In a dazzling mix of broadway performance and ice skating, the Steamboat Skating Club’s “Seussical” debuts this weekend. 

More than 40 skaters aged 5 to 17 will tell the story of the “Seussical the Musical” through movement and music from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25, at Howelsen Ice Arena.

A broadway-style show is not a standard ice skating performance, but the Steamboat Springs skaters put on a similar performance every spring. Nikki Politte, the president of the Steamboat Skating Club Board of Directors, said it’s a better way for the community to take in the efforts and talent of the club members. 

“My goal is always to focus on giving the kids in our skating club an opportunity to perform their talents,” said Kelli Standekar, the on-ice and administrative director for the club. “It’s definitely about featuring our local skaters here. In Steamboat, there’s not a ton of opportunities for performing arts, especially ice shows, so we try really hard to give them that opportunity every year at least once.”

Standekar is one of the directors and choreographers for the show and is excited for people to see characters like the Cat in the Hat, Horton, and Mayzie.

Members of the Steamboat Skating Club are used to spending time skating together rather than individually, even though that isn’t the norm for skating athletes. 

“Skating is historically a really individual sport,” Politte said. “It’s something you have to pay for private lessons in order to progress and move forward. In our community, it’s so active and it’s a huge hockey community with only one rink, we really do have a limited amount of ice time. In order to progress our skaters faster, we have group lessons.”

Skating competitions are typically the only way athletes can put their skills to the test, and those events are the most public-friendly. A Disney-on-ice-like production is a way more community-centered way to put Steamboat’s skaters on display. 

The city’s learn to skate program will have a number in the show as well.

“This is a good chance and opportunity for them to come together as a big, giant team to create something really fun and theatrical and showcase their skills to the community,” Politte said. “We like the broadway style over your traditional exhibition because it brings more people in because it’s telling a story.”

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for kids and can be purchased at the door or online at steamboatskatingclub.org/seussical. 

The show is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year and benefits scholarships that offset costs of programming for some members. Politte hopes the scholarship program can eventually grow to help with summer camp costs, competition costs and more. 

The club has gone through ebbs and flows in participation since its founding in 1994, but membership is on the rise and scholarships can keep that trend going. 

Ideally, the show will not only raise funds for the club, but interest as well. 

“It really is a technical sport. You have to have balance, you have to have agility, you have to have endurance. It’s more of a sport than I think people believe it is. It’s traditionally an individual sport, but we work really hard to make it a team sport. … We have an amazing team atmosphere.”