Nathan Chen | Page 320 | Golden Skate

Nathan Chen

A very detailed review of Stars on Ice Hershey show

https://lorriekimcom.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/stars-on-ice-april-20-2018-hershey-pa/

I know of Lorrie Kim from the skatefans list, from rssif back in the day--ancient pre-GS discussion formats for anyone not familiar with them. Her writings are always interesting reading for me.

Be forewarned that Nathan is at best 3rd favorite among the SOI men on Lorrie's list (and quite possibly even lower, after the ice dance guys ;)). And I'm still confused by her sentence:

his terse and practical nature,

in her description of Nemesis, but I think this might be a rewarding read for the erudite folks on this fan fest (we are erudite, aren't we--even if we spend lots of time debating the wisdom of Nathan's latest haircut?)

For Lorrie, Adam is the STAR and what he achieved is incredibly meaningful in light of her work with Rainbow Ice, a website for LGBTQ issues in figure skating. I found her words about Nathan intriguing because they are, for me, rather unexpected. And truly, the warmest words I have ever read about Ashley and Nathan skating in the 'Shape of You' dance number.

If I may quote a bit...
I could not take my eyes off Chen and Wagner. Unlike the other couples, they are solo skaters doing something that is outside their comfort zone, and the freshness of that challenge made their skating so compelling in this number. You could see them concentrating in hold, keeping their steps precise, remembering to project flirtation to the audience. It was a little startling to remember that Wagner has known Chen since he was a child, because their chemistry was convincing, very well done. Imagine being the kind of person who trains half to death, getting every detail perfect, and then being told that you have weeks to learn a new skill well enough to take it on tour!



Although I don't know if it was *weeks to learn* so much as *a couple of days* :laugh:
 
He closes the show with Nemesis. That is the highest honor given to a skater in the show, and it was placed there for good reason which was that is the program people know him for this season with the Olympics etc. This is the year where the every 4 year people go to shows, if you put Nathan in the first half of the show with Nemesis, people aren't going to come back for the rest of the show. They saw what they wanted if they were there for him. There is a science to all of this that I know from experience in the sport and doing shows. YMMV.


ETA: There were close to 6K seats sold last night, and there was a mass evacuation of people leaving the arena before the finale, many right after Nemesis. :sarcasm:

Couldn’t agree with you more, when I saw the program schedule I couldn’t be more proud of what he had achieved the last season, it speaks volume and sorry to hear mass of people left before finale if only the finale was a bit more interesting, I’ll be staying until they kick me out lol 😂

@ frida and others who are on board in staying, you all are what make this place fun and loving so I’m happy you’re not moving 😁
 

Thanks a lot, shine. Great videoes!!!

Here is another Shape of You from twitter, different angle. It is so nice of skfan to ask me to put it in a different post so other fans won't missed it since it is an ETA update in post 6420 on previous page.

https://twitter.com/forjisunq/status/987911054763098113

And I had preview of opening number from Mammiia, the quality is stunning!!!
 
here is the google drive download link for all Nathan performances tonight. I recorded all videos in 4k so the files are large. Still uploading, check back later if you don't see all the videos:luv17:

Due to excitement:drama:, it's a little shaky and some zooms were messed up, but overall pretty good quality.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IfuxdHrQSFyI-eGImqshF1WCRqBkAt23

Also uploading the videos to a new YouTube channel. It's going to take hours so check back later:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4V-fM9xxseAoLNay96-Kig

Thank you so very, very much. :pray: :cheer::rock:

My computer is ancient, so it may never figure out how to process your videos, but thank you so very much for doing all this recording and sharing for all of us. I look forward to hopefully seeing your videos on youtube eventually. :thank:
 
I know I'm repeating myself but Nemesis live was SO powerful. It was an amazing experience to be in his powerful and vivid presence. Nathan is not your typical showman--and most people probably liken the word to skaters like Jason or Adam, with their very extroverted and outward kind of expressiveness--but he's got a very unique style and aura that you simply can't take your eyes off of and truly reminds me of no one from all my years of watching figure skating. It's so magnetic. It was incredible sitting in my 3rd row seat watching that well defined masculine (for lack of a better superlative :palmf:) danciness pour from his body and fill the arena. Here's a skater who feels every beat, nuance, melody and emotion of the music and dances to every second of it. And I could watch his arms in his rolled up sleeves forever and ever.
 
I know I'm repeating myself but Nemesis live was SO powerful. It was an amazing experience to be in his powerful and vivid presence. Nathan is not your typical showman--and most people probably liken the word to skaters like Jason or Adam, with their very extroverted and outward kind of expressiveness--but he's got a very unique style and aura that you simply can't take your eyes off of and truly reminds me of no one from all my years of watching figure skating. It's so magnetic. It was incredible sitting in my 3rd row seat watching that well defined masculine (for the lack of a better superlative :palmf:) danciness pour from his body and fill the arena. Here's a skater who feels every beat, nuance, melody and emotion of the music and dances to every second of it. And I could watch his arms in his rolled up sleeves forever and ever.


You said it--that's what makes Nathan special in my eyes as well. I'm glad it all came together for you and Mamamiia and many others. :agree:

Thank you very much for your videos! Great video recording--thanks to you I finally got to see Nathan properly in the guys group number. I haven't watched Shape of You yet, because I've been wrestling with my computer, which shows me 1 frozen frame of Mamamiia's opening video :laugh: But I'm going to reward myself with a proper viewing very soon :biggrin:
 
I know I'm repeating myself but Nemesis live was SO powerful. It was an amazing experience to be in his powerful and vivid presence. Nathan is not your typical showman--and most people probably liken the word to skaters like Jason or Adam, with their very extroverted and outward kind of expressiveness--but he's got a very unique style and aura that you simply can't take your eyes off of and truly reminds me of no one from all my years of watching figure skating. It's so magnetic. It was incredible sitting in my 3rd row seat watching that well defined masculine (for lack of a better superlative :palmf:) danciness pour from his body and fill the arena. Here's a skater who feels every beat, nuance, melody and emotion of the music and dances to every second of it. And I could watch his arms in his rolled up sleeves forever and ever.

Being under the same roof with Nathan and Shine makes me :luv17:
 
You said it better than I ever could, what makes Nathan special in my eyes as well-- although unfortunately I don't have the experience of a 3rd row seat at tonight's Nemesis. But I'm *so* happy for you--so many things could have interfered with that magical moment, so I'm glad it all came together just right for you and Mamamiia and many, many others :) :love: :agree:

Thank you very much for your videos! Great video recording--thanks to you I finally got to see Nathan properly in the guys group number. I haven't watched Shape of You yet, because I've been wrestling with my computer, which shows me 1 frozen frame of Mamamiia's opening video :laugh: But I'm going to reward myself with a proper viewing very soon now :biggrin:

I connected to the wrong wifi and it's much faster uploading now. You will see it on youtube soon.
 
here is the google drive download link for all Nathan performances tonight. I recorded all videos in 4k so the files are large. Still uploading, check back later if you don't see all the videos:luv17:

Due to excitement:drama:, it's a little shaky and some zooms were messed up, but overall pretty good quality.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IfuxdHrQSFyI-eGImqshF1WCRqBkAt23

Also uploading the videos to a new YouTube channel. It's going to take hours so check back later:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4V-fM9xxseAoLNay96-Kig

I was wondering why it's so slow and then realized my computer was connected to my phone hotspot :palmf::palmf::palmf:

Thanks for taking videos of the show! The opening looks awesome!
 
Thanks for sharing guys. Shine and Mamamiia, did you guys get to meet? Glad you all had fun.

As a former dancer, I could tell before I really knew anything about Nathan that he probably had professional dance training because his carriage is very evident. Many skaters are skaters who learn to dance for the sake of skating whereas Nathan came across to me as a dancer who also knew how to skate, I don’t know if that makes sense but his body awareness is that of a dancer and it shows in his skating. I figured it was either Ballet or Contemporary he trained in before I looked it up and it turned out to be ballet (I personally think he would have excelled at contemporary too though by the way he moves)
 
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