Although I did not get to meet LaserBraids, I did catch the whole show, which was fabulous.

The event was a benefit for Marina Shelton, a local skater who is recovering from a serious riding accident. The show was called A Little Piece of Heaven, and the rink was decorated with what seemed like hundreds of individual paper angels made by local skaters and friends. Staying with the heaven theme, many of the little girls in the audience were wearing tiaras made out of pipe cleaners that they handed out at the door. Marina and her parent were seated in a box right over the ice.

The venue was not quite ideal for a show because there is hockey glass and netting around the rink, which impeded the view slightly, but the spirit of the show and the quality of the performances by all of the skaters more than compensated for this. It's just a regular rink, so there was only bench seating on one side of the facility.

With the exception of Johnny, all of the skaters were local to the Boston area, although quite a few of them are National medalists. The cast was:

-Daniel Lafond 2004 New England Juvenile Pewter medalist
-Maddison Grogan 2003 State Games of America Gold medalist
-Curran Oi 2004 New England Intermediate Champion
-Lara Shelton & Neill Shelton Marinas siblings and also 2004 New England Novice Silver medalists in Pairs
-Brooke Frieling & Buck Withrow 2004 Jr. National Intermediate Dance competitors
-The Colonials Juvenile Synchro Team 2004 National Bronze medalists
-Danielle Shepard 2004 National Novice Silver medalist
-Boston Ice Theatre The Theater on Ice team from The Skating Club of Boston Marina used to skate with this group
-Sasha Tokarev 2004 New England Novice Bronze medalist
-Lara Shelton Marinas sister (same sis from the Pairs number not sure what level she skates at possibly Junior?)
-Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins 2004 National Novice Pairs Champions
-Tess Harvey Junior Ladies competitor
-Scott Smith 2004 National Mens competitor (and 2003 Pewter medalist)
-Brianna Perry 2004 National Junior Ladies Bronze Medalist
-And Johnny 2004 National Mens Champion (!)

There was also a group number with skaters from Colonial.

I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed each of the performances. With the exception of the Synchro team, everyone skated exhibition numbers, and they were very well done. With so much talent, its hard to single out any one skater in particular, but I have to make note of Danielle Shepard. She skated to Mobys version of the theme from James Bond, and boy can that girl move. She has the lithe body of a dancer, incredible extension, and a quickness with her moves (while finishing all of them) that made me think, Theres your next Olympic champ. I have no idea what she has in the jump department, but this girl can really skate. Scott Smith also did a wonderful job his program was full of gorgeous spread eagles almost on a par with Brian Boitanos. He was very relaxed throughout his number and quite engaged with the audience.

Johnny skated to Imagine, but I was so mesmerized by seeing him up close that I cant really remember what jumps he did I know there were four triples, and Im pretty sure they were lutz, flip, salchow and toe, but I was so absorbed in his performance that I didnt really focus on his jumps other than to note that they were gorgeous good height and perfect air position. His spins, as always, were spectacular the speed, extension and positions leave me speechless. (At the end of the show, he repeated his closing spin stars into camel, sit, back sit, Lucinda Ruh pancake.)

Johnny was wearing a new costume that looked fabulous on him. Its a one-piece with a long-sleeved form fitting black, white and grey top and black pants. I think the pants might have been velvet, but Im not sure it has a little bit of shine to it, but its subtle. The background of the top is black, and its decorated by fairly wide appliqud stripes (two inches?) in white and grey. The stripes are vertically oriented, but many of them are slightly askew and theyre layered on top of each other.

Johnny was extremely gracious. After his performance, he bowed first to Marina in her box (a few of the other skaters did this, too), and overall, he seemed like he just wanted to blend in with everyone else. He and some of the other skaters autographed posters after the show as part of the shows fundraising efforts, and he looked like he was having a good time.

Fantastic show all the way around.