It was incredible. Because many refused to believe that the Nokia Sports Center can become an ice rink. Even more refused to believe that at least six Olympic Champions would be performing in it. And the most improbable was the show of the amateurs, of whom almost nobody had been on the ice before the show began as a 10-round TV competition in Russia a few months ago and ended in a spectacular gala, which the Israeli audience had the chance to watch live on March 31st.

But all doubts melted with the thunderous applause of the public welcoming Olympic, World and European Champions Tatiana Navka, Roman Kostomarov, Alexei Yagudin, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and many other world renowned skaters that took to the ice on March 31st to show that beauty and boldness defy all boundaries. For a day, Israel became the hub of the figure skating world.

This unique sport, which combines superb physical skills, art and entertainment, has showed once again that it is capable of producing a sensation. Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky were sensational despite their one-year break, perfectly aligned in their movements and precisely tuned to the music of their 2 programmes. The music of all the programmes was a medley of classics, pop and folk. All the boundaries disappeared – something, to which politics has a long way to go. Olympic Champion Tatiana Navka appeared dancing with her husband and coach, World Champion Alexander Zhulin. Margarita Drobiasko and Povelas Vanagas, the Lithuanian ice dance couple, who was in the centre of the medals dispute of the 2002 World Championships, related to Galit and Sergey's bronze medal, (the Lithuanian Ice Skating Federation filed a protest with the ISU referee contesting the award of the  bronze medal to Galit and Sergei 5 years ago) performed their "Pirate Dance" shortly after the Israelis, both couples receiving an enthusiastic applause and an encore. And the famous amateurs, who were paired with their renowned skating partners, would pick up the microphone at the end of their skate and sing or play a musical instrument. The singing was in Russian, but the language barrier did not matter for those in the audience that do not speak that language. Finally, hearts melted when the Israel Ice Ballet featuring young children from Metulla hit the ice to demonstrate their skating skills. The youngest participant, Batel Meshiakh was only 4 years old, but her confidence and grace were something to admire.

The IISF President, Mr. Boris Chait spoke about promoting the future of figure skating in Israel and making it a truly mass sport, which will be enabled by the construction of a new skating rink in the centre of the country.

The show ended with all the participants dancing to a Russian folk dance, and with the Israeli singer Ami Dayan performing Freddie Mercury's "Show Must Go On".
It must go on because it creates beauty, reconciliation and hope – don't we all need it?