Gloria Haddad:<\/span> <\/strong>The Pawtucket and Providence Figure Skating Club currently has about 90 members. It was founded in 1938, making it one of the oldest clubs in the country. Just a few years ago, we celebrated our 75th anniversary,\u00a0a milestone that was recognized by\u00a0U.S. Figure Skating at its annual Governing Council. We have skated at numerous rinks in the area over the years(some which are no longer in existence). For about 25 years,\u00a0Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket was our main\u00a0facility until last year when the rink was sold. The new owner purchased the rink to\u00a0house a hockey program and most of the renters (including our skating club) had to find\u00a0ice at other facilities. We were fortunate that we had ice booked on Sundays at\u00a0Providence College, which is what carried us through this past season. This fall we are\u00a0slated to move to a new facility currently under construction in Attleboro, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n FSO<\/strong>: Some notable skating stars have represented the\u00a0Pawtucket & Providence Figure Skating Club, right?<\/p>\n Gloria<\/strong>:<\/span> Yes, among the notable members in our history are Edi Scholdan, Dudley Richards,and LeeAnn Miele. Edi was a competitive skater and highly successful coach. Dudley\u00a0competed at the World and Olympic level. Both were a part of the U.S. delegation to the\u00a01961 World Championships that was killed when their plane crashed on route to Prague,\u00a0Czechoslovakia. The entire U.S. World Team died in that crash. Each year, our club\u00a0gives awards to individual skaters named in honor of these men. LeeAnn Miele was a\u00a0pioneer in synchronized skating and served as an international and world judge in\u00a0\u201csynchro.\u201d In addition, she was a national judge and referee with U.S. Figure Skating in\u00a0all disciplines. Our annual synchro competition, originally called the Providence <\/span>Synchro Open, was renamed the <\/span>LeeAnn Miele Synchronized Skating Open to honor her <\/span>contributions to the sport.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong> For those not familiar with the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, can you explain what these organizations do?<\/p>\n Gloria:<\/span> <\/strong>Founded in 1947, Dana-Farber provides adults and children with cancer with the best treatment available today, while developing tomorrow’s cures through cutting-edge research.\u00a0It is internationally known for its research and patient care.\u00a0The Jimmy Fund exclusively supports Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, raising funds\u00a0for adult and pediatric cancer care. Since its founding in 1948, the Jimmy Fund has\u00a0raised millions of dollars through thousands of community fundraising events such as the\u00a0one we are hosting.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong> Why did you select the Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber Cancer Institute? Is there a special connection to the organization?<\/p>\n Gloria:<\/strong> <\/span>Several of our club members have either had cancer themselves or have had family members who have struggled with this illness. One member approached me with the idea to host a benefit for a cancer-related charity. One thing led to another, as they say, and before long we had a date booked and the Jimmy Fund selected as the charity. \u00a0This is our first benefit show.<\/p>\n Wendy:<\/strong> <\/span>The Jimmy Fund is well-known throughout New England and beyond and most people from our region instantly recognized the name and the wonderful work they do. Like Gloria said, the idea to host a special show came from a long-time skating member.\u00a0Her immediate\u00a0family had been deeply affected by cancer and she approached the club officers earlier\u00a0this year and urged them to consider having a special exhibition to raise funds for a\u00a0cancer charity.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/span> <\/strong>You have quite a few well-known guest stars participating in your show. How did you go about reaching out to them and asking them to be apart of the show? How has their involvement been with promoting the show?<\/p>\n Wendy:<\/span><\/strong> Some\u00a0of the criteria I always mull over\/ponder when thinking about special guest skaters are ‘who is a natural performer, who connects well with audience members, who brings the audience into their programs?’ You know, skaters who have that ‘Wow’ factor, a lively personality and the ability to bring\u00a0an audience to their feet are some of the things I consider. I believe we have\u00a0that: a diverse and\u00a0exciting mix of skaters.<\/p>\n We have a nice balance of soloists, ice dancers and Theatre on Ice representing our New England clubs. I am also really grateful to the Team USA members (Richard Dornbush, Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus, Sean Rabbitt and Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran) and the international soloists representing ISU member federation countries (Aimee Buchanan, Brooklee Han, Natalie\u00a0<\/span>Sangkagalo) who are taking time away from their pre-season training to join us.<\/span><\/p>\n The local and New England skaters have been actively helping to promote the show. We\u00a0offered everyone in the cast a challenge (eh, an opportunity!) to \u201cMake a 30-second\u00a0Video for Social Media\u201d. I received more than a dozen videos from cast members and\u00a0about half them are now up on Twitter and Facebook (Editor Note: see some of videos below<\/strong><\/em>). We’re hoping that this will help\u00a0spread the word about the show to more skating fans, cast members’ friends, colleagues\u00a0and family. All the promos submitted are original, creative and each have a signature\u00a0theme about the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n We connected with Nancy through a mutual skating colleague of ours (competitor and\u00a0coach, Brad Vigorito) who is a former student of Paul Wylie’s. Paul (who is long-time <\/span>friends with Nancy) graciously forwarded our letter of invitation to her. We were so <\/span>thrilled when she accepted the invitation.<\/p>\n Wendy:<\/span><\/strong> We are very excited that Marissa is performing in the show. There has been a lot of support for her from the local skating community over the past eight years. She is Rhode Island’s only figure skater to reach Olympic competition in the past four decades, so we are thrilled that she and her partner, Mervin Tran are traveling to Rhode Island for this special event. Her entire family will be in attendance on July 22, so truly it is a homecoming for her and the Rhode Island skating community.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong> Nancy Kerrigan is also a native New Englander. In addition to helping to draw more skating fans to come see the show, how is having big-time\u00a0skaters from the New England area promote skating\u00a0in general for the upcoming skaters?<\/p>\n Wendy:<\/span> <\/strong>We are \u00a0incredibly honored to have 2-time Olympic medalist and skating legend\u00a0<\/span>Nancy Kerrigan host and perform. Nancy has been an inspiration to thousands of young,\u00a0up and coming competitive skaters over the past two decades and her presence and\u00a0participation will certainly encourage our young club members and show soloists to strive\u00a0farther in reaching their competitive skating goals.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/span><\/strong> How has the preparation gone for the show? When did you start planning this show?<\/p>\n Gloria:<\/span><\/strong> We started actively preparing for the show in March. In hindsight, we should have started earlier. That would have given us more time and would have made the last few weeks less intense.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/span><\/strong> How have ticket sales gone? \u00a0For those who are thinking about coming, why should they come see this show? What do you hope they take away from this show?<\/p>\n Wendy:<\/span><\/strong> Tickets went on sale in mid-June and the numbers are beginning to pick up steadily. Three local media outlets (NBC-10, WPRI-TV and WPRO radio) will be interviewing some of the special guest skaters. (Gloria and I will be interviewed for one of the newscasts). We hope this will\u00a0help encourage more members of the Rhode Island\u00a0community to attend the show.\u00a0New England is a major region for sporting events and there really is<\/span> a strong fan base\u00a0for figure skating. For example, Boston has hosted t<\/span>hre<\/span>e<\/span> premier figure skating events in the last three years: the 2013 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships, the 2014 Prudential U.S. Championships and most recently in March, the ISU World Championships. All had record audience turnout. In past years, Rhode Island has also been one of the featured stops for both the Stars on\u00a0<\/span>Ice tour and the former <\/span>Tom Collins Champions on Ice tour. Being that this is a show to\u00a0<\/span>benefit a major charity, we are hoping that the public will embrace the event and come out and support this fundraiser.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong> What are the plans for\u00a0\u00a0Pawtucket and Providence Figure Skating Club in the future?<\/p>\n Gloria:<\/strong><\/span> In September, we will be hosting the Providence Open, a competition that Pawtucket and Providence Figure Skating Club has hosted for over 40 years. In early December, we will have our annual Holiday exhibition, which is open to all club members. The last of our big events for the season will be the synchro open, which will be held in mid-January. Once that is over, I think we are going to need a good rest.<\/p>\n To learn more about the show and to purchase tickets, click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"13316809_1003778016336750_8158173549283940231_o\"](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/13316809_1003778016336750_8158173549283940231_o-1-194x300.jpg\")
FSO:<\/span> <\/strong>Marissa Castelli is from Rhode Island (she now trains in Montreal). The show will be a homecoming of sorts for her. Is her family\/friends planning on being there? Is she excited to be apart of this show?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n