Kid skaters light up the ice in Chelsea

The Championship Ensemble Figure Skating Class during a dress rehearsal at Chelsea Piers last week

By Jefferson Siegel

From lawyer to journalist to figure skating teacher. That may sound like an unusual career path, but listening to Marni Halasa, it made perfect sense.

“It was such an easy transition,” Halasa, 41, said. “It’s like the universe was saying, ‘Go, teach skating.’”

That’s what Halasa was doing last Friday as she led an ensemble figure skating camp class at Chelsea Piers. The camp, which is divided into two levels (advanced and beginner-intermediate), ran weekdays9 a.m.–4 p.m. from June 18 until today. The final ensemble performance took place last Friday amid a nice crowd of parents and friends of the young skaters.

During a dress rehearsal last week, Halasa’s verve and enthusiasm was matched only by the youngsters in her class flying across the ice.

With Madonna’s “Vogue” reverberating across the rink, 27 young people, ranging in age from 7 to their teens, glided, spun, jumped, danced and literally wriggled across the ice in an ensemble routine that would have made Busby Berkeley green with envy.

“Everybody thinks about going to the Olympics,” Halasa said during a break. “Your chances are so small. I think the world should know there are other forms of figure skating. If they [children] want to do ensemble skating, there are more opportunities. I think that sort of thing gets overlooked.”

That was a sentiment echoed by her students. “It gives you a chance to show your artistic side, and it’s different because we’re working as a team,” said Ramona Wright, 12, from Tribeca.

Alida Monaco, 8, from Tribeca, added, “It’s really fun to work with other people so you can see different ideas.”

Fourteen years ago, after college and law school, Halasa came to New York as a journalist for the New York Law Journal. “Deadlines made me crazy,” she said, and soon she transitioned into a part-time skating instructor and full-time figure skater for the ensemble team of the NY Rangers, the Ranger City Skaters. She also worked with figure skating cheerleaders for the NY Islanders Ice Girls.

Today Halasa performs with a company called the Ice Theatre of New York, coaches privately and teaches groups at Chelsea Piers. “It’s a better fit. I’m much happier now,” she said of her life on the ice. “It’s a really amazing energy to have all these bodies on the ice at the same time.”

Her students agree. “It’s like you’re in a whole different world,” said Upper West Sider Georgia Decker, 14. “You can be free and express your feelings.”

Halasa believes that ensemble groups and skating camps are New York’s best-kept secret. She thinks that if more parents knew what her summer skating camp offered, and that kids got to perform every two weeks, then more would join.

In the sage words of Greenwich Village resident Annabess Ehrhadt, 11, “It’s a challenge. Every day you try to get a new jump or a new spin.”