Ice Theatre of New York presents Pivoting Through the Pandemic – a streaming broadcast Hosted by Jason Brown, Featuring ice artists Kaitlyn Weaver, Elladj Balde, and Adam Rippon

Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) presents Pivoting Through The Pandemic featuring the Company and champion ice artists Jason Brown, Kaitlyn Weaver and Elladj Balde, with a special appearance by Adam Rippon on May 6, 2021 at 8:00pm ET. The evening will include two new ITNY repertory pieces, a reflection on the past year and a look forward to the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the Company. For more details and to RSVP for the evening, visit icetheatre.org/support.

The broadcast will be followed at 8:45pm ET by a discussion with the artists, open to supporters who make a donation of $125 or greater at icetheatre.org/support. Suggested donation levels include Friend $125, Sponsor $250, Patron $500, Ice Angel $1,000. All donations will benefit ITNY’s future programming, including ITNY’s 35th Anniversary celebrations in the spring of 2022.

8PM – Broadcast – FREE Streaming 
8:45PM – Discussion with the artists moderated by Doug Haw

“It occurred to me that with all the talk about pivoting through the pandemic, that since skating has an actual move called a ‘pivot,’ it would be a great idea to do a socially distanced ensemble piece appropriate for these times,” said Moira North, founder and artistic director of ITNY. “We were delighted to commission Joel Dear for the choreography of “Pivoting” and Jordan Cowan from On Ice Perspectives to film this unique piece.”

Ice Theatre of New York also commissioned its first solo dance piece choreographed by Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver. This marks the first time Kaitlyn choreographs and performs a solo piece, which is a relatively new ice dance discipline. 

About Ice Theatre of New York
Founded by Moira North, ITNY’s mission is to celebrate and advance dance on ice as a performance art. Through its performances in both traditional and site-specific venues, ITNY presents ice dance that helps to open one’s eyes to seeing skating in new and unexpected ways. ITNY was the very first ice dance company to receive dance program funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. www.icetheatre.org

About the Artists
Elladj Balde is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. His mother is from Russia and his dad is from Guinea. He was born in Moscow and immigrated to Montreal at 2 years old. He was on the National Team for Canada for over a decade skating competitively. He speaks three languages fluently: English, French and Russian. Elladj Balde is a frequent guest performer with ITNY. Prior to COVID he was doing guest performances on tours all over the world, including Spain, Japan, Switzerland, Korea, and Russia. He is in-demand as a show skater and it has kept him very busy since his retirement from competitive figure skating. While unable to travel due to COVID, he decided to focus on his activism and recently started a non-profit organization called the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance. The organization is dedicated to increasing representation and accessibility to the BIPOC community through many exciting initiatives. While it has been a lot of work, he is very excited about the process they have been making. He has recently started a relationship with the Hockey Diversity Alliance, run by Kim Aliu and Evander Kane, and many other top NHL players. Balde has had multiple videos go viral on TikTok and Instagram with upwards of 13 million views. These videos have been reposted by the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Aniston, Complex Magazine, Jesse Reyez, Sony Music, Saweetie, Dan Levy, and many more. Balde’s goal is to make figure skating cool again and bring it back into the mainstream culture. He wants to inspire young boys to pursue their passion and not be afraid to tap into their artistic and emotional side. He wants young BIPOC skaters to see him and feel like there is a place for them in this sport. Lastly, he wants to show all figure skaters that beyond the competitions, this sport is an art form that anyone can use to express oneself. 

Jason Lawrence Brown (born December 15, 1994) is an American figure skater. He is a seven-time medalist on the Grand Prix circuit, the 2015 U.S. national champion, and a two-time Four Continents medalist (2020 silver, 2018 bronze). Jason won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, becoming one of the youngest male figure skating Olympic medalists. Brown is known as one of the world’s most artistic skaters. Some of his programs have become iconic, including his Irish step dance free program and his 2021 short program to the music of Nina Simone with choreography by Rohene Ward.

Artist. Athlete. Activist. Adam Rippon is a combination of all three. One of the world’s most dramatic figure skaters, Adam won the hearts of America and the world at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Known for his refreshing candor and wit, his rise to fame on the global stage has provided him a platform to speak out in support of LGBTQ rights and the freedom to be oneself. His passion and charm have made him an inspiration to young and old alike, making him a role model and icon to millions. He has been named to the TIME 100, Forbes 30 Under 30, AdWeek’s 100 Most Creative, OUT Magazine’s Power 50 and Bleacher Report’s Most Influential People In Sports Culture among others. His memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, was published in 2019 to rave reviews. 

Empathetic communication—through sport, dance, public speaking, or charity—is Kaitlyn Weaver’s passion and gift. As an athlete, she reached the highest honor of figure skating and competed for Canada at the Olympic Games, and thrice stood on the World podium with her long-time ice dance partner, Andrew Poje. Kaitlyn remains active in the professional skating world and uses her platform for advocacy while dividing her time between New York, NY and Toronto, ON. Post-competitive life finds this ambitious creative engaging in her skating community, participating in and initiating global fundraisers, and part-time coaching and choreography. Ice Theatre of New York, Inc. has commissioned Kaitlyn to create a new solo dance repertory piece for the Company, which she will choreograph and perform. The piece will debut in the streaming broadcast on May 6.