Dorothy Hamill
(Photograph by John Soares)
First Person
Ice Dreams
Dorothy Hamill, America’s figure skating sweetheart, launches a “fantasy camp” for adults eager to try the sport next month on Nantucket, her new summer home.
Dorothy Hamill
(Photograph by John Soares)
Who introduced you to the island? I visited quite a few times as a youngster. My mom and grandparents were from Boston and Wellesley, so we would come here occasionally and to the Cape. My grandparents had a summer home up in Rockport, so a couple of years ago, when my fiance and I were trying to figure out how to combine our lives, his brother, who has a place here in Nantucket, said why don’t you come visit and see if you like it. And what’s not to like? And it happens to have a skating rink three blocks from our home, so that was just a lucky plus. I just love it.
Have you done a “fantasy camp” before? No, I haven’t, so it’s experimental. It’s funny -- a few years ago when I was sending my daughter off to camp, she would come back and have been lonesome and complaining, and I thought, “How dare she. I want to go to camp!” Because I never got to go when I was a kid. (Laughs.) So I thought maybe I should do a camp for adults. The idea is there’s so much that’s great about figure skating. It’s not about going to the Olympics or being the best in the world, it’s about music and movement and a fun, healthy activity.
Did you ever see the “Dorothy Hamill” haircut on someone and think, “That doesn’t work for you”? Well, you know, I see it even today, and I look at it and I think somebody should tell that lady that hairstyle is not in anymore. (Laughs.) When I look back at what it looked like on me, it was pretty horrible then.
If you could have been something other than a figure skater, what would it have been? I would’ve wanted to have been Julie Andrews. I thought she was just exquisite. Her eyes were so bright and her smile was so radiant and her voice, my gosh.
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