When I slid across the ice into the hockey box at the Codey Arena, I felt starstruck. It’s not every day you get to sit in on a class led by a former Olympian! Her love for the sport was evident, if not in the class itself, then during the answer to my first question: what drew her to figure skating?
She recalls the first time she stepped into a rink. “It had a high, arched ceiling, and someone was playing the organ while everyone skated around. And I saw it and I went I have to do this. This is me, this is who I am.”
Later, at a rink in her hometown, she would meet her skating partner, Ken Shelley. When the school closed down, the two of them began skating at Mr Zamboni’s rink (yes, that Zamboni), where they learned, competed, and trained for the Olympic Games. Despite all the magic she experienced on the ice, she said what she loved the most was “the feeling of speed and the wind in your hair and on your face. You just feel like you're soaring through space, you know?”
She recalled her first Olympic team, whose theme was Snowflakes and Roses-- fitting, since she and Ken performed as snowflakes in their first winter show. From there, she turned to Broadway, led by fellow figure skater John Curry, whose love of dance brought her a new perspective on skating. The stage itself had been turned into a rink, and she recalls Curry demonstrating exercises to them, saying that “we felt like we were learning all over again.”
After her professional career, she realized that it had come time to turn in a new direction, and found a love of teaching after years of producing shows.
For people that are looking to find a new hobby in the new year, Jojo recommends finding a good coach “right off the bat”, and to carry a notebook to record what you learn each lesson.
If you’re nervous about getting on the ice, her students said it best: “You're in good hands. It's a little scary to get on skates if you haven't before, but you take things slow, one step at a time, and Jojo is really supportive of people who are new to this, so yeah, give it a go.”
"I have to do this. This is me, this is who I am.”