![\"\"](\"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Karen-Ingram.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Jillian L. Martinez<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skating trailblazer Mabel Fairbanks left New York for Los Angeles in the 1940s. The Black and Seminole skater turned coach sought more opportunities for herself and fellow skaters of color to pursue the sport with less racism and prejudice. Over a decade later, up the coast in San Francisco, another Black skater named Karen Ingram Vance would become enamored with ice shows and eventually make her own mark in the sport. In 1967, Vance became the first African American skater to perform with the Ice Capades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A newspaper clipping highlighting Karen Ingram Vance’s talent on ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIce Follies used to have a home base in San Francisco, so as a child, my parents would take me to see the shows,\u201d Vance shared of her beginnings with skating. \u201cOne day, when I was about 10 years old, I told my parents I wanted to take skating lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout her childhood, Vance took jazz, ballet and tap dance lessons, as well as cello and violin lessons. When she decided to add skating to her activities, it was purely for fun. According to Vance, she never had goals to become a competitor or a performer. However, Vance naturally took to the sport, and it was not long until skating became more than \u201cjust a hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe thing was, I loved to skate,\u201d Vance said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go to the ice rink enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1958, Vance had three ice rinks in the Bay Area from which she could choose to take lessons. The Ingram family chose the Phyllis and Harris Legg Skating School, run by the retired husband-wife Ice Follies\u2019 team known for their performances on stilt skates. Unlike Fairbanks, who was denied access to her local rink due to her race, Vance was welcomed by the Leggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPhyllis and Harris Legg were both very genuine,\u201d Vance said. \u201c[Phyllis] was really a warm person and always had a smile on her face. I never felt any prejudice or discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, Vance recalls other students of color being enrolled in skating lessons alongside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had a little bit of everything,\u201d Vance referenced to the diversity of races at the Legg Skating School. Alongside Vance, there were fellow African American skaters enrolled in the school, in addition to Asian and Hispanic skaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uniquely, the Legg Skating School was not sanctioned and, consequently, could not allow its skaters to compete. Instead, Vance and her peers were trained to perform in skating shows. Harris was a record holder in barrel jumping, and Phyllis produced the historic annual Christmas show at the San Francisco Emporium department store. Along with her performances at Emporium, Vance skated with the Leggette Precision Group\u2019s shows at the Cow Palace and Oakland Coliseum before ultimately auditioning for the Ice Capades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was in junior college when I decided I wanted to go into [Ice Capades]. I had seen other girls I skated with go into the show, and I thought I wanted to go, as well,\u201d said Vance, a physical education major at the time. \u201cMy coach called Ice Capades; [production assistant] Bill Bain came up from Hollywood; I auditioned and I was pretty much accepted immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various newspaper clippings featuring Vance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vance made her debut with the Ice Capades on Nov. 16, 1967, at the Fresno Convention Center and gained the attention of the media as the first African American skater to sign to the major ice shows. For nearly two years, Vance was a part of the Ice Capades West family. Together, they toured 38 cities across the U.S. and Canada during the course of 42 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1969, Vance told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer<\/em>, \u201cThe other kids judge me on how well I skate, not my color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much like her time at the Leggs Skating School, Vance was welcomed and accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was an exciting time! I enjoyed the skating, the traveling, the friendships. \u2026Every time I went out [on the ice], I was doing something I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tragically, on the evening April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at his hotel in Memphis. When news reached the Ice Capades performers, they were preparing to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, for their next show. Concerned for the unrest erupting across the nation, the Ice Capades adjusted travel plans to ensure safety for their skaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was scary because you didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d Vance said. \u201cSome of the cities we were supposed to travel through were in an uproar. We flew part of the way and took a bus part of the way. My parents were very concerned and contacted the managers to make sure I would be fine. And, then, my grandmother and aunt and uncle drove from Texas to Little Rock to make sure I was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following MLK\u2019s assassination, Vance was on higher alert when traveling and out in public, but she continued to have the support of her Ice Capades peers. In 1969, during her third season with Ice Capades, Vance decided to stop performing with the show. After returning to San Francisco for three years, Vance returned to show business \u2013 this time with Ice Follies. Hired by Richard Dwyer, better known as \u201cMr. Debonair,\u201d Vance performed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were the opening act for [dancer and singer] Joey Heatherton and, later, Diana Ross,\u201d Vance said. \u201cIt was really a lot of fun. People treated us like movie stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once Vance\u2019s contract with Ice Follies concluded, she decided to hang up her skates and make a new career for herself. After her departure from skating, Vance worked for United Airlines for 27 years until she retired as a manager; became a manager at Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; and served as a wedding coordinator. Today, she considers herself \u201cfinally retired.\u201d She is a wife, mother and grandmother who loves to cook and drive her grandsons to\/from school and their extracurriculars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not an Olympic skater by any means but I did progress and did quite well. \u2018Once upon a time, Karen Ingram was the first Black skater to join a major skating company.\u2019 I did a little something along the way,\u201d Vance humbly said. \u201cI rarely ever skate now. Although, skating will always be in my heart and a part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Karen Ingram Vance became the first African American skater to perform with the Ice Capades in 1967 and later performed alongside “Mr. Debonair” with the Ice Follies. Article Skater Spotlight Tuesday, May 3, 2022 By Jillian L. Martinez Skating trailblazer Mabel Fairbanks left New York for Los Angeles in the 1940s. The Black and Seminole … Continue reading “Karen Ingram Vance: Ice Capades First African American Performer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2885,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions\/2885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/icecapadestheblade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/karenIngram1.jpg\")
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