Gabby Duarte found skating “a little later.”
“I was eight, turning nine,” she said. “In the skating world, that’s later.”
The Squamish resident was on a field trip with her school at Brennan Park when she first discovered the sport—and she hasn’t looked back since.
This month, Duarte is set to return to the rink to perform The Nutcracker on Ice as part of the PNE’s Winter Fair for the second year in a row—also her second professional contract.
The PNE Winter Fair takes place Dec. 6 to 8 and 12 to 23 in Vancouver. The Nutcracker is free with admission to the fair.
“It was so much fun,” she said of last year. “It went really well. It was the first year there was a skating show at the PNE Winter Fair, so they were choreographing it from scratch.”
Again this year, Duarte is serving as part of the “ensemble,” meaning she plays various characters in the small crew of 10.
“I’m in all the group numbers—anything other than the solos,” she added.
The half-hour show takes place twice a night during the Winter Fair at 6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.
“Skaters will perform breathtaking high-speed leaps and back flips, awe-inspiring acrobatics, and sublime ice dance to make The Nutcracker on Ice a festive treat that will enchant the ages,” according to a release on the show.
While skating in so many performances in a short period of time can be tiring, the cast remains full of enthusiasm, Duarte said.
“It can be [tiring] at some point, but our cast is just so good at keeping the energy up and making sure we have enough rest, but also recovery time and warming up our muscles together and working through the whole show together," she said. "It really doesn’t feel that exhausting. Our cast makes it easy to be a part of the show."
Duarte, a long-time member of , also coaches in Squamish. She hopes to see a few familiar local faces in the crowd.
“I’m definitely looking forward to seeing everyone in the crowd,” she said.
Another highlight she’s looking forward to: “There’s a moment at the end where everyone pulls out their flashlights and it’s such a cool moment to be down on the ice seeing that.”
After recently finishing university where she earned a bachelor in business administration, Duarte is hoping to add more professional skating gigs to her resume.
“I took this past year to finish up with university and see what I want to do with my professional career, but [this performance] has definitely put in my head that I would love to keep doing this or do more shows,” she said.
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