the years.

“People should try it, they’ll get to like it,” Hemmingsen said. “You can always keep working on more and more.”

A boy/girl number will be performed this year by club members and hockey players to “Life is a Highway.” All club members, from the tiny tots to high school students, will skate in the show as part of duets, trios or artistic groups.

Courtney Hemmingsen

Club members will skate to such songs as “Party in the USA,” “Magic,” “I’m a Believer,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Eye of the Tiger,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Nine to Five,” “Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Beat It,” “Time of My Life” and more.

To commemorate this year’s anniversary, the club will be selling books that include programs from all the club’s past shows, plus memories of coach and founding member Carol Colstrup. She writes about covering the floor of a shed at the county fairgrounds with ice where the club practiced and inviting hockey boys to practice with the group, which was often difficult and yet fun.