Joelle Forte is an American figure skater. She is a three-time North Atlantic Regional champion, the 2009 Eastern Sectional

Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships

The Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating which has been held since 1938....

 champion, and represented the United States at Skate America

Skate America

Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is organized by the United States Figure Skating Association. The location changes yearly...

 in October 2011.

During the 2009-2010 season she intended to represent Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

, although, due to paperwork issues, she never had an opportunity to actually compete on its behalf. As of the 2010-2011 season, she is once again representing the United States.

Forte began skating at age four and entered her first qualifying competition in 1996, at age ten. That year, she placed fourth at the juvenile level at North Atlantic Regionals. Forte first competed nationally during the 1999-2000 season, when she finished ninth at the National Championships

United States Figure Skating Championships

The United States Figure Skating Championships is figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often referred to informally as "Nationals".Skaters...

 at the novice level. She continued skating for over a decade following that season, not qualifying for the National Championships again for several years. Forte retired temporarily, not competing during the 2004-05 season due to chronic back injury, but returned after a year and a half away, citing her ongoing love for the sport. She finally made it back to Nationals in 2008-2009, by which point she was competing as a senior, the oldest skater in the ladies competition. Two years later, during the 2010-2011 season, Forte received her first senior international assignment, Gardena Spring Trophy

Gardena Spring Trophy

The Gardena Spring Trophy is an annual international figure skating competition. It is held every spring in Val Gardena in Italy. Since its inception in 1990, it has been a junior-level competition. In 2006, it added a novice level competition...

, and the following season, she was assigned to represent the United States at Skate America

Skate America

Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is organized by the United States Figure Skating Association. The location changes yearly...

, the first Grand Prix

ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is a series of international invitational competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Elite figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing...

 assignment of her career. Though unusual for a skater to add new jumps to her repertoire so late in her career, Forte included a triple flip

Flip jump

The flip jump is a figure skating jump which takes off a backward inside edge with a toe pick assist, and lands on the backward outside edge of the opposite foot.-Flip technique:...

 in her short program for the first time at the 2011 Liberty Summer competition, and is working on adding a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination for the 2011-12 competitive season.

Forte has performed with the Ice Theatre of New York

Ice Theatre of New York

The Ice Theatre of New York is a professional figure skating group that performs modern dance choreography on ice. It was founded in 1984 by Moira North, and is currently based at the Chelsea Piers rink complex in New York City. David Liu was appointed Co-Artistic Director for the 2007-2008 season...

 and has modeled with the Ford Agency to help support her skating. She has also regularly participates in One Step Closer, an annual HIV/AIDS benefit show. Forte graduated from Fordham University

Fordham University

Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...

 in May 2010 with a Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, and hopes to attend graduate school.

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2011-12	Music from "O" (Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy... ) by Benoit Jutras Benoît Jutras Benoît Jutras is a Canadian composer known for his unique style of music, which usually includes erhus, bagpipes, and other exotic instruments. His most widely known works are the scores he has written for Cirque du Soleil, including O, Mystère, Quidam, and La Nouba...	Selections from The 13th Warrior The 13th Warrior The 13th Warrior is a 1999 historical fiction action film starring Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf; it is based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. It was directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton.The 13th Warrior is regarded as a...  Soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
2010-11	Music from "O" (Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy... ) by Benoit Jutras Benoît Jutras Benoît Jutras is a Canadian composer known for his unique style of music, which usually includes erhus, bagpipes, and other exotic instruments. His most widely known works are the scores he has written for Cirque du Soleil, including O, Mystère, Quidam, and La Nouba...	Piano Concerto No. 2" by Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
2009-10	Did not compete this season	Did not compete this season	“Taking Chances” by Celine Dion Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
2008-09	Selections from the Mr. & Mrs. Smith Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film) Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 2005 American romantic comedy action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The original music score was composed by John Powell...  soundtrack by John Powell John Powell John Powell is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and 2000s, scoring numerous animated films, and collaborating with...	Selections from Madame Butterfly  by Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

Competitive Highlights

Event	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
United States Figure Skating Championships United States Figure Skating Championships The United States Figure Skating Championships is figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often referred to informally as "Nationals".Skaters...	9th N.									12th		9th	TBD
Skate America Skate America Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is organized by the United States Figure Skating Association. The location changes yearly...													8th
Nebelhorn Trophy Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. The competition is named after the Nebelhorn, a nearby mountain....													7th
Gardena Spring Trophy Gardena Spring Trophy The Gardena Spring Trophy is an annual international figure skating competition. It is held every spring in Val Gardena in Italy. Since its inception in 1990, it has been a junior-level competition. In 2006, it added a novice level competition...												4th
Kempen Trophy									1st
North American Challenge Skate North American Challenge Skate The North American Challenge Skate was a series of annual summer figure skating competitions for American and Canadian figure skaters on the novice and junior levels. It was a developmental program rather than an elite competition series; the purpose of the program was to give young skaters a...  (Canada)	1st N.
Eastern Sectionals Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships The Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating which has been held since 1938....	3rd N.	6th J.		11th J.	7th		9th	10th	10th	1st		4th	3rd
North Atlantic Regionals	1st N.	4th J.	WD	2nd J.	1st		3rd	4th	2nd	1st		2nd