It's one of the most crucial decisions a figure skater has to make each and every season: what music to skate to.
Some look for a personal connection. Others imagine what kind of moment a song can create. And some look for songs they know they won't get tired of after a long season of listening to it endlessly.
Check out what the members of Team USA take into account when deciding on music for their programs.
Evan Bates
"I think it's important to pick something that suits the skater, and what I think is so cool about ice dance, and figure skating, but specifically ice dance, is that every team has a unique style and an individual style. So for us, we always take that into account. What kind of style is good for us? I think this year we picked free dance music that's going to be really good, and hopefully stand out amongst the crowd."
Nathan Chen
"Ultimately, something that I will enjoy for a season, since you're going to be playing the music over and over and over, so you don't want to get tired of it too quickly."
Kaitlin Hawayek
"I'd say what we can skate most passionately and authentically to. I would never want to skate a program that I didn't feel that I could be authentic with and give one hundred percent to. So when we choose our music we really want to make sure that it's something that we can find a way to be ourselves through expressing a character through."
Brian Johnson
"Can I see myself skating to it? There's a lot of music that I love, but a lot of it, you can't skate to because it's either too repetitive or the same pitch. So you have to pick something that has a lot of variation, but that you also like listening to, and that gets kind of hard."
Tarah Kayne
"I just listen to music and whatever I hear that makes me want to move, in any way – sometimes with music that's more classical, I feel those movements – but this music is a little different and you feel more like you're in a dance club. That's not normal for me, but I really wanted to move to it. Whatever kind of inspires me at the time."
Timothy LeDuc
"It's about creating that moment. How do we want to get the audience on their feet? At the end of our clean, perfect program at nationals, how do we want to get them on their feet? So if you don't hear that when you're listening to the music, it's not right for you."
Bradie Tennell
"I have to be able to see myself skating to it at nationals in a stadium full of people."
