Above: Company members Lara Shelton and Neill Shelton perform at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth. Below: Ice Dance International Artistic Director Douglas Webster. Photos by David J. Murray/cleareyephoto.com.
With more than 30 years of experience as a director and choreographer of ice shows, including Disney on Ice, Holiday on Ice-Europe and Stars on Ice, Douglas Webster is on a mission to spread the joy of skating, including to his native NH.
Touring the world on skates gave him the opportunity to work in many outdoor rinks. “When I moved here [Portsmouth] in 2010 and realized there was nothing like that here, the idea to have one came up, and Strawbery Banke was the perfect location.”
Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond, an outdoor ice-skating rink at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, opened in 2014 with Webster as the artistic director.
That same year, he founded Ice Dance International, which produces professional ice skating shows and boasts two-time U.S. Champion Alissa Czisny as part of its program this winter.
“I wanted to bring performances to New England and especially New Hampshire and Maine. I grew up in North Conway, so this region has always been near to my heart,” he says.
With national tours curtailed, local opportunities expanded, and business actually grew, says Webster. “Which has been perhaps the best outcome in such a dark time, to be able to share our work in a safe and socially distanced way.”
He says L.L. Bean also saw the incredible growth of the outdoor industry and sponsored “Winter Across Maine,” providing free skating and lessons for kids. “It was a gift for us to be able to do that, and it will come to New Hampshire over the next couple of years,” he says.
The pandemic focused attention on virtual offerings and livestreaming. “Because people were under lockdown and stuck inside in cities, to see something outside was particularly meaningful,” Webster says. “It was like this little snow globe magical moment. They wrote the most beautiful messages and comments including from people in hospitals. It was very special.”
He says Ice Dance International’s Currier and Ives Vintage skating performances at Strawbery Banke have been seen by more than 40,000 people across the world. A piece called Solstice, which Webster calls, “a magical winter fairy tale,” was filmed on a lake in Maine. Ice Dance International also has two specials that have aired on NHPBS and other PBS stations.
Webster also started youth and adult performance groups to provide opportunities outside of competitive skating, which he says has become so intensely athletic and costly that it’s prohibitive.
“I want to create ways to celebrate skating at a high-level without competition being any part of it. You don’t have to be a champion skater to have a great life in skating,” he says.
The company’s home ice is the Dover Arena, where they conduct rehearsals and started a new social program for intermediate to advanced skaters. Webster says that for years ice dancing, which draws from ballroom dancing, was popular. “It is really fun and a classic, but it is almost a lost form of social dance. It used to be done at every skating club, and we are trying to keep that alive,”he says.
For Ice Dance International, Webster says the goals are to build up its educational performances, its school (SKATE 360), and performances nationwide. Webster also wants to form deeper connections in communities, like a recent program with Future in Sight, which assists those who are blind and visually impaired. It also worked with Northeast Passage, which helps individuals with disabilities pursue therapeutic recreation and adaptive sports.
Ice Dance International has a full schedule of events, though one of the highlights is Seacoast Skating with the Stars, which will be held Feb. 5. “We do a show at Strawbery Banke where we pair local non-skaters or beginners with our pros,” says Webster. “It is an [inspiring] and amazing community event. They have been working on their routines since December.”
For more information, visit icedanceinternational.org.
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