It was a graceful weekend at the Multiplex earlier this month as the Yellowknife Skating Club hosted the 2025 Skate, Sparkle, and Shine Territorial Competition from Jan. 17 to 19.

The Yellowknife club provided the bulk of the competitors with entries as well from the Hay River and Fort Smith Skating Clubs along with, for the first time ever, the Iqaluit Skating Club as it sent a team of five skaters over under the Team Nunavut banner.

Brenda Dalton, head coach of the Yk Skating Club, said every single skater reached personal bests in either score or assessment and they were quite excited to see skaters from out of town make the trip in.

"They don't see them a lot and they were especially thrilled to have Iqaluit come in," she said.

The divisions included CanSkate, which is more of a learn-to-skate program, and StarSkate, where skaters start to develop more technical moves. The Special Olympians were also on the ice as three of its athletes were entered.

Dalton said when it comes to scoring, they usually don't happen until a skater reaches StarSkate Level 5 with assessments done for the levels below that.

"StarSkate 1 through 3 is where they're assessed on the required elements," she said. "StarSkate 4 is also assessment, but there are scores and rankings behind the scenes."

For the CanSkate crew, Dalton said they were out there to show their parents what they've learned so far and were a bit surprised when they received medals afterward.

"Some of them didn't know they would medal and that brought lots of smiles to their faces," she said.

With territorials over, Dalton said the focus now goes onto learning new material with some skaters preparing for one more meet in Edmonton over the Easter long weekend.

The big event, though, is the year-end show in April and Dalton said you can expect to see a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-type of show.