Michelle Kwan Moment

Download Link (Youtube mutes the music due to an irritating copyright claim.)

Alex Forrest and Margaret Thatcher have had the nerve to insult the Kwan to me lately. Alex Forrest will admit that she was absolutely brilliant for a number of years, but Margaret Thatcher has a blind hatred stemming from an ex boyfriend's undying worship of MK. She stirs up bad memories.

Well, I did not take these insults lying down. I whipped out at a weapon: the 1997 World Exhibition. That's right, the moment MK endeared herself forever to gays everywhere by skating to the music of Tori Amos.

I play to win. And this program is total win. (Though, SO glad she ditched Mare Talbot the next year.)

Wrongfully denied the World Title, Michelle set out in the exhibition to prove why she was the best and most beloved skater on planet Earth. Note the superior skating skills. The clean edges and speed. Tara Lipinski could only dream of relinquishing her two foot skating to develop such a mastery of skating skills.

Dedicated to a friend who had died, "Winter" opened Michelle's soul in a way we had never seen before. It demonstrated exactly how mature and soulful beyond her years she actually is.

There is something so private, yet so open and free about this performance. Skating without even the slightest tension, Michelle owns the subtleties of this music. While some people hate watching show skating, this a program with unreal technical merit. The artistic details are unmatched. Watch the positions, the arm movements and even the way Michelle turns her head.

"Winter" reminds me of why I fell in love with skating in the first place.

In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "Well of course Michelle was fucking brilliant and could do things that would make Sasha fall on her ass. Don't rub it in."