At RiverWorks we like to think we have a more sensitive side to compliment some of the “contact” sports we offer, and there is nothing wrong with that. There are few sports in the world with that require more elegance and above all extreme athletic ability. RiverWorks is fully equipped to host any type of figure skating event.
A little history lesson…
The Dutch were arguably the earliest pioneers of skating. They began using canals to maintain communication by skating from village to village as far back as the 13th century. Skating eventually spread across the channel to England, and soon the first clubs and artificial rinks began to form. Passionate skaters included several kings of England, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon III and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Two Americans are responsible for the major developments in the history of the sport. In 1850, Edward Bushnell of Philadelphia revolutionized skating when he introduced steel-bladed skates allowing complex maneuvers and turns. Jackson Haines, a ballet master living in Vienna in the 1860’s, added elements of ballet and dance to give the sport its grace.