STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Eleven-year-old Valentina Holman will miss Halloween and a chance to dress up as a cowgirl in her quest to collect Twix bars this year.

That’s because she’s headed to Snoopy’s Home Ice Redwood Empire Ice Arena in Santa Rosa, Calif., for what will be the biggest skating performance of her young life—a performance that will help give cancer a kick in the pants.

Holman and seven other members of the Sun Valley Figure Skating Club will take part in the Sk8 to Elimin8 Cancer, a nationwide fundraiser for the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation to turn cancer upside down.

The youngsters raised more than $10,000 for the Sk8 to Elimin8 Cancer event, their money destined for   cancer research. And Saturday night they will take part in a Celebration Ice Show to commemorate their fundraising efforts and honor those they know impacted by cancer.

Kelly Kyle, Olivia Olson, Sasha Irvine, Teagan Shea, Valentina Holman, Hannah McEntee, Belle Poole and Ashlyn Brown will skate to “A Million Dreams” from “The Greatest Showman,” which they performed in Sun Valley on Ice this past summer. Wearing flowy pink and blue chiffon dresses, they’ll reprise the moving piece about a young girl who closes her eyes to dream of the world that’s waiting for her.

Valentina Holman will also don a purple dress to perform a 2-minute, 6-second solo to “Carried Away” as one of the top five individual fundraisers of all the young skaters taking part.

“I sent out an email to a lot of friends telling them how important it is to fight cancer—my great grandfather passed away from cancer,” said the Sun Valley Community School sixth-grader who raised $3,600. “I told them how cancer is not good for you and it kills a lot of people—it’s one of the main causes of death in America. And my grandma’s friend sent a donation of $1,000!”

The showcase will be emceed by Olympic Gold Medalist and cancer survivor Scott Hamilton. It will  feature performances by such skaters as Olympic medalist Jeremy Abbot, Olympian Polina Edmunds, U.S. National Champion Alissa Czisny and 2024 World Champion Ilia Malinin--the first and only skater to land a fully rotated quadruple axel in international competition.

Five fixtures in Sun Valley on Ice shows will also perform: Four-time U.S. National medalists Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre, professional ice skater Erin Reed and Natalia Zaitseva, a former Russian Master of Sport, Triple USFS Gold medalist and Disney on Ice skater.

“It’s a very highly decorated event that happens around the nation,” said Kylie’s mother Sadie Kyle, noting that such showcases are also taking place this year in Juneau, the Twin Cities, Nashville and Cleveland. “It’s really cool that we have a group that wanted to raise money to participate. They’ll be representing Sun Valley and the Sun Valley Figure Skating Club before a sold-out audience of 600 people.”

“The girls love to skate and to perform so this is a great chance for them to travel and be part of a show. They’re even talked about hosting this event in Sun Valley at some point,” she added.

The event will give the girls an opportunity to stand next to figure skaters they have long admired who have worked hard to become the skaters that they are.

“They’ll get to go backstage, meet some of their people they’ve admired from afar, watch them skate and dedicate their art to this cause,” said Kyle.

The group will be led by their coach Natalia Zaitzeva, also known as Natalia Irvine as she’s married to Scott Irvine who oversees Sun Valley’s ice program. They met while performing for Disney on Ice—he was the Beast; she was the Beauty.

“I’m super excited for the girls—how they came together, how the community has supported them.  This shows them how figure skating can change the world,” Zaitzeva said. “It shows them how they can make a difference with their skating.”

Fifteen-year-old Ashlyn Brown said she’s looking forward to performing in front of a bigger audience.

“It’s important to help people and the cause,” she said.

Valentina Holman said that the showcase doesn’t carry the pressure that competitions do: “I’m looking forward to just going and having fun.”

Marianna Holman said she’s proud of the way her daughter has combined her passion for figure skating with a cause to make a difference.

“It’s a combination of not only learning to enjoy a sport and dedicate it to something that makes her happy but also to give back and honor people who have suffered or are suffering from cancer,” she said. “This will give her a chance to be involved in the community of figure skaters that she’s enamored by. She and her fellow skaters love the sport. They love their home and community and most of all they want to represent our community in the best way they can and this a wonderful opportunity for them to do that.”

Want to know more? Go to https://www.sunvalleyfsc.org.