Milly Wasserman, a 22-year-old New York University student on the verge of a professional figure-skating career who has since the age of 12 been with the Ice Theatre of New York, and who has, since the age of 16, taught figure skating at the Buckskill Winter Club here, began a recent conversation there by saying that she had been a sickly child.
"I had childhood epilepsy from the age of 5 1/2 to 10," she said, "sometimes as many as 50 grand mal seizures a day. I'm very lucky to be fine now, very lucky. It was difficult. My mother, who raised me by herself, and who is the strongest woman I know, made sure that I had great care . . . the right diet, medications, and therapy. I went to all kinds of occupational therapy, physical therapy. . . ."
"She also wanted the right fit for me when it came to school. I'd been in a couple of different ones before the right one was found, when I was a first grader. I remember that soon after I got there, I heard rumblings of a schoolwide skating party, at the Wollman Rink in Central Park. I'd seen people skate at Rockefeller Center during Christmastime — we lived in the city, but always came out here a lot, to Southampton — but I'd never been on the ice. All I knew was that I wanted to go. My mom must have been worried stiff, I was still having seizure activity, but somehow I convinced her."
It hadn't happened "without backup," she said with a smile. "I had my uncle on one arm and my godfather on the other."
As for her first time on the ice, "I just fell in love, it was the most magical thing! A feeling of complete freedom and control . . . at the same time. It was magic," she said, crossing her hands on her chest. "I had control over my body for the first time — it was the best feeling. . . . Yes, I went around on my own, falling over and over and over and thinking how much fun it was. They were all there, my mother, my uncle, and godfather, and they could see that it was good for me."
Wasserman's individual-study major, in which she explores "the intersection between pediatric psychology and movement to music, focusing on children with special needs," grew out of that early experience with epilepsy, and out of her work with the Ice Theatre — where she's an ice dancer and choreographer now — and at Buckskill.
Speaking of work, she said that, not being naturally talented, she had worked her butt off to become the very graceful figure skater that anyone who's seen Buckskill's ice shows would agree she is. They wouldn't be surprised to learn that she's won a national gold medal in the sport.
"I've had good teachers, some of the greatest . . . Kaitlyn Weaver, a Canadian Olympian. She still teaches me. She's my choreographer basically. Stacie Krinsky, the figure-skating coach at N.Y.U. I'm on the team there. It's a club sport, but it's super competitive."
As for teaching, "I want to understand how children look at challenges . . . it's very relevant and interesting work. Understanding how children's minds process skating interests me. I want to empower them. . . . No, they're not bossed around by the ice, they're in control. If it's their first time ever with me, I want them to have the most positive, genuine experience, and I want them to leave feeling confident and . . . what's the word? . . . 'happy.' I want them to be happy and want to do it again."
"Obviously, skating is not for everyone, but it was for me. But if you can find that connection with skating and fall in love with it, that's the first thing you need to get good. You have to love it first. You've gotta love it. It's a hard sport. These coaches who are skating and still coaching, that's real love. We're out there standing in the cold with frostbitten toes and wind burning our faces. But I want to be here. Emma [Dahl] and Sama [Azadi] do too. We want to be here."
"It's great knowing that everything I have worked through has gotten me to somewhere special where I can give back to a child and share with them my love for the sport, my creativity, and my knowledge."
