Above: Sienna and her mother Ashlee Pantano
By Troy Schwindt
Ashlee Pantano is a veteran of theatrical skating, having participated in the discipline for 15 years. In that time, she’s made countless friends within the Harmony Theatre Company in Hartland, Michigan, and across the country.
Last year at National Showcase in San Jose, California, Pantano got to experience something extra special when she competed alongside her 13-year-old daughter, Sienna, for the first time.
Pantano teamed up with Ashlyn Olson, while Sienna and Mia Salvia formed a team in the Parade of Duet-Trio Champions event. Pantano and Olson repeated as titlists.
“That was the first time we competed together as mother and daughter,” Pantano said. “We got ready together. I helped them with their makeup and hair and stuff, and we were backstage warming up at the same time. That was a super fun experience.”
Sienna, who will be an eighth grader this fall in Fenton, Michigan, started skating when she was 3. She’s been involved in Showcase for five years and Theatre on Ice for seven years. Last year, she placed second in the Founders category at National Showcase.
“I enjoy skating with my mom,” Sienna said. “It’s been cool growing up and watching her skate.”
Sienna relishes the creative aspect of theatrical skating and collaboration with her mother.
“She helps me pick all of my music and my costumes and crystals them,” Sienna said.
One of their favorite collaborations took place at the 2023 National Showcase in Norwood, Massachusetts. Sienna performed a comedic program titled “Party Dress," choreographed by Piercyn Hunt.
“She wore a teal and puffy dress,” Pantano said. “She portrayed a little girl who was wild and silly and talking about this fancy dress that she had on. She picked that [program] after Ashlyn Olson skated to it at our rink.”
Next season, Pantano hopes to welcome her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, to the Harmony community.
Her daughters, however, aren’t the only family that Pantano is close to in the skating community. Michelle Hunt, who founded and runs the Harmony program, is her aunt, while Piercyn Hunt, who has won multiple overall Parade titles, is her cousin. They are the reasons Pantano migrated from her days as a freestyle skater to the theatrical skating world.
“I got pulled out of [freestyle] retirement by them and started doing Showcase along with everybody,” Pantano said.
While Michelle and Piercyn are direct relatives, Pantano considers the rest of the Harmony Theatre Company family as well.
“I’ve been skating with a lot of the same people for the entire 15 years that I’ve been doing TOI and Showcase, so just having those same people by my side every time is super fun,” Pantano said. “My fiancé is Ashlyn Olson. We skated together on the adult team last season; we were on the senior team the previous 14 years. I also skate with Piercyn and just tons of people such as [Parade champions] Paige Bartholomew, Alyssa Kormos and Remington Bennett. We are like one big family. I do a lot of makeup for the teams, so I spend a lot of time getting them ready.”
Pantano, though, said the best part of being on the Harmony team is sitting in the stands and watching her rinkmates compete.
“There’s that feeling of excitement, watching all the kids getting to perform the programs they’ve been working on the whole year,” Pantano said. “Every time I cry. We watch them work so hard and help them get ready all day long and they go out there, it’s crazy.”
The Pantano family and the rest of the theatrical skating community will compete July 28-Aug. 2 at 2025 National Showcase in Rochester, Michigan. For more information about 2025 National Showcase, click here.
