ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The sport of figure skating is slowly expanding its reach throughout the world, and one of the groups helping with that is the Figure Skating in Harlem group based in New York.
Their work and a recent season on the ice has been captured in a new Disney+ docuseries called “Harlem Ice,” and recently, fate led me to click on it when I was surfing for something to watch. The series follows a group of young skaters from Harlem as they face challenges and triumphs while training for competitions and other events, and also showcases the impact of figure skating in Harlem, breaking barriers and opening doors for girls of color in the world of ice skating.
Something I enjoyed about the show is how it gives a more realistic look into the pressures young athletes can feel not just in their sport but also other things going on in their lives. This is a cliche used in too many other TV shows and movies to count, but “Harlem Ice” does it in a way that’s much less melodramatic. The girls featured in the series are shown balancing not only their ice skating lives but also school, family, and other commitments, and the girls are rather blunt when talking about feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything they have to do. There’s an episode where one of the girls talks about “senioritis” creeping up on her and how she would love to be able to take just a couple days to play hooky, and I sat there thinking “I definitely know how THAT feels!” There are also several scenes when the girls are working on their choreography and putting so much pressure on themselves to get everything exactly right before their competition, and while it’s great to see these girls’ work ethic coming through, I also found it a little heartbreaking just because these girls are kind of young and are already so hard on themselves.
The show also provides a more realistic look at the pressure faced by the coaches as they work with the girls. Not only are they having to work up choreography for upcoming competitions, they’re also working on arranging other upcoming events and deciding who will go in what group and other logistical stuff. The coaches are also trying to balance being firm but fair with the girls as they’re working on everything, which I know can’t be easy. I like how the show featured this because while young athletes are the ones actually the ones on the field/court and actually in the game, not a lot of people probably think about the behind-the-scenes work done by the coaches to make sure their young charges are properly prepared for whatever competition they happen to be facing. Overall, the show takes a much more realistic look at things from both the coaching and athlete side of things, and it’s something I found really refreshing.
The overall cinematography for the show is also really well done. Every routine shown on the ice is captured absolutely crystal clear, almost as if one were watching a regular ice skating competition on TV, and everyone and everything looks just absolutely beautiful. The final episode of the series shows a group going to South Africa as part of a special exchange program, and the beauty and majesty of that country absolutely shine, particularly in a few scenes that take place in the mountains and a couple scenes that take place at a beach. The camera crews and directors definitely knew what they were doing, and my hat goes off to them for being able to get such beautiful footage.
I also really enjoyed how the personalities of all the girls featured got to shine through on and off the ice. There’s definitely seriousness as the girls are preparing and perfecting their choreography, and there are also way sillier moments shown when the girls aren’t “on,” such as jamming to TikTok videos, and I really liked how that was shown. Like I said earlier in regard to showing a more realistic look into young athletes’ lives, I thought it showed a great and realistic look into who the girls are both on and off the ice, and there’s some of that which also comes out in their skating skills.
The show also provides some snippets of history lessons about Black figure skaters, including the story of a woman who had to learn on the sidelines in a time when Black people weren’t allowed in such facilities, as well as stories about prominent figures such as 1986 Olympian Debi Thomas. The lessons are rather subtle and more sprinkled in, but to me, it rather goes to show just how important it is for EVERYONE to have access to these types of opportunities and at least have a shot at becoming great.
I also thought the show’s overall pacing was well done. The series is five 30- to 35-minute episodes, and there really isn’t too much time wasted, making for a fun watch, so if you’re looking for something to binge for a few hours, this would be a good one to turn on.
Overall, I enjoyed “Harlem Ice” on Disney+ and would give it a solid “A” grade. The series takes a more realistic look at sports from both the coaching and athlete side, and it’s refreshing compared to other sports-themed shows and movies. The cinematography is also done really well, and I also really enjoyed how everyone gets a chance to shine as the series goes on. If you’re a fan of ice skating, “Harlem Ice” is definitely one to cue up.
