BY KAREN BOSSICK

Hopefully, heaven has cable. Next to an ice rink, preferably.

If it does, you’ll know where to find Marilyn Kasputys Saturday and Sunday night.

American Public Television is airing an hour-long program showcasing the innovative ways in which Ice Dance International is transforming the world of ice skating at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 7. And the program, titled “The World of Ice Dance International” is dedicated to the late Sun Valley ice dancer, who passed away in February 2017.

Ice Dance International’s 2017 residency in Sun Valley where most the show was filmed was also named in Kasputys’ honor. And those surrounding the program will make a toast to Kasputys Sunday night when they stage a special screening at 6:30 p.m. at the Sun Valley Opera house followed by a reception at Knob Hill Inn.

Marilyn’s daughter Joy Prudek attended the premiere of the public television special in New York.

“It was fantastic!” she said.

Kasputys came late to the world of skating—she was a parent of four daughters who begged her and her husband Joseph Kasputys to let them have ice skates.

But she developed a passion for the sport that translated into gigs around the world for herself and her husband, a lifelong avocation for her daughter Joy and a wealth of support for Ice Dance International as it took its first wobbly steps into becoming an ice phenom.

“My mother loved every aspect of ice skating from synchronized skating to fashion. Next to family she loved the ice show more than anything,” said Joy Prudek, communications manager for St. Luke’s Wood River.

Marilyn and Joseph, whose Global Insight, Inc., joined together the world’s premier economic information and consulting firms, did not just send their daughters off to the ice rink.

They signed up the entire family for 11 lessons, which cost a mere $11, at an ice rink near their home in Lexington, Mass.

Daughters Jackie and Joy stuck with it, continuing to take proficiency tests and private lessons as the family eventually ended up as members of the prestigious skating club of Boston.

Training her sights on ice dancing, Prudek trained with Scotty Hamilton and his coach in 1980.

“It was pretty intimidating. I did figure eights, my path next to his. And I’d go from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Del., to train late at night--from midnight to 3 a.m.—with Olympic medalist Ron Ludington, who was the best coast in the nation for ice dancing,” said Prudek.

“My Mom and Dad were my biggest champions,” she added. “Mom would drive me back and forth to rinks, believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. But she wasn’t pushy. She always told me I could do it but I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t enjoy it.”

The Kasputys seniors began organizing ice dance weekends and, as they got more serious, began competing at the adult level.

As they did, Sun Valley—a well-known prestigious training center during summer—caught their eye.

They had come here in the 1970s to ski and when they returned in the 1980s  they saw Sun Valley’s unique outdoor ice rink from their room in the Sun Valley Lodge.

“They saw the busy schedule of ice dancing and figure skating that Sun Valley offered and said, ‘We’ll take all of that.’ And they bought a home in no time,” said Prudek.

Soon, Joy had moved here full time, taking her first job in the valley as director of Anne Reed Gallery.

“I love the sense of community,” said Prudek, who has now lived here for 20 years. “And equally important is the ice skating community here. We take care of one another, regardless of what generation one is in. There’s a wonderful camaraderie, as those who can support up-and-coming skaters. And, if someone’s sick, everyone pitches in to provide emotional support for the family.”

Marilyn and Joe Kasputys traveled to competitions and seminars as far away as Switzerland, skating by day as Joe lifted Marilyn in the air and performed jumps as they skated through patterns.

Evenings found them still on their feet dancing away at balls, Joe outfitted in a tuxedo and Marilyn wearing a sequined ball gown she had made herself. Marilyn also made most of her ice skating costumes.

“She did always have an eye for fashion—the more sequins the better,” recalled Prudek. “She was a domestic goddess, with a flare for fashion and interior design.”

Marilyn fell on the stairs, breaking her hip in 2007. But it didn’t keep her off skates. Nor did a subsequent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. She skated right through it and seven hip surgeries in 15 months.

“She loved the freedom of gliding,” said Prudek. “She even continued to do some local and regional competitions. Her coaches said, ‘As long as you can get her here to the ice rink, we’ll continue to work with her.’ As it turned out, she could skate better than she could walk. It was therapeutic.”

Both Joy and Joseph—Marilyn’s husband of 62 years—have continued to take part in competitions and take lessons from some of skating’s best coaches.

Joy Prudek is working towards passing her Solo Gold Free Dance and her father recently competed in international skating competition organized by the Ice Skating Institute in California.

”Right now I’m happy to do my skating for me and personal challenge,” said Prudek. “For me, skating is  my canvas. I can’t think about anything else when I’m out there. I feel free, like I can put everything else behind. It has beauty and elegance, while being athletic. The trick is to make look easy.”

Right now both she and her father are focused on the premiere of the TV special featuring the ice dancing organization that Marilyn Kasputys championed.

“She really enjoyed ice dancing and ensemble skating. She loved it because it pushes new boundaries and it’s about the appreciation of beautiful skating, rather than competition like in the Olympics,” said Prudek.

Stephanee Grosscup, a Sun Valley choreographer who helped with the show, said she felt honored that the show had been dedicated to her late friend.

“Marilyn invited elegance and class. She was a beautiful skater with a fashionable presence and she a beautiful mother,” she said. “If you spoke with Marilyn, you left thinking you were the most important person in the world. She was a magnificent angel radiating love, and she shined like a bright sunray. She gave us a gift and showed us how to be forever present in the now.”