{"id":6553,"date":"2014-10-16T10:09:03","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T14:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/?p=6553"},"modified":"2017-09-04T17:00:37","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T21:00:37","slug":"farris-looking-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/2014\/10\/16\/farris-looking-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Farris looking to the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johanna Bear
\nPhotos by Leah Adams and Felicia Farris
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, two nineteen-year-old skaters dazzled the nation with their artistic and dynamic programs. One was Jason Brown<\/a> who placed second and went on to represent the United States at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The other was Joshua Farris whose fourth place finish and narrowly missed Olympic berth meant as much to him as if he had been able to go to Sochi himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into nationals, I wasn\u2019t planning on making the Olympics, I mean if I did that would have been great, but it wasn\u2019t an expectation of mine, so I wasn\u2019t too disappointed when I didn\u2019t get to go,\u201d Josh said, \u201cI learned last year that I can\u2019t put too much pressure on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

That \u201cwhatever happens happens\u201d mentality ended up serving him remarkably well. With only a few minor bobbles, he was able to put together one of his best performances of the season at nationals after having sprained his ankle earlier on in the year and not being able to compete in one of his two Grand Prix assignments. By learning to treat skating as \u201cmore of an art than a sport\u201d, Josh was able to tap into the emotional quality of his \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d long program and show the kind of form that won him gold at the World Junior Championship in 2013.<\/p>\n

Being able to watch his friends and fellow competitors,\u00a0 Jason Brown and Jeremy Abbott skate in the Olympics was as much of an inspiration as it was a motivator.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time the Olympics are on, I always want to skate,\u201d Josh said, laughing, \u201cIt was my time off at that time and I actually showed up at the rink and my coach was like, \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 It\u2019s so inspiring. I look up to Jeremy a lot, and the fact that he could make that big of a mistake [in the short program] and have that bad of a fall and that he could come back, that really inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh also cites Jason as another inspiration, saying that if he could spend one day with another skater to pick their brains about how they approach the sport, it would be him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so consistent and he\u2019s always so happy!\u201d Josh said, chuckling, \u201cI don\u2019t understand how you can be so happy all the time, and he\u2019s so expressive. He\u2019s an amazing skater and I would love to see how he does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he is able to pull from the inspiration of his contemporaries, Josh remains a completely unique skater who established his own style as an up-and-coming force at the junior level and is beginning to carry that success to the senior ranks. This year he has been assigned to two Grand Prix events, Cup of China and NHK Trophy in Japan. Josh has never been to Japan before and expressed excitement about getting the opportunity to visit for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to since I first started skating internationally,\u201d he told Figure Skaters Online.<\/p>\n

\"farris_josh\"<\/a>One of the biggest new experiences in the 2013-14 season for Josh was being a cast member of the Stars on Ice tour around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cStars was\u2026 The biggest learning experience I\u2019ve ever had. Everyone always says, \u2018I had the time of my life,\u2019 you know, but I really did,\u201d Josh enthused, \u201cThat was the most fun I\u2019ve ever had. I learned so much. Charlie White was mentoring me during the tour, which was really cool, and Jeremy kept talking to me too. Just the support everybody gave each other was amazing. We really were a family during the tour and it was so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

This off-season, Josh has been working on developing a new short program to Ed Sheeran\u2019s \u201cGive Me Love,\u201d which he debuted at \u201cAn Evening with Champions\u201d at Harvard University in September. The choreography for this program was done by 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist Jeffrey Buttle, of Canada, who choreographed the group numbers in the Stars on Ice show that Josh was a part of, including the crowd pleasing program to Fitz and The Tantrum\u2019s \u201cThe Walker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018I wonder what he\u2019d be like to work with one-on-one.\u201d Josh said, \u201cIt happened very quickly, but I have no regrets, it was so much fun working with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh also announced that he would be keeping the \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d long program that he used last season, saying, \u201cWe did redo it a lot. It\u2019s not the same program. The patterns are different; the choreography is a little different. I feel like last year, because I injured myself during the season, I didn\u2019t really get to perform the program the way I wanted to. I feel like I could have done so much better. Last year, the story of the program was very depressing and very dark. This year, the beginning of the program is going to be very dark because there\u2019s that really intense music, but after that break there\u2019s a freedom, a breaking free. Not happy, but more of a release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh has been working with his coaches, Damon Allen and Christy Krall, during the off season on generally maintaining a more positive attitude and on enjoying the moments and the big stages as well as specifically looking at his components, interpretation and expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really trying to break down my programs,\u201d Josh said, \u201cChristy wants me to work with an acting coach to help me with some facial expressions and I thought that was a really good idea. I haven\u2019t worked with anybody yet, but hopefully in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The addition of Damon and Christy to Josh\u2019s coaching team has been one of the catalysts of his recent success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have calmed me down. I got frustrated very easily when I was young and when I switched to them, they helped calm me down and they\u2019ve supported me through God knows how much bad stuff that I\u2019ve gone through,\u201d Josh said with a laugh, \u201cOur personalities mesh really well, and they understand me and I understand them. We get along really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of the rink, Josh\u2019s main interest has become music. He plays guitar and has begun writing his own songs in his spare time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently started being a bit more serious about music and learning piano, guitar and I\u2019m singing, so that usually kind of takes up the free time that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about what he thinks he would like to do once he is done with his skating career, Josh said that music would be his primary choice as it is his main passion outside of skating. He also added that if he could skate to one piece of music it would be something by Jason Mraz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Won\u2019t Give Up\u201d would be great,\u201d he mused, \u201cbut it\u2019s kind of level, it doesn\u2019t have a lot of dynamic contrasts. But something by Jason Mraz would be really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

With regards to the season ahead, Josh will debut his programs at Cup of China November 7-9. Due to an unfortunately timed high ankle sprain in July he was unable to compete in the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake in September as he originally planned, but he remains optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still kind of rehabbing it, but I\u2019m back skating, training and everything. Christy and Damon have been really supportive and they\u2019re going to help me be ready for China. I\u2019m not worried about it at all,\u201d he stated emphatically. \u201cI feel really good and I\u2019ve been training really well. I have a good feeling about this year; it\u2019s going to be a really good year.\u201d<\/p>\n

With new and revamped programs, newly found confidence and the musicality that has garnered him fans around the world, Farris is looking forward to making his mark at the senior level and improving from the fourth place nationals finish of last year. He will certainly be one to watch this season as he has proved again and again in his young career that he is able to overcome any adversity that stands in his way.<\/p>\n

———
\nOctober 24, 2014 Postscript: Farris has withdrawn from the Cup of China Grand Prix. He is still scheduled to compete at NHK Trophy, November 28-30, in Osaka, Japan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Johanna Bear Photos by Leah Adams and Felicia Farris At the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, two nineteen-year-old skaters dazzled the nation with their artistic and dynamic programs. One was Jason Brown who placed second and went on to represent the United States at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The other was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[208,212,209,211,165,143,24,210,162,171,147],"class_list":["post-6553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-an-evening-with-champions","tag-christy-krall","tag-cup-of-china","tag-damon-allen","tag-grand-prix","tag-jason-brown","tag-jeremy-abbott","tag-nhk-trophy","tag-olympics-2","tag-sochi","tag-stars-on-ice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6553"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6770,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553\/revisions\/6770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}