Be dazzled by some of the city's most talented skaters! Ice Theatre of New York brings breathtaking ice choreography performed by their young skating apprentices and professional ensemble members to The Rink. We invite you to the rink deck watch this lunchtime performance.
Ice Theatre of New York's mission is to celebrate and advance dance on ice as a performance art. Through its performances in both traditional and site specific venues, ITNY presents ice dance that helps to open ones eyes to seeing skating in new and unexpected ways.
Today's performance features pieces performed by Valerie Levine ("Arctic Memory"), Vakhtang Murvanidze ("Happy Feet"), and a duet performed by Liz Yoshiko Schmidt and Danil Berdnikov ("Timelessness").
Valerie Levine has collaborated on ITNY events for the past two decades and has been roller-skating as well as dancing tap, jazz, and ballet since the age of four. She started training in figure skating at 11, going to compete and test until graduating high school, when she pursued her Bachelor's degree at Fashion Institute of Technology. At 19, she earned her gold level in Senior Ladies Moves and pre-golds in ice dance before skating professionally. While earning her BS in Product Management Textiles from FIT, she minored in dance and trained at Broadway Dance Center in many dance styles, leading to an off-ice career as a professional belly dancer, ballroom dancer, and samba dancer. She currently teaches and performs these styles worldwide, while managing her own entertainment company.
Liz Yoshiko Schmidt has been skating with ITNY since 2017. Luscious edges, artistic movement, and ice dancing inform her skating and professional career, which began in 2013, at the age of 18, performing internationally in Europe, Egypt, and across the US. She is a Japanese/German American skater who hails from Chicago, IL. She is a US Figure Skating double gold medalist in Freestyle and Moves in the Field, and a silver medalist in Ice Dancing. Liz received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2018, has an art studio in Brooklyn, and is the creator of the ice fashion line Dansu Wear.
Danil Bernikov joined ITNY in 2021. Originally from Samara, Russia, he competed as part of the junior national team and across his home country throughout high school. He later moved to Moscow to further his education and joined Stage Entertainment Russia, where he began performing professionally as a skater. Performing for live audiences gave Danil a renewed passion for skating, leading to an international career spanning eight years. In 2025, he was honored to be part of Art on Ice Switzerland-- the most famous ice show in the world, where he performed alongside world-class skaters and international music stars. Danil is deeply grateful to his parents, coaches, choreographers, and fellow skaters for their unwavering support.