Stories come in many forms. They can be written in a book, conveyed on a screen, or laced within the lyrics of a song.

As the members of DC EDGE know, they can also be told on the ice.

The synchronized skating team is the largest in the Washington D.C. metro area with over 230 athletes in the organization. Skaters' ages range from 4 to 18 and DC EDGE offers teams at a variety of synchronized skating levels.

Jenny Bacon, who serves as the director of the organization and head coach of their junior team, places a special emphasis on creativity. For her athletes, a competition is more than a chance to show off their technical skills— it's an opportunity to bring the audience into another world.

"I tell my skaters that when they take the ice, they are not 'Susie Smith,'" she said. "They are what the story is. We talk a lot about playing a character. You're on stage when you're on the ice."

To decide on a narrative, Bacon and her staff select a theme. Everything else— costumes, makeup, choreography— is centered around that idea.

Anticipation surrounds the day the theme is revealed. To make the announcement, Bacon and her staff play the music that will accompany the team's performance.

After that, it's full steam ahead. They begin preparing their program and start to dive into its storyline.

"We use a lot of off-ice time to work on how to portray [a] character," DC EDGE team member Eva Gallien said. "Then, when we got on the ice [last season] and competed, it would show [the theme]to the judges who would be able to make that connection faster."

Gallien got into synchronized skating as a little girl, when she noticed someone at her local rink wearing a synchro team's jacket.

"I want one of those," she told her mom.

She found out that the jacket represented the Frederick Sparklers, a team in her area. Even better news: they had tryouts coming up.

Auditioning for the team was slightly intimidating, because she was new at synchronized skating. She'd done freestyle for a few years but competing with others was different.

"[You have] people around you at all times," she said. "I love the fact that when I go to competition, I get to experiene the entire event with my team."

She spent two years with the Sparklers organization before joining DC EDGE in 2014 at the preliminary level. Gallien wanted to grow, and challenge herself to one day be a junior competitor.

Seven years have passed since then, and Gallien's done more than become a better synchronized skater. She's learned the importance of commitment, and the sport has also taught her independence. Additionally, she accomplished her goal and is now a skater on the junior team.

One of her favorite moments was finding out the team had received an international assignment to compete in the United Kingdom during the 2019-20 season. Now, she didn't just skate for DC EDGE— she was a part of Team USA.

The news came after a particularly difficult practice, and it took a little bit for Gallien to digest what she'd learned.

"[Being on Team USA] has been a dream of mine since I found out about it and being able to accomplish that at such a young age was definitely surreal," she said.

Her teammate Gabriella Quintero was also stunned by the news.

"I would just describe it as a dream come true," Quintero, a senior in high school, said. "That's something every young skater strives to achieve, and it was just really exciting… that we actually did it."

The team travelled to Nottingham, England, for their first international competition in January of 2020. Quintero had been overseas before, but traveling with her teammates made this experience unique – there was something special about taking in the country with them, which made the trip even more meaningful.

They placed third in the Britannia Cup and took home the award for "most entertaining performance" for their orchestra-themed free program— undoubtedly a result of their dedication to using the ice as a vessel for storytelling.

Though they hadn't known the award existed, Bacon says receiving it was validating.

"It just reinforced to the skaters how important [the creativity and storytelling] aspect of our skating is," she explained.

She credits Canadian choreographer Lyne Forget with enhancing the way the team depicts a narrative.

"Lyne is incredibly positive and high energy… We're really able to work well together in terms of giving us a starting point at the beginning of the season, but then the coaches continue to evolve the program," she said.

The Britannia Cup was the last international competition DC EDGE participated in before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Their season usually starts at the end of April, but they were away from the ice until the middle of June. When they were able to practice, they could only use one of the rinks they traditionally skate in.

Gallien said another challenging aspect has been the time they lost with their graduating skaters. She is close with her teammates and losing the opportunity to compete together again reminded her skating is a gift.

"I definitely learned to not take things for granted," she said.

Despite the adversity of the last year, DC EDGE has continued finding ways to improve. They've focused on refining their technical skills, which will in turn allow them to channel more energy into the story of a performance.

And for DC EDGE, the opportunity to create a spectacle with their skates is what matters most.