To glide, to fall, to rise: Figure skating in Harlem ignites the dream | amNewYork

Hitting the ice forces a direct encounter with reality, including impact, pain, and the decision to stay down or rise and try again. In figure skating, that pause becomes the core education, shaping identity through repeated discipline and the choice to keep moving after learning how falling hurts. Figure Skating in Harlem’s 2026 Gala, “Igniting the Dream,” held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom, welcomed nearly 400 guests and raised $1.6 million for the organization’s 2026 year. The event honored resilience and belief in girls, discipline, and teaching young women to stand tall, fall hard, rise quickly, and move forward with grace. Founded in 1997 by Sharon Cohen, the organization has grown to serve hundreds of young women annually in New York City and Detroit, combining skating with education, mentorship, leadership training, and wellness.

"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."

"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 202627 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"

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