To hit the ice is to meet reality without negotiation. There is the sharp shock of impact, the sting against bone, the brief mortification of sequins and nylon sliding helplessly across a cold, unforgiving surface, and then that extraordinary pause where a girl must decide who she is going to become. Does she stay down, embarrassed and aching, or does she gather herself, rise on trembling legs, and try again?
In figure skating, that moment is not incidental. It is the whole education.
Perhaps that is why Figure Skating in Harlem has always felt like one of New York’s most elegant metaphors for life and, arguably, one of its most powerful cheat codes for success. The sport is beautiful, certainly, but beauty alone does not carry a skater across the ice. Beneath every polished turn, lifted chin, and glittering costume, there is pain, repetition, discipline, and the private decision to keep moving after the body has learned exactly how much falling hurts.
Figure Skating in Harlem’s 2026 Gala, Igniting the Dream, held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City, honored precisely that kind of resilience. The festive evening welcomed nearly 400 guests and raised an extraordinary $1.6 million for the organization’s 2026–27 year, a number that speaks not only to generosity, but to belief: belief in girls, in discipline, and in the radical elegance of teaching young women to stand tall, fall hard, rise quickly, and move forward with grace.
Founded in 1997 by Sharon Cohen with only a handful of girls, Figure Skating in Harlem has grown into one of the country’s most significant youth development organizations, serving hundreds of young women each year in New York City and Detroit. Its model is deceptively beautiful: combine the grace and rigor of figure skating with education, mentorship, leadership training, wellness, financial literacy, tutoring, college preparation, career exploration, and cultural exposure. The result is far more than athletic instruction. It is the careful making of resilient, intellectually curious, emotionally grounded achievers.
Unsurprisingly, the evening carried that same duality: sparkle and substance, elegance and stamina, beauty and backbone. Honorees included Tony Award–winning actress and cultural trailblazer Anika Noni Rose, beloved as the voice of Disney’s first Black princess, and Tina Lundgren, Olympic judge and longtime advocate for expanding opportunities for girls in sport. The gala also celebrated “The Blade Angels” — Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito — alongside members of Olympic Team USA Figure Skating, including Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Jason Brown, Danny O’Shea, Ellie Kam, Alexa Scimeca Knierim, and Chris Knierim.
There was something deeply moving about seeing Olympic athletes, Broadway talent, philanthropists, chefs, civic leaders, and cultural figures gather around an organization built on the philosophy that excellence is not accidental. It is taught. It is modeled. It is repeated until confidence becomes muscle memory.
Among the notable guests were Emma Bloomberg, Daniel Boulud, Marcus Samuelsson, and Broadway star McKenzie Lewis, a Figure Skating in Harlem alumna whose own trajectory offered one of the evening’s most powerful reminders of the organization’s long-tail impact. Lewis, who has appeared in The Lion King, presented the award to Anika Noni Rose, creating one of those rare full-circle moments that cannot be manufactured.
That is the quiet genius of Figure Skating in Harlem. The ice may be the beginning, but it is never the end. Skating becomes the language through which young women learn discipline, resilience, posture, teamwork, self-possession, and ambition. The fall is not treated as failure. The fall is part of the choreography. The win is not merely a medal or a spotlight. The win is the girl who learns she can get up faster than she went down.
That mentality has produced a sisterhood of remarkable caliber. Over the past five years, 100 percent of Figure Skating in Harlem high school seniors graduated and entered college. Ninety-two percent of girls report improved physical fitness and self-confidence, with 96 percent reporting increased determination and discipline. Parents, too, see the transformation: 84 percent report academic improvement, while 100 percent report greater self-confidence and pride in their enrolled children.
With this in mind, the organization’s impact becomes impossible to reduce to numbers alone. The statistics matter, certainly, yet what they reveal is more profound than data. They reveal an ecosystem of expectation. These girls are expected to achieve, lead, care for their bodies and minds, and see themselves as worthy of opportunity. In a world that too often asks young women of color to make themselves smaller, Figure Skating in Harlem teaches them to take the ice.
Perhaps that is why the 2026 gala felt less like a single evening and more like a declaration. The dream is ignited in early mornings, cold rinks, homework sessions, mentorship conversations, and the private bravery of trying again after falling in front of everyone. It is ignited each time a girl discovers that grace is not the absence of struggle, but the art of moving through it beautifully.
By the end of the evening, the message was clear. Figure Skating in Harlem has built more than a program. It has built a runway of ice, intellect, sisterhood, and possibility. Upon that surface, generations of girls are learning not merely to glide, but to rise.
https://www.figureskatinginharlem.org
