Air Date: Week of February 27, 2026

Ed Cook, at a month shy from 67, has been practicing ski ballet in the slopes south of Pittsburgh since 1976. (Photo: Andy Kubis, The Allegheny Front)

Ski ballet -- kind of a mashup between ballet, figure skating and skiing -- got a little glory as a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 92 Olympic Games but never became a medal event, and some said it was just a fad. But a few winters ago, ski ballet was being kept alive on Pennsylvania slopes by a very enthusiastic, early-adopter. Andy Kubis produced this story for the Allegheny Front back in 2018.

Transcript

BELTRAN: One sport you didn’t see at the 2026 Winter Olympics that just wrapped up is ski ballet, kind of a mashup between ballet, figure skating and skiing. It got a little glory as a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 92 Olympic Games but never became a medal event and some said it was just a fad. But a few winters ago, on the slopes of Hidden Valley Resort in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, ski ballet was being kept alive by a very enthusiastic, early-adopter. Andy Kubis produced this story for the Allegheny Front back in 2018.

KUBIS: It's hard to describe ski ballet until you've seen it.

Speaker 2: Here comes George, building up speed for his first big maneuver, oh, a two and a half stay cross. That was fabulous.

KUBIS: Picture a choreographed routine of flips, rolls and twirls set to music while the skier glides down the slope in costume.

Speaker 2: Would you look at those sleeves on his outfit. He is really one dramatic skier.

COOK: I saw it on television, and I said, "Whoa, they're doing this on skis, and how do they do that?"

KUBIS: This is Ed Cook. And when he saw ski ballet for the first time in 1976 he knew he had to try it. He went out and bought himself a pair of ballet skis, just a little shorter than a regular downhill pair, and it quickly became his passion.

COOK: I love the fact that I'm out here in fresh air, on top of the snow, being able to twirl around and just get the thrill of it all. It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

KUBIS: You can find him most winter weekends on the slopes of the ski resort, practicing his art, but in jeans, no costume.

COOK: The main thing is, you learn all the rules on how to ski properly, and then you break them. What I do is I tend to lift my left leg and bring the ski up towards my shoulder, and then I will start to make 360s on the ground.

KUBIS: Cook starts to propel himself into a circle, using his poles to guide him. At one point, he's skiing backwards. It's surprising how often you see the bottom of his skis. He looks like a pinwheel.

COOK: And then at one point, I bring the tip the ski back down, have the tip cross over my other ski, catch this note, which will turn me again for a 360 and then I do a little bit of a kick out to get my skis parallel with each other again.

KUBIS: A kick out. That's his signature move, and he named it himself. Cook is entirely self taught. He was never interested in competing. He just likes the challenge and energy that ski ballet brings him. He often skis with his kids and grandkids, and though his love of the art form hasn't rubbed off on any of them, his daughter, Zolina Cook clearly admires him.

COOK: I think it's pretty cool. We've always enjoyed watching him. We've always kind of knew where he was on the slopes, also, because we could hear people oohing and eyeing.

KUBIS: Cook does turn heads when he performs tricks. And it's obvious to everyone who sees him that he skis to the beat of his own drummer.

COOK: In the beginning, in particular, when I skied ballet, I would have music in my head that I started to move to that the rhythm of it. And unlike typical ballet, it was always rock and roll that was going on in my head. But the slower pace rock and roll. "Lady," I forget who sings that song, even, but Lady, you know, and that made the 360s a whole lot easier.

[MUSIC] "Lady, when you are with me I'm smiling..."

KUBIS: Nowadays, Cook doesn't ski ballet with a soundtrack in his head. He's just trying to get from one move to the next without falling.

COOK: The tricks just don't come as easily as they did when I was younger, but now at this point, I occasionally ... what I fell doing that stupid trick that was a cinch normally.

KUBIS: Still, Cook is incredibly graceful. He says his dad skied well into his 80s and Cook is hoping he’ll be jumping and twirling just as long. For The Allegheny Front. I'm Andy Kubis.

BELTRAN: Andy Kubis produced that story back in 2018 for the Allegheny Front.

 

Links

Find this story on The Allegheny Front’s website

Learn more about the history of ski ballet