Jason Brown

[Bookseller]

There are small samples of both ISI exhibition programs (Waving through a Window, Can't Stop the Feeling) in this instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Blwx-nDH6NJ/?taken-by=broadway_emmy

Jason looks good!

I'm looking forward to the reports from our newest fan fest members who saw the show live.

Hello! Jason skated DEH with a fall on a spin, and Can't Stop with full Russian split to a screaming enthusiastic crowd. At the meet and greet he chatted, signed, hugged and posed for 2 hours . By the time we got to him, he had nearly lost his voice, but never flagged. He did reiterate that he and Zhenya were going to their Senior B together, but smiled conspiratorially when I said it was still a secret as to which one they would do. He said that he was looking forward to showing his new programs, but no more info than that! He spent quality time with everyone. He is truly the nicest person on earth.

 

[babyskate]

Hello! Jason skated DEH with a fall on a spin, and Can't Stop with full Russian split to a screaming enthusiastic crowd. At the meet and greet he chatted, signed, hugged and posed for 2 hours . By the time we got to him, he had nearly lost his voice, but never flagged. He did reiterate that he and Zhenya were going to their Senior B together, but smiled conspiratorially when I said it was still a secret as to which one they would do. He said that he was looking forward to showing his new programs, but no more info than that! He spent quality time with everyone. He is truly the nicest person on earth.

Thank you for your beautiful report. Sounds like you had a special Jason experience. I was wondering if he did any jumps in these programs? Thanks again.

 

[Mrs. P]

Thanks for the report Bookseller!

Babyskate, the clips from the link katmari posted show him doing a 3f in both programs.

 

[Jeanie19]

My nieces and I were at the show last night and Jason was brilliant. I had never seen him live and you cannot even compare. He so connects with the audience and his skating is larger than life.

 

[shirleyc89]

Hello! Jason skated DEH with a fall on a spin, and Can't Stop with full Russian split to a screaming enthusiastic crowd. At the meet and greet he chatted, signed, hugged and posed for 2 hours . By the time we got to him, he had nearly lost his voice, but never flagged. He did reiterate that he and Zhenya were going to their Senior B together, but smiled conspiratorially when I said it was still a secret as to which one they would do. He said that he was looking forward to showing his new programs, but no more info than that! He spent quality time with everyone. He is truly the nicest person on earth.

Jason fell on a spin?? Thank you for the report and so happy you had a good time at the show!!

 

[Tavi...]

Thanks to both of you for the reports!

A bit odd they’re being so secretive about the Challenger event, but even odder that he fell on a spin!

Re Challenger - deadlines for entries for the earlier events are between 8/10 (US, Italy) to 8/17 (Canada, Nepela) to 8/24 (Nebelhorn), so unless they disclose it earlier, we won’t find out for at least 3 weeks. ACI definitely makes the most sense overall - but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

 

[Mrs. P]

I'm pretty sure it's going to be ACI. Brian apparently said somewhere Zhenya's Challenger event was either going to be Finlandia or ACI. But since Jason can't do Finlandia due to COI, so that leaves ACI.

We don't have a lot to go on, but anyone had thoughts on the jumps we saw here? It does seem like he is launching and rotating the flip sooner.

 

[katmari]

Thanks to someone who attended last night, both of Jason's programs have been uploaded to youtube:

Waving Through a Window

The spin error was odd ... It looks like he had a momentary lapse in concentration and lost the center.

Can't Stop the Feeling

The four split jumps are back!

 

[Tavi...]

I do think he’s rotating sooner. Both of his jumps looked cleanly landed - no snow. Based on those little clips through the hockey glass, it’s hard to see much more than that - eg, it was difficult for me to judge height and distance. I did like his setup going into both jumps - it looked like he only needed a couple of crossovers to gain speed, and he had a lot of nice flow.

I really liked his body position on the cartwheel (very strong but relaxed) - too bad it’s not a required element!

I was wondering if the choreo was changed slightly in either program bc they somehow look different - but again, it may just be that details are being lost because we’re seeing him skate from more of a distance, through a barrier.

ETA thanks Katmari - you are the best! Having seen these videos, I think he generally looks great! His 3Z in DEH looked really nice. Not sure what happened on the 3Z in Can’t Stop the feeling - maybe too close to barrier? I agree the spin just looked like a silly error.

 

[elbkup]

He is just magical, isn't he?!! Spin looked like too much adrenaline to contain, caught off guard..
That is some appreciative audience though!! Wonderful!! Thank you for sharing....

 

[Mrs. P]

Rohene was a big ISI guy, and I feel like Jason did some ISI tests back in the day, IIRC. So it doesn't surprise me that ISI folks love him -- kinda felt like a big home crowd.

Seeing both videos and I agree that on the whole he looks really good -- it's good to see the spilt jumps back. It's good that the 3F/3Z looks fine, which means he can focus more on the 3A and quad jumps. I'm eager to see what the new technique looks like on his 3A and 3Lo, which tend to be his weaker jumps.

P.S. Looking at the Minto protocols (http://skateontario.org/results/18S1/18S1JuniorMenFPDRO.pdf), the penalty on falling on a quad is HUGE and the reward isn't that great if you don't have a +2 or higher quad jump. Stephen Gogolov's 4Z fully rotated fall was ultimately worth 4.75 points (when you factor the fall deduction), which would match a decent 3T jump. So it will be interesting what kind of strategy Jason will have regarding attempting the jump in the competition.

 

[Tavi...]

It was so confusing looking at those protocols - I forgot that there is one fewer jump, so I kept wonder how his BV could be so low with 3 quads!

As for Jason: I would guess he won’t put any quad in until it’s really, really solid in practice - like 80% or more. I did think his jumps looked really nice here, but I think he will probably have more work to do before he gets +4/5 GOE. It seems to me he’d be better off focusing on that first. But not being a coach, I may be completely wrong.

I watched the doubled 3z again and it looked like he had room to do it, so maybe he just had a moment of doubt and opened up too soon - whatever it is, there’s a fan cam, so his team can analyze and correct it.

It’s funny watching him here. It’s the middle of the off season and he’s changed coaches but because he’s done both these pieces a lot already, in some ways he looks like he’s in mid season form - while in other ways you can clearly see it’s still the off season. Just because we’ve seen such stellar performances of both programs before, if I’m being really picky I’d say he looked a bit slow / tentative in a few places. But then I remind myself that he hasn’t done these programs in months (DEH probably not since January!) and that he couldn’t jump for two months, is adjusting to a new environment and new coaches, changing technique and working with a new choreographer, and is focusing on learning and polishing two new competitive programs - and it makes total sense.

And yeah, I will be really interested to see what happens with his edge jumps with the new technique. It must be a bit confusing if you haven’t fully integrated a change like that with all your jumps. In particular I’d think combos like the 3L-1lo-3S could be confusing.

But overall, it was just great to see him out there performing again!

 

[el henry]

Well, I don't have enough knowledge to talk to the jumps, although it was great to see fancam, and thanks to the posters who reported back

I'm far more trivial. Harvard t-shirt? Hmmmmmm:scratch3: Let's start completely unfounded rumors

(And you would think he's been in NYC enough, he could score a Columbia t-shirt. C'mon Jason....)

 

[Tavi...]

Well, I don't have enough knowledge to talk to the jumps, although it was great to see fancam, and thanks to the posters who reported back

I'm far more trivial. Harvard t-shirt? Hmmmmmm:scratch3: Let's start completely unfounded rumors

(And you would think he's been in NYC enough, he could score a Columbia t-shirt. C'mon Jason....)

Hah - I’ve gotten rid of all of mine, except for a black hoodie I love, or I’d send one to him...

The more I look at his 3Z in DEH the more I like it - he looks to be rotating really fast.

 

[Mrs. P]

He really likes wearing that Medill (Northwestern) T-Shirt too. I have a few friends who went to Medill, so that's fun to see...I'm surprised we've never seen him wear a Dartmouth shirt -- his best friend goes there!

Evening of Champions need to invite him one year so he can get another Harvard t-shirt for his growing collection.

I have a hoodie I bought when I visited the Harvard campus while I was in the area for U.S. Nationals. It says "Hahvahd: Making You Smahtah since 1636."

I noted the 3Z in the DEH looked different, too!

Oh, p.s. You all notice he got to meet up with Heather from 7k in Boston? That's nice!

 

[Bookseller]

It was after midnight when we got back to the hotel and I was too exhausted to post that night. And we were on our way out the next morning. So my post was necessarily short. My observation watching Jason skate (after many, many charming amateur performances by the ISI skaters) is that his energy levels were great and the jumps looked really good and solid. The fall on the spin was right in front of where I was sitting, but I was up at the top of the arena. From there it looked like he was spinning fine, but then sort of tilted off balance (facial expression definitely changed!) and he was down. After that there was a noticeable drop in the energy level of the skate, and he was more cautious on the remainder of the elements. The second performance was full of energy and the jumps and tricks looked great. It looks like his ankle is healed and that he is in full training mode. The little chat about the Senior B being secret was a confirmation that it was still a secret. He used the words "It's a secret" after I said it seemed like a secret. But I said we're all looking forward to finding out where he and Zhenya would be skating their Senior B and he said "We're going together." Back in the waiting area before the skaters go out, he was interacting with the kids and from what the parents I spoke to said, he was very complimentary to their performances and very supportive, which is exactly what we expect from this nicest of all people. I'm looking forward to seeing the replays. We sat up higher to avoid watching through the very scratched plastic hockey guard or the netting that is at all four corners, so we had an un-obscured view. Unfortunately I have a rudimentary camera. Missing was trying out her new fancy digital, so maybe she got some good shots. I haven't even had time to look at what I did take. But the show was fun, low stress, friendly and kids came from all over the northeast. It was great to see this other aspect of skating, where the goals are not the Olympics, but having fun and learning to love doing it.

 

[Tavi...]

Bookseller, thanks for your detailed report - it’s good to hear your detailed impressions, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

Reading Zhenya’s thread, it seems she has gotten some hate comments, so I’m wondering if that might be one reason why they’re not disclosing it.

ETA not surprised if he was more cautious after falling on the spin - he has done that combination with the cross grab layback so many times he was probably really surprised. He usually holds that spiral much longer in that program, so it must have really thrown him off!

I hope he keeps both of these as ex numbers this season - they are so different, and I really like both of them s lot.

 

[dorispulaski]

I am so happy to see him back skating again, and not far behind what I might expect to see from him in a normal off season!

 

[Bookseller]

Bookseller, thanks for your detailed report - it’s good to hear your detailed impressions, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

Reading Zhenya’s thread, it seems she has gotten some hate comments, so I’m wondering if that might be one reason why they’re not disclosing it.

ETA not surprised if he was more cautious after falling on the spin - he has done that combination with the cross grab layback so many times he was probably really surprised. He usually holds that spiral much longer in that program, so it must have really thrown him off!

I hope he keeps both of these as ex numbers this season - they are so different, and I really like both of them s lot.

They are both excellent exhibition programs and easy to adjust for any situation. And popular.

I looked at the fan videos that were posted of the event. I was on the opposite side when he fell on the spin, so he was facing us, but it was interesting to see the skate from the opposite perspective. The poster to Youtube was clearly also on the top level to get a better view. I can actually see myself as a blur on the other side next to Missing. We had good seats!

His facial expression was total surprise when he felt himself off center and going over. But the audience loved everything he did. Many had to leave after the first half when their children were done performing, probably because they needed to head home, or because there was an early competition the next day. But most stayed and enjoyed the 2nd half and Jason's fun skate. The kids at the signing session asked him good questions, including "what is the favorite skate you've done." He had to think about that and said it was a tough question, but he mentioned Riverdance and I think it was Can't Stop the Feeling. He was very tired by that point and apparently didn't have a stock answer handy.

It was a fun evening and I'm glad that we are able to go. I am sorry to hear that Zhenya is getting attacked by internet trolls. She certainly doesn't deserve that, but it could well be the reason why they are not currently announcing Senior B placements. There could be other issues too. But it was clear that nothing is being said right now except that Jason and Zhenya are anticipating going together. I notice often that Jason posts his whereabouts a day after he has already left, so this helps to prevent stalking. This appearance is apparently the last one until competition begins. And I'll treasure my signed photo! And the happy look he gave us when we told him that we'd be cheering him on in Montreal at Skate Canada.

 

[katmari]

And the happy look he gave us when we told him that we'd be cheering him on in Montreal at Skate Canada.

From everything I've read, if (when) you run into him at Skate Canada he will remember you and give you a big hug.

...

There's an interview with Jason on the ISU website:

Jason Brown: I’m so lucky to be able to call so many people from around the world friends