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Four announce candidacies for district judge in the Mountain Top area

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Victorian Christmas Tea sets holiday mood, benefits Hanover Township church

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Eight year-old Kassadi Totten glided across the ice, her pink 1950s costume resembling a Pink Lady&#8217;s outfit from the musical &#8220;Grease&#8221; fluttering in the wind.</p><p>With a guitar strapped around her, Totten picked the ice with the toe of her skate as she pretended to strum the strings, making sure not to hit the small jukebox placed on the center of the ice.</p><p>Totten, of Wilkes-Barre, joined roughly 30 other figure skaters at the Toyota SportsPlex on Coal Street Sunday, performing in the Diamond City and Blue Ridge Skating Clubs Holiday Skating Spectacular show. Performances included individual and group pieces from both clubs.</p><p>Totten performed to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts&#8217; &#8220;I Love Rock n&#8217; Roll,&#8221; coming up with the routine after hearing the song.</p><p>&#8220;I loved (the routine). You get to skate to music and spin around and have fun,&#8221; the four-year skater said.</p><p>For many of the skaters performing Sunday, the show meant more to them than just a holiday performance.</p><p>On the back of the show&#8217;s program booklet was a dedication to former coach Stephanie Capece Sciandra.</p><p>&#8220;This show is actually in honor of one of our members who just passed away,&#8221; Humen said. &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of a sad time for us. As much as it&#8217;s a happy time to skate, it&#8217;s sad as well.&#8221;</p><p>Known to many as &#8220;Stevie,&#8221; Capece Sciandra was a professional U.S. Figure Skating Association coach in New Jersey before returning to Northeastern Pennsylvania to help coach the Diamond City Figure Skating Club. She passed away in late October. Her daughter, Dailyn, skated in the show.</p><p>The nonprofit Diamond City Skating Club started in 2009, offering community residents everything from figure skating lessons to performing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll see many different levels of skaters throughout the show,&#8221; said club president Katina Humen. &#8220;So there&#8217;s some beginners all the way up to the girls who compete at regionals.&#8221;</p><p>She said the club currently has members as young as 4 years old, and it includes both males and females.</p><p>Kingston resident Sydney Smith is the oldest member of the club at 22. She said she started skating at age 7, and has spent most of her life in the rink.</p><p>&#8220;I just love the freedom and power I can show off on the ice,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It gives you the ability to express yourself.&#8221;</p><p>Just outside the rink, parents helped their children prepare for their performances, lacing up skates and applying costume makeup. For children who already performed, it was the bake sale stand that got the most attention. Those who were feeling lucky could choose from basket raffles offering prizes everything from boxes of Shopkins &#8212; one of the hottest toys this holiday season, according to Forbes &#8212; to candy and wine.</p><p>Shortly before intermission, Gabriella White took to the ice, skating to Pink&#8217;s newest single &#8220;Just Like Fire.&#8221;</p><p>The 7-year-old elicited applause from audience members as she glided across the rink on one leg, the rhinestones on her pink leotard reflecting off the ice. White said she has been skating for three years.</p><p>&#8220;It just makes me happy to see a lot of people doing it,&#8221; she said of the sport. &#8220;For me to do it myself is fun.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ashleigh Button, 14, of Mountain Top, glides on the ice during her performance. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ashleigh Button, 14, of Mountain Top, glides on the ice during her performance. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dailyn Cochran, 12, of West Pittston, moves to the music in her skating routine. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dailyn Cochran, 12, of West Pittston, moves to the music in her skating routine. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ten-year-old Mia Amerman, of Pocono Lake, left, takes her jacket from her coach after her performance, as Joshua Gostynski, 10, of Sweet Valley, prepares to enter the ice. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Ten-year-old Mia Amerman, of Pocono Lake, left, takes her jacket from her coach after her performance, as Joshua Gostynski, 10, of Sweet Valley, prepares to enter the ice. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Eight-year-old Gabrielle Carpenter, of Clarks Summit, performs her routine at the Holiday Skating Spectacular presented by the Diamond City Figure Skating Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112816IceSkating_1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Eight-year-old Gabrielle Carpenter, of Clarks Summit, performs her routine at the Holiday Skating Spectacular presented by the Diamond City Figure Skating Club at the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday afternoon. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marcella Kester</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>JOIN THE CLUB</strong></p><p>The Diamond City Figure Skating Club is in the middle of its second fall session, which runs every Friday until Dec. 23. Members of the club practice year-round.</p><p>Fore more information, or to register, visit the club&#8217;s website at <a href="http://www.DiamondCityFigureSkatingClub.org" target="_blank">www.DiamondCityFigureSkatingClub.org</a>.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Young figure skaters heat up the ice with holiday show at Toyota SportsPlex