Elliott Miller, a fourth year Physics Major, dances in the middle of the ring during Disco On Ice.
Eric Drummond

No money, check. Skates, check. Funky disco music, check. Friends, check. That was all you needed for CAB’s second Annual Ice Disco Skate on Friday, March 28th.

When you think of disco music, you think of a combination of Saturday Night Fever, the ‘70s, and roller skates. Since it’s a bit difficult to set up a roller rink on campus, however, CAB came up with the idea to bring “funky town” to the Frank Ritter Ice Arena instead.

Lots of students came out for the disco skate. The event was free for all RIT students and was definitely something fun to do on a Friday night. With disco music blaring, record decorations greeting attendees on to the ice, and bright neon lights spinning around the rink, all skaters contributed to the classic ‘70s vibe for the night. Old disco favorites set the tempo for the skaters to “shake their groove thang” on the ice.

Halfway into the event, the zamboni was brought out to clean the ice for disco partakers, which provided a smoother ride and helped skaters knock off some killer tricks on the ice. This gave many participants the chance to get off their feet without feeling like losers as they took their cue to leave; it also gave new people who arrived around the same time an easy entry without missing their disco favorites.

From the Bee Gees to the Jackson 5, many disco hits that would make you want to “knock on wood,” “stay alive,” and “get up off that thang” were all present and accounted for. Bright lights, blaring music, and some kids in cool and semitacky dance gear definitely brought back memories of an average high school dance, save for the fact that they were on ice. Mini-groups of friends sprinkled around the Frank Ritter Arena with the real dancers (or in this case, good figure skaters) in the middle of the rink showing off their skills. Too bad there weren’t any off-beat dancing principals dancing around—that, and spiked punch—or the disco skate could quite easily have passed for one of those stereotypical high school dances that one is used to seeing in ‘80s and ‘90s movies.

The greatest thing about the event not being like a high school dance was the fact that you could skate by yourself or with a partner. Even if you didn’t want to skate by yourself or hold a friend’s hand, skating near them wasn’t that hard. The only problem with that is that if you have too many people skating that way, it’s harder to get around the rink. I nearly ran into at least two packs of people because they were either skating too slowly or had spread themselves too far horizontally in the same direction.

Even with a few trips and falls here and there, the disco skate was very entertaining, and was definitely something new to try. It utilized the facilities that we have on campus that are available to us as RIT students.