Colorado Siblings Find Joy in Dance and Pairs by Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz

This article was written by Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz in early January, 2009. It's about Rebekah and Joel!

Colorado Siblings Find Joy in Dance and Pairs by Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz

Rebekah Schneider-Farris and Joel Schneider-Farris are proud to be the 2009 U.S. Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists.



They are also proud of the many other medals they have received in the New Year. The young skaters from Colorado Springs, Colo. are the Midwestern Sectional Figure Skating Championship silver medalists in dance and bronze medalists in pairs. The Schneider-Farris siblings have found joy and success competing in both disciplines and most recently competed at the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid, NY.

Rebekah and Joel began their journey with dance and pairs in May 2004 at the Ice Arena at the Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs when their mom Jo Ann Schneider-Farris got the “bright idea” to turn Rebekah into an ice dancer. Jo Ann is a U.S. Figure Skating gold medalist. She won a silver medal in Junior Dance in 1975 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She is also a skating coach at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, where the two now train, and is About.com’s Figure Skating Guide.

“Mom had competed and placed in nationals as a competitive ice dancer,” Joel said. “There were so many girls doing singles she wanted to pass her love of ice dancing onto Rebekah.”

Jo Ann then asked Joel , who was a hockey player, to become Rebekah’s ice dancing partner and suddenly and very quickly, Joel learned to figure skate.



“Every day we would practice ice dancing together and began to work towards preparing to compete in pre juvenile dance at Southwestern regional’s,” Joel said.
To help with their dance moves, Jo Ann also made up a beginner pairs program that the two practiced every day, and Joel and Rebekah were soon doing side-by-side waltz jumps, side-by-side spins, pivot spirals and a little lift. Mom Jo Ann was their only coach at that time.

In 2005, the Schneider-Farris family’s life changed drastically. Their father Dan was in an accident. The accident was very serious and the family was unsure if Dan would survive.

During that time a skating coach friend offered to teach the two siblings pairs.
“Caring friends suggested that the best thing for us was to keep active even when our father was in the ICU at the hospital,” Rebekah said. “We followed up on that advice and began working on our preliminary pairs test.”

Their father Dan remained in the hospital for almost two months. When he came home, he could not walk and spent time in a wheel chair. It took a long time for him to get better, but in February 2006, he was able to return to work part time in his wheel chair. Eventually he was able to walk again and thankfully , things returned to normal. The new dance and pairs team also decided at this time to move their training permanently to Broadmoor.

“Our family needed a new start,” Joel said. “ We were already members of the Broadmoor Skating Club since our mom represented the club in her competitive days.”

The two worked hard to prepare to compete in both pre-juvenile pairs and dance for the 2007 Southwestern Regional Figure Skating Championships. They passed all the dance test requirements in June 2006, and even passed the required pairs tests before the September 1 deadline, but no other pairs team entered pre-juvenile pairs that year so the event was cancelled.

“It was disappointing not to be able to compete in pairs since we had costumes and a program ready, but we made the most of it,” Rebekah said.

They did win gold, however, in pre-juvenile dance at 2007 Southwestern Regional’s and moved on to juvenile dance.

“It was very exciting to get gold medals in pre-juvenile dance at regionals,” Joel said. “ That motivated us so much.”

Today, the two work with world competitor and national ice dance coach Tiffany Hyden-Dombeck and pairs coach Dalilah Sappenfield, the 2008 Professional Skaters Association Coach of the Year.



“We worked hard on both disciplines in 2007 and once we passed our juvenile test we realized we could go straight to junior nationals in both disciplines due to U.S. Figure Skating’s competition rules for the 2008 competition season,” Rebekah said. “So we decided to work equally hard on both.”

The hard work paid off, and no, the two still cannot decide which discipline they like better…

What is it like to compete in dance and pairs? Both admit that at times, it can be difficult.

“It is hard sometimes,” Rebekah said. “ We know if we mess up one thing we can do well in the other so things sometimes balance out.”

“Some people have no idea that we do both disciplines and are surprised when they find out,” Joel said. “ For example many people in our club heard we medaled in dance but had no idea we also medaled in pairs at mids.”





Joel and Rebekah credit their parents Jo Ann and Dan for helping them reach their goals. They are proud of their “skating family” which also includes a younger sister Annabelle, a pre-juvenile skater, and the family dog, a Pomeranian named Porcher. They are also proud of their extended skating family. Jo Ann comes from a true skating family including her brother Billy Schneider, a former singles skater who now chairs the U.S. Figure Skating’s Technical Committee, and her father Dr. Arthur Schneider, a figure skating judge from the Dupage Figure Skating Club in Chicago, Ill. Younger sister Lynnellen was also a figure skater.




“When we were children we were known as the ‘Three Schneider’s,” Jo Ann said. “ And now there are three Schneider-Farris kids who skate.”

Joel and Rebekah were literally born with skates on. Jo Ann coached skating while she was pregnant and taught ice-skating until the day each was born.



“We all went roller skating once or twice a week since our mom was very into in line skating and in line figure skating,” Rebekah said. In fact, their parents would push the toddlers around the rink in a stroller as they skated.

“We would happily stroller skate,” Joel said. “We thought everyone in the world knew how to roller skate and ice skate.”

This proud skating mom also home schools all three children.

“We have always been home schooled,” Joel said. “We home schooled before we began skating. Home schooling is a way of life for our family. Our mom is a credentialed educator who strongly believes in home schooling.”

Since home schooling and skating is a way of life for the family, they get to be together all the time. Jo Ann admits the family’s skating schedule does not always allow time for much else. Rebekah and Joel’s typical weekday skating schedule begins at 7:40 am with lifts and moves off ice, to separate freestyle sessions, a pairs lesson, dance lesson and a final practice, mid morning that could include pairs and dance.

“Doing both pairs and dance is exhausting sometimes,” Jo Ann said. “ Imagine what it is like to pack up and travel with so many dance costumes and also pairs costumes. Picture polishing skates, doing hair and make-up, etc. We could only dream of getting to mids and it happened. It is neat to see the children excel in both disciplines. Yes, they are very different. The children feel good about themselves since they have been able to excel in two very different areas.”



The family is grateful to have their dad traveling with them to each event, and that he is feeling well again. The time spent in Lake Placid at U.S. Junior Championships was special for Joel and Rebekah, with a chance to meet up with new skating friends.

“It was so exciting last year to make new skating friends and a lot of kids from Broadmoor Skating Club also qualified so it was fun to be at the competition with so many kids we already knew,” Rebekah said.

For Jo Ann Schneider-Farris it was a chance to be above all, a very proud mom.




“Every day I cherish the time our family has together and I am very proud of my children,” she said. “ I am grateful that we have all been given the gift of skating.”