Nathan Chen is an American figure skater who won his first competition in 2003 at age 3.[1][2] He spent the beginning of his career in Salt Lake City, progressing through the lower levels of U.S. Figure Skating's developmental pipeline[3] before relocating to Southern California in 2011.[4] His first basic skills and pre-preliminary competition programs[note 1] as a young skater were set to instrumental versions of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Three Blind Mice.[6] Chen qualified for his first U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2007 and rose through the juvenile and intermediate ranks between 2007 and 2009. A recording of his early 2007 exhibition performance to "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King resurfaced before the 2018 Winter Olympics.[7][8] Chen made it to his first U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 2010 where, at 10 years old, he became the youngest novice champion in history, skating to music from Kung Fu Panda and Peter and the Wolf. At the end of the championships, he was featured in NBC's coverage of the exhibition gala[9] and was later chosen as the ABC Person of the Week.[10]

Nathan Chen
A photograph of Nathan Chen smiling during an exhibition performance under colourful lights.
Nathan Chen article series
  • Career achievements
  • List of programs

During his junior years, Chen performed to music from the Godfather soundtrack, Praeludium and Allegro, The Four Seasons, Michael Jackson, Glenn Miller and George Gershwin. He won the national junior title twice (2012, 2014) and the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in 2015. Throughout the span of his senior career, Chen explored a plethora of musical genres, performing to classical works from Le Corsaire, Mao's Last Dancer, Prince Igor, Mozart, songs from avant-garde artists like Benjamin Clementine, piano pieces from Philip Glass, and music from the Desperado soundtrack. In the 2019-20 season, Chen skated to Armenian artist Charles Aznavour's "La Bohème" and music from the Elton John biopic Rocketman. Chen later decided to return to these two programs for the 2021-22 Olympic season[11] where his win at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing earned him a congratulatory shoutout from John. In November 2022, Chen starred in the official music video for the acoustic version of "Hold Me Closer" by John and Britney Spears.[12] Between his senior debut in 2016 until his gold medal win in Beijing, Chen also won six U.S. titles, three world championships, and three Grand Prix Final titles,[13][14] and broke national and world records multiple times.[15]

Programs

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Competition and exhibition programs

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  • Program details mentioned at first occurrence.
  • Olympic seasons highlighted in blue.
Competition and exhibition programs by season 
Season Short program Free skate program Exhibition program
2003–04
[16][6]
2004–05
[16][6]
2005–06
[16]
2006–07
[16]
"Jupiter"
2007–08
[16]
2008–09
[16]
The Nutcracker
  • Choreo. by Stephanie Grosscup
2009–10
[18]
  • Composed by Hans Zimmer
  • Choreo. by Stephanie Grosscup
Peter and the Wolf[17]
2010–11
[18]
"Rawhide"[19]
2011–12
[18]
  • Composed by Nino Rota
  • Choreo. by Evgenia Chernyshova
2012–13
[21]
2013–14
[23]
Medley:
  1. "Chattanooga Choo Choo"
  2. "Summertime"
  • Choreo. by Nadia Kanaeva
2014–15
[25]
Michael Jackson Medley
Tracks used
2015–16
[27]
Michael Jackson Medley
2016–17
[29]
2017–18
 
[31]
  1. Mao's Last Dancer
  2. The Rite of Spring
"Parachute"[30]
"Nemesis"[32]
"Back from the Edge"[32]
  • Performed by Kaleo
  • Choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne
2018–19
[35]
  1. Moliendo Café
  2. "Caravan"
"Nemesis"[36]
"No Good"[37]
2019–20
[39]
"Next to Me"[38]
2020–21
[41]
  1. "Asturias (Suite Española)"
    • Composed by Frida Lopez
  2. "Canción del Mariachi"
  • Choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne
Philip Glass medley
Rocket Man[40]
2021–22
 
[43][11]
  1. "Eternity"
  2. "Nemesis"
  • Performed by Benjamin Clementine
  • Choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne
Mozart Medley
Tracks used
  1. Piano Concerto No. 23
  2. Lacrymosa
  3. "Lacrymosa (Apashe remix")
"La Bohème" Rocket Man "Caravan"[44]
Rocket Man[45]

Show programs as a competitive skater

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  • Live collaborations with other skaters and artists are highlighted in purple.
  • Programs performed at three or more ice shows within the same year are only listed with selected shows.
  • Show openings and finales are not included in the list.
Show programs from 2003-2022 
Year Program Event
2003
Penguin Cafe Orchestra Medley[46]
  • Composed by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
  • Performed live with Stephanie Rosenthal and other skaters
  • Choreo. by Douglas Webster
Tracks used
  1. Air À Danser
  2. Southern Jukebox Music
  3. Numbers 1-4
Community ice theatre, Salt Lake City[note 2]
2007 "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"[7] Salt Lake City show
2010 Peter and the Wolf[47] WIWA
WIWA[note 3]
Kung Fu Panda'[49] Sun Valley on Ice
"Nathan and the Spider"[47]
Tracks used
  1. "Mr. Fox's Promenade"
"Go the Distance"[47]
Galleria Dallas
2011 "Stereo Hearts"[50] Michael Weiss Foundation Ice

Champions

2012 "Stereo Hearts"[51][52] Skate Asia
2013 "Home"[53] An Evening with Champions
2014 "Best Day of My Life"[47] An Evening with Champions
2015 Michael Jackson Medley[citation needed] An Evening with Champions
2016 "Stole the Show"[54] An Evening with Champions
Sun Valley on Ice
2017 "Nemesis"[55] Sun Valley on Ice
"Stole the Show"[28] Stars on Ice
"Parachute"[28]
2018 "Nemesis"[32][56] Dreams on Ice, Stars on Ice
"Back from the Edge"[32] Stars on Ice
"Land of All"[47] Sun Valley on Ice
"Caravan"[57] Sun Valley on Ice, The Ice
"The Other Side"[57]
The Ice
"Tu Sei"[57][58]
2019 "Nemesis"[36] All That Skate
"Next to Me"[36][34] All That Skate, Stars on Ice
All That Skate
"Land of All"[59] Dreams on Ice
"La Boheme"[60] The Ice
Rocket Man[61] Sun Valley on Ice
2020 Rocket Man[62] Carnival on Ice
2021 "Caravan"[citation needed] Sun Valley on Ice
Rocket Man[citation needed]
2022 "Space Song"[45] Stars on Ice
Rocket Man[45]

Programs after the 2022 Winter Olympics

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Show programs after the 2021-22 season 
Year Program Event
2022
Rocket Man[63]
Dreams On Ice
"The Nights"
[citation needed]
Sun Valley on Ice
The Ice
Mozart Medley[64][66]
The Ice
Vail Skating Festival Ice Spectacular
Rocket Man"[68]
2023
Ice Chips
Stars On Ice
"Mr. Blue Sky"[70]
"Hold On Tight"/"The Dreamer in Her" (Laz Masso & Jon Schulder Remix)[71][72]
The Ice
"Mr. Blue Sky"[73][74]
"On the Nature of Daylight"[75]
The Ice
"Hold On Tight"/"The Dreamer in Her"
[47]
Sun Valley on Ice
"Vienna"[76] 20th Annual Detroit Tree Lighting
Scott Hamilton & Friends
Vail Skating Festival Ice Spectacular
"Hold On Tight"/"The Dreamer in Her"[citation needed]
Other programs, projects and collaborations 
Year Program Video
2022
"Hold Me Closer"[78]
  • Choreo. by Nathan Chen
Elton John, Britney Spears (Acoustic) (Official Video) (Stars On Ice)

Notes and references

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  1. ^ When figure skaters perform on the ice, they are performing a program. A figure skating program consists of choreographed moves set to music.[5]
  2. ^ The piece consists of three movements: 1. The offerings to the young king, 2. The sky falls, 3. Building the Rainbow and the Golden Comet. The young king is crowned, and his imagination transforms colors into rainbows of hope. The sky falls, and the young king sees the sadness in the world. However, he is able to capture the spirit of the golden comet that allows him to bring beauty and joy back to the world and to restore the sky. The goal of Ice Dance International is to build community through skating.[46]
  3. ^ WIWA is an abbreviation for “Wind and Water.” Choreographer David Liu made Chen, who was 10, the star of the show. WIWA was a story about the journey of a boy who wanted to experiment with wind and water, about his fantasy of meeting different people and flying in the wind and playing with water. Chen also performed with Richard Dwyer, a well-known skater known as “Mr Debonair” because he used to always hand out roses to the women in the audience. Liu created a program for Chen and Dwyer envisioning a grandfather and grandson or older and younger generation meeting.[48]

Citations

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  3. ^ Wolfe, Morgan (February 9, 2022). "Former coaches celebrate Nathan Chen at Salt Lake City event". KSL-TV. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Fleshman, Cu (August 23, 2022). "The Golden Hour With Nathan Chen - Character Media". Character Media. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
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  6. ^ a b c "Quad king Nathan Chen is ready for Olympic gold". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Bruner, Raisa (February 8, 2018). "See the Top Olympic Skaters Compete on the Ice as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous". Time. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018.
  8. ^ "Advice to Younger Self | Nathan Chen". YouTube. U.S. Figure Skating. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023.
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