Rock Springs Ice Skater Rose Robertson Qualifies for National Showcase

Rock Springs Ice Skater Rose Robertson Qualifies for National Showcase

ROCK SPRINGS — Rose Robertson loves ice skating. Nearly every weekend for the last four years, 16-year-old Rose and her mother, Samantha, wake up at 3 a.m. to drive to Park City, Utah so that Rose can work with her ice skating coaches.

She’s getting good at it, too. Last month, Rose qualified for her fourth national showcase in three categories—Artistic Light, Dramatic, and Improvisation—at the Desert Ice Open Competition in Las Vegas.

She will go on to compete in the U.S. Figure Skating Showcase in Santa Rosa, California in August 2017.

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These showcases are theatrical skating routines put together by the skater and her coach—with the exception of Improvisation, during which competitors hear a song and have 30 minutes to choreograph a routine for it.
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Rose at the Desert Ice Open Competition, where she qualified for the national showcase in three categories.

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Winning Routines

Rose’s winning routine for the dramatic category features her skating as Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians.

“I have a big coat, sparkly outfit. Crazy wig and makeup. Oh, and I have stuffed Dalmatian puppies,” said Rose.

Her other routine is “Part of your World” from The Little Mermaid, but it takes a shocking turn as she tears off the rip-away mermaid skirt and the music switches to “Legs” by ZZ Top.

Her unique mash-ups have earned her medals before. Another year, her routine was a montage of Tom Cruise films. She dressed as a pilot for “Danger Zone” in Top Gun, followed by the theme from Mission Impossible, and then ended with rip-away pants and the famous slide from Risky Business.

“People think skaters are so graceful. That they are like ballerinas in a snowstorm,” said Rose. “And then I’m like ‘I’m gonna do something totally different here.’”
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The Training

“She eats and breathes ice,” said her mom, Samantha. “We’ve put about 110,000 miles on our car over the last three and a half years.”

Rose and her mom begin their marathon training weekends at the Park City Figure Skating Club, where she works with a team of coaches.

Then she skates with the American Ice Theater Company of Utah, where she is the only skater in Wyoming on the team. In that program, she has skated for Utah Grizzlies hockey games with upwards of 9,000 people in attendance.

In addition to the early mornings and long weekends, Rose has been put to the test in other ways. At a competition in Denver, Rose broke a bone in her foot completing a move and went on to beat seven other girls.
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Rose with the American Ice Theater Company of Utah.

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Giving Back Locally

Rose first got a taste of ice skating at the Rock Springs Family Recreation Center’s ice arena about seven years ago. She took a turn around the ice and decided she wanted more.

“I wanted to learn how to spin and jump,” said Rose. She started taking ice skating lessons and joined the Sweetwater Figure Skating Club.

She is a coach at the Sweetwater Figure Skating Club now. She holds several certifications, such as the Professional Skaters Association, which qualifies her to teach private lessons. She trains students and takes them to basic skills competitions.

She even shares her ice skating dresses with her students, who range from 3 years to 14 years old.

Rose says her future is ice skating. “I’d like to coach and be a show skater,” said Rose. “Maybe work for Disney on Ice.”

Rose, who is home schooled, is currently taking 10 credits up at Western Wyoming Community College, where she is studying dance and choreography.
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