On Sunday, June 14, 130 community members and others from outside Boston gathered at Warrior Ice Arena on Guest St. to watch the 2026 American Contemporary Skating Festival Showcase, presented by American Ice Theatre Boston, where some of the community learned about contemporary skating in a free class, and all of them cheered on local skating talent in the show.

American Ice Theater is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing contemporary and artistic skating in the local community through performance, education and outreach. The Boston location began with a series of skating seminars in 2015, and its current iteration launched four years later. The organization’s first Contemporary Skating Festival was originally held in Somerville in 2017 but moved to its current location in Brighton in 2022 to better suit the event’s and skaters’ needs.

“Over the years, it has become more professional in its presentation,” according to AIT Boston co-founder and director Kate McSwain. The organization built stronger ties with the local community last year, when it received a grant that supported a free community class.

“Last year approximately 90 people participated in the free public class, and the showcase audience was nearly 300 people,” McSwain added.

Some community members so enjoyed their experience last year that they returned, like Miriam Geiger of Brighton. “It’s really a great opportunity to see skating,” she remarked. As an adult amateur skater, Geiger said she felt the group class wasn’t as intimidating.

“It’s a great place to learn things. I wouldn’t think of learning new skating skills. You get to see human beings doing crazy things on butter knives,” she added. Geiger also appreciated AIT’s mission to make skating more inclusive.

During the class, McSwain along with her co-directors, encouraged 50 students of varying ages to challenge their expectations of what skating is. She asked them, “Do we have to go in the same direction? We should skate the way we like to skate!” McSwain noted that AIT takes concepts from contemporary dance and encouraged skaters to explore how they can move about on the ice to create art, from writing their names with their finger, elbow or head movements, to becoming inspired from other skaters around them. “When we’re in a space to try anything, humans are innately creative and built to do things,” she explained.

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“It’s important to move with a community,” noted Valerie Assad of Somerville, who attended the class for the second time in a row. “I love using ice as a space. I love skating and moving on the ice with [my] hands, heels and slide.” After taking last year’s class, Assad remarked that she felt inspired by AIT’s philosophy. “It meant a lot to me. I’ve been to many of their seminars since then,” she added.

After the class, the participants joined 80 other community members for the two-hour showcase, which featured skating performances from groups, soloists and pairs. Each of the performers had the opportunity to share original choreography they learned from AIT’s seminars or their own skating journeys. Some performers came from overseas, while others were local to Boston, like Sadie Lee and Zoey Janusz of Allston.

“It is truly a one-of-a-kind environment in the skating world, to be able to perform in a showcase where all of our foundations root in non-judgment, kindness and acceptance,” explained Lee, who performed in an ensemble skating program and in one of the AIT Boston Professional Company’s programs.

“I love the piece so deeply,” remarked Janusz about her performance in a skating program choreographed by Gillian Robidas, one of AIT Boston’s assistant directors. “It’s so special and my whole company felt like we skated it to the best of our ability. I even saw some people in the audience crying, which was very touching,” she added.

At the end of the showcase, McSwain enthusiastically invited the audience to attend the next contemporary skating showcase at the Warrior Ice Arena on June 13, 2027. Learn more about AIT Boston at https://gvimes.link/aitskate