Angela Wang's Mentorship with Michelle Kwan is a Young Girl's Dream Come True

Years ago, when Angela Wang was a young, up-and-coming figure skater, she competed at the Golden West Championships.
 
Wang doesn't remember how old she was or whether she was intermediate or juvenile, but she does remember that she practiced at a rink in Artesia, California, that was home to nine-time U.S. champion, five-time World champion and two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan.
 
"I had bought her autobiography, and was so scared to ask her for her autograph," Wang said. "I had to have my mom go up and ask her for me."
 
Now 22, Wang's admiration of Kwan hasn't changed a bit, but their relationship certainly has.
 
Kwan and her sister Karen Kwan-Oppegard choreographed Wang's short program for the 2018-19 season.
 

View this post on Instagram

Never imagined I would be lucky enough to work with such remarkable people. Stoked to have had @tanith_white choreograph another LP for me and @karenwkwan and @michellewkwan a SP. It's going to be an exciting year!

A post shared by Angela Wang (@angelawangster) on May 24, 2018 at 6:56pm PDT

Though the two had met several times since Wang was too shy to ask Kwan for her autograph, those interactions had never gone deeper than a quick hello and well wishes. But they struck up a conversation at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where Wang finished seventh. Wang hadn't thought much about her future in skating, and Kwan asked for her number so they could chat.
 
"I was so overwhelmed, I started crying," Wang said, laughing. "I was like, 'Oh my god, it's Michelle Kwan, she's talking to me!' So I think she knows I'm a really big fan."
 
The two spoke on the phone several weeks later. Kwan agreed to mentor Wang throughout the season and, while tossing around ideas for programs and choreography, threw out an unexpected question.
 
"What do you think about my sister and I doing a program for you?"
 
Wang, of course, was fully on board.
 
She spent a week with Kwan earlier this year, working both on the ice and off. Kwan suggested the music for her short program – "Praying" by Kesha – and the choreography came together in two days.
 
"Outside of just the choreography, Michelle and I worked a lot on just skating, like how to approach a training session, her mindset throughout the years and lessons she learned," Wang said. "I feel like I had the opportunity to pick her brain on all of her experiences, which I thought was incredible."
 
They also spent their off-ice time together, often doing a workout or a hot yoga session.
 
"And the whole time I was just like, 'Oh my god, I'm doing yoga with Michelle Kwan, that's so weird!'" Wang said. "But it was such an incredible experience, like it didn't even feel real to me that I got the opportunity to spend so much time with her.
 
"She's so down to earth, such an incredible role model, not just in skating but also in life in general."
 
Wang isn't kidding when she says Michelle Kwan is her role model. When Wang was 5 years old, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games came to her hometown of Salt Lake City. It was this ladies figure skating event – the one in which Michelle Kwan won bronze – that inspired her to take up the sport.
 
"That was when she was really dominating," Wang said. "I just watched her growing up and I tried to be like her. From the beginning, she's just been my idol. Like, I'm speechless just talking about it. I can't even form full sentences."
 
Wang still speaks with Kwan regularly, and both Michelle and Karen will be visiting her at her new training base in Edmonton, Alberta, in December before the 2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Karen just paid her a visit to do some touch-ups on Wang's program before she left for her first Grand Prix assignment, the Helsinki Grand Prix of Figure Skating, held on Nov. 2-4 in Helsinki, Finland.
 
Wang, who is also scheduled to compete at NHK Trophy next week, debuted her new programs – her free skate is set to "Send in the Clowns" by Barbara Streisand and choreographed by Tanith White – at Finlandia Trophy, where she finished eighth overall.
 
With her move to Edmonton still very new, Wang hopes to show improvement throughout the season and build on each event. And while she doesn't know whether she and Kwan will continue working together in the future, she's enjoying every moment of their relationship now.
 
"I can't believe that she is a part of my career, is a part of my life, period," Wang said. "She is the reason I got into skating. She's been my role model since I started skating, so I still cannot believe it. I have a relationship with her. It's such an honor."
 
And what about the book she got autographed all those years ago?
 
"I still have that signed book, and I pulled it out a couple of months ago," Wang said. "She wrote it out, 'To Angela.' That's so funny that she was part of my life from such a young age, and I still have that book, and now she's a part of my career."