Opera’s most famous femme fatale has proved no match for Fremont skating star Karen Chen.
In a high-risk move, the reigning U.S. champion has abandoned a “Carmen”-themed long program two weeks before her Grand Prix season begins at Skate Canada.
“I trashed it,” Chen told this news organization Tuesday.
It’s Chen’s third free-skate program heading into the all-important Olympic season where most of her competitors have been polishing their routines since summer. Chen, 18, is preparing for the U.S. Olympic trials the first week of January at SAP Center in San Jose.
“It’s out of nowhere,” Chen said of the move. “Carmen wasn’t doing it for me. It wasn’t the Olympic program I wanted. I wanted something I feel great skating to.”
Chen said Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” is the “complete opposite of what I am.”
She has turned to music from a 1978 film “Slow Dancing in the Big City” about an aging reporter who falls for a pretty but ailing ballerina. The program will make its debut at Skate Canada in 10 days.
Chen, who created her short program “El Tango de Roxanne” by Jose Feliciano, now has choreographed the free skate. Veteran choreographer Mark Pillay had scripted the “Carmen” program but didn’t have time for a massive makeover.
The changes began last summer when another choreographer created a long program to the opera “Tosca.”
“I trashed it after a week,” said Chen, who also is scheduled to perform at Skate America on Nov. 24-26 in Lake Placid, New York.
Chen’s mother Hsiu-Hui Tseng let her daughter decide.
“If you say you will try to like the music, it won’t be good,” Tseng said of “Tosca.” “I said, ‘I don’t think it will work because you don’t feel that music.’ ”
Chen, her mother and coach Tammy Gambill thought “Carmen” would fit because it is a classic skating piece. But Chen, who trains in Riverside, had doubts that were confirmed during the Japan Open team competition 10 days ago.
“I didn’t do the music justice so I made that bold decision,” Chen said.
The music from “Slow Dancing” “just popped up in my head,” the skater added. “There is no one who can do this for me so I have to figure it out by myself.”
Although it’s a big gamble to try a new program so close to the season’s start, Chen said, “This is what I needed. This is what I want.”
She hopes to perform well in her two international events this fall. If Chen finishes among the top six women after the series ends, she would advance to the Grand Prix final, Dec. 7-10 in Nagoya, Japan.
Then comes the U.S. championships where the American Olympic team is scheduled to be named. The Pyeongchang Games in Korea open Feb. 9.
“I feel like I am on the right track,” said Chen, whose book, “Finding the Edge: My Life on Ice,” is scheduled for release next month. “I feel way better now than this time last year.”
