For dance-inclined fans, singles figure skating can be a frustrating sport to watch. Sure, choreography, music and costumes are part of it; but over the past decade, they have often felt like an afterthought in the race to pack programs with increasingly hard (meaning quadruple) jumps.<\/p>\n
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, which opened today, technical content will again be key to determining podium placement. Yet there is one man you won\u2019t want to miss, regardless of his ultimate ranking: Jason Brown<\/a>, the American wonder who treats the ice like a dance stage and will no doubt go down as one of the sport\u2019s greatest and most versatile performers.<\/p>\n Brown broke through in 2014, and not just because he earned a bronze medal in the team event at the Sochi Olympics: His exhilarating \u201cRiverdance\u201d free skate<\/a> went viral in a way few skating programs do, garnering millions of views. A perfect match of choreography and performer, it built anticipation exquisitely, from the elegant opening arm movements to the effervescent, Irish-dance\u2013inspired footwork sequences that start around the two-minute mark. (The standing ovation at the U.S. Championships began before Brown had even hit the final note.)<\/p>\n