Upworthy's book GOOD PEOPLE, now available - take a look!

Shop
 Explore 

figure skating

Celebrity

Olympic figure skater takes viral Wednesday Addams dance for a spin

Everyone is trying their hand at this dance, from Lady Gaga to figure skaters.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash

Olympic figure skater takes viral Wednesday Addams dance for a spin

"Wednesday" is the new Netflix series taking over the airwaves. The show is a spinoff of the "Addams Family" where Wednesday, played by Jenna Ortega, is now a much older teen sent away to school at Nevermore Academy. In episode four, Wednesday attends a school dance where she has some...interesting dance moves.

This dance seems to be occupying everyone's free time as they learn to perfect it. Celebrities from Kim Kardashian and her daughter North West to Camila Cabello and Lady Gaga have all tried their hand at recreating this now iconic dance. But Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva added a new spin to the dance—literally.

I do want to forewarn you though, if you're looking for smooth, charismatic moves to the dance, this is not it. What Valieva does on the ice is nothing short of amazing, however. The skater starts the routine from behind a table backlit with red light, and at first, all you can see is a hand dancing on the table like Thing, a character from "Wednesday" and "Addams Family."

Immediately this small detail pulls you into the performance and makes your brain aware that you're in for a treat. Quickly Valieva pops up from behind the table with an emotionless face, as if she's rising from a coffin, the mysterious hand placed on her shoulder. The familiar "Addams Family" tune plays as she heads over the wall of the skater's box to hypnotize the audience with the eerie dance.

Watch the performance below:

Can't get enough of the "Wednesday" dance? Have a gander at Lady Gaga's attempt. As for me, I'll be right back. Going to go learn this dance.

@ladygaga
BLOODY WEDNESDAY #fyp

From Your Site Articles

wednesday dance

Heroes

Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo has already made Olympic history just by competing

YouTube, Twitter

Donovan Carrillo pursued his dreams and now is making history.

While other kids were playing soccer, young Donovan Carrillo had other dreams. Despite living in the warm and temperate climate of Mexico, Carrillo had a singular vision of grabbing gold at the Winter Olympics.

donovan carrillo has already accomplished so much in his olympic debut!!! #Olympics #FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/YvQsvhGuQN
— ️️dani (@goIdenwaItz) February 8, 2022

And now, win or lose, this passionate figure skater has already become a huge success story at the Beijing Winter Games, becoming the first Mexican to advance to the Olympic free skate final event.

“I always wanted to be at the Olympics,” Carrillo told NBC after his performance Tuesday. “I used to talk about this dream with people. They were always laughing or telling me that it was impossible for a Mexican to qualify.”

Dreams do come true! 😍

📷: @DonovanDCarr pic.twitter.com/mtkAZMmxbM
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 8, 2022

In addition to dealing with the fact that Mexico has no competitive winter sports leagues, Carrillo was often called “a girl” for his interest in figure skating, telling the Associated Press that “they sometimes even think that to practice an artistic sport, it’s going to affect your (sexual) preferences as a person. I never thought that. I think that’s one of the reasons of why we don’t have many male skaters in my country.”

Donovan Carrillo, who practices in a shopping mall ice rink, is the first skater from Mexico to qualify for the Olympic free skate. 🥰 pic.twitter.com/qZFBl4LVYr
— Billy B (@billyburke87) February 8, 2022

Throughout his pursuit, Carrillo never let the naysaying keep him down. Instead, he became more resourceful, training alongside girls and practicing in the ice rinks of shopping malls. Imagine having to perfect your pirouette while dodging families and amateur hockey players.

Hard work and determination paid off, because Carillo found himself in Beijing, bearing the flag of Mexico at the opening ceremony.

donovan carrillo is such a vibe#olympics pic.twitter.com/D67FTX2RBZ
— 🌬 (@sanika1020_) February 10, 2022

Carrillo’s entire Olympic debut has been an homage to his heritage: blades displaying the green, white and red color of the Mexican flag, a sparkling black and gold costume designed by Mexican fashion designer Edgar Lozzano, and using music from his father’s favorite band, Santana.

“It’s something that I always try to do with my performance, to involve the Mexican culture,” Carrillo told AP.

Donovan Carrillo is the first Mexican in over 30 years to represent Mexico in ice skating at the Winter Olympics LETS GOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/75w5UTOf6K
— Estefanía (@estyledesma) February 8, 2022

Fast forward to Tuesday (Feb 8), and Carrillo delivered a stunning, career-best, history-making performance in the short program, nailing the quad toe loop and landing an insane triple axel.

The score of 79.69 takes Carrillo to the longer free skate competition, a never-before seen feat from his country, making the 22-year-old athlete Mexico's most successful figure skater in history.

Carrillo might have been pressed with overwhelming obstacles, but he proved to the world that dreams are worth pursuing.

From Your Site Articles

Adam Rippon just made U.S. Olympics history.

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.

When the 28-year-old heads to South Korea, he'll be the first openly gay U.S. male athlete to compete in the Winter Games.

Can he get a hell yeah?

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images.

Other male LGBTQ athletes have competed in the winter games in years past — notably, fellow figure skaters Johnny Weir and Brian Boitano — but none had been open about their sexual orientation heading into the competition.

Rippon may not be alone in sharing the title either.

Openly gay freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy could make it to Pyeongchang too.

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images.

Kenworthy, who came out publicly to ESPN in 2015, will find out soon whether he'll make the cut for South Korea in February. He represented Team USA in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

It matters that openly LGBTQ athletes are representing the U.S. on the world stage. And that's not lost on Rippon.

As he explained to NPR (emphasis added):

"Growing up, I really didn't have a lot of role models. And I said, if I was ever given the chance and the platform, I would share my story. ... I don't really care what other people think of me. I'm able to go out there and I'm really able to be, like, unabashedly myself. And I want somebody who's young, who's struggling, who's not sure if it's OK if they are themselves to know that it's OK."

Rippon isn't all serious business though.

In fact, he's often quite the jokester with his 54,000 Twitter followers.

— (@)

Whether he's discussing his, er ...physical assets...

— (@)

What it's like to be a gay athlete...

— (@)

Or using familial bias to sway the judges...

— (@)

Rippon certainly isn't afraid to be himself — in the rink or outside of it.

— (@)

And as if blazing one trail wasn't enough, Rippon's age is also making Olympics history this year.

According to The Washington Post, 28-year-old Rippon will be the oldest U.S. figure skater to make a debut in the games since 1936.

He's ready to use his seniority to the team's advantage when it comes to mentoring fellow Americans Nathan Chen, 18, and Vincent Zhou, 17: "I always sort of feel like a leader or a big brother. I want the best for the both of them as we head into this Olympic Games.”

Nathan Chen (middle-left) and Vincent Zhou (middle-right) will join Adam Rippon (right) on Team USA Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.

Making headlines for his age may be a bit less exciting than making LGBTQ history. But Rippon's happy to make light of the decade of experience he has over Chen and Zhou. “I’m so excited that my two sons are doing so well," he quipped to The Post about his teammates. "I’m honored to be their father."

The opening ceremony to Pyeongchang 2018 is set for Friday, Feb. 9.

From Your Site Articles

No one had ever skated on this frozen mountain lake. Until now.

Winter is coming. For now, at least.

Winter in the coastal rocky mountains of British Columbia is not perfect filmmaking weather. So when aerial filmmaker Bradley Friesen finds a window to make videos, his collaborators have to be ready at a moment's notice.

For figure skater Katrina Lazzarotto, that meant saying yes to flying up to a tiny lake atop a mile-tall mountain — and buying a new pair of skates on the way to the airport.

Lazzarotto and her new blades on the way to the airport. Photo by Bradley Friesen, used with permission.

The expense was worth it. In a few short hours, she'd be skating on ice that human feet — let alone feet in skates — had never touched before.

Lazzarotto laces up for the skate of a lifetime. Photo via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

The lake on which Lazzarotto is about to skate is extremely remote.

It's deep within the coastal mountain range, about 50 miles northeast of Vancouver. There's no way to get near it, no roads or access. You'd never know it existed unless you were a mountain goat or you'd flown over it in a small helicopter.

This glacial lake is one of seven nearby nicknamed "The Mystics." They range in color from deep blue to bright green during the summer. Photo via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

Finding a frozen lake this high in the mountains without snow cover is extremely rare. "I'd say it's about a once every ten years phenomenon," says Friesen as we chat by phone. "But because of climate change, it's happened the last three years in a row."

And when it does happen, it's time to seize the moment.

To quote Internet prophet David after Dentist: "Is this real life??" Photo via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

Before this day, Lazzarotto hadn't skated in four years. But it all came back quickly.

Lazzaratto called this skating "on heaven." She's not wrong! GIF via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

When you're a mile high in the mountains, perspective comes easy.

Filmmaker Bradley Friesen has been flying helicopters for the last 25 years, but only in the last two has he actively pursued a living as an aerial filmmaker. He's passionate about documenting western Canada's wild outdoors — particularly in winter, which on the coast gets shorter ever year.

Lazzarotto shoots the duck for the camera. Photo via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

"I'd be stupid not to be an environmentalist," Friesen says. "Climate change is having an effect on all of us. Our glaciers in British Columbia are receding so fast. They used to move back 10 feet in a season, now it's like, 50 feet or more every year."

Photo via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

"I think it's important I'm capturing it, so we can show people in the future what winter used to look like."

Photo by Bradley Friesen, used with permission.

Friesen has two other winter videos he dreams of making.

He wants to film a pairs skating team in the mountains — holler at him on Twitter or Instagram if you are in one and live within a day of Vancouver — and he's desperate to build a hockey rink and play a game on a frozen mountain lake.

"I've tried to build a rink 15 times and failed every single time," he says, laughing. "I can tell you precisely how not to build a hockey rink at 5,000 feet."

Here's hoping winter sticks around B.C. long enough for him to make his dream come true.

GIF via Bradley Friesen/YouTube.

figure skating

Olympic figure skater takes viral Wednesday Addams dance for a spin

Everyone is trying their hand at this dance, from Lady Gaga to figure skaters.

Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo has already made Olympic history just by competing

America’s first openly gay male Winter Olympian is also … pretty damn funny too.

Adam Rippon just made U.S. Olympics history.

When the 28-year-old heads to South Korea, he'll be the first openly gay U.S. male athlete to compete in the Winter Games.

Rippon may not be alone in sharing the title either.

It matters that openly LGBTQ athletes are representing the U.S. on the world stage. And that's not lost on Rippon.

Rippon isn't all serious business though.

And as if blazing one trail wasn't enough, Rippon's age is also making Olympics history this year.

No one had ever skated on this frozen mountain lake. Until now.

Winter is coming. For now, at least.

Winter in the coastal rocky mountains of British Columbia is not perfect filmmaking weather. So when aerial filmmaker Bradley Friesen finds a window to make videos, his collaborators have to be ready at a moment's notice.

The lake on which Lazzarotto is about to skate is extremely remote.

And when it does happen, it's time to seize the moment.

Before this day, Lazzarotto hadn't skated in four years. But it all came back quickly.

When you're a mile high in the mountains, perspective comes easy.

Friesen has two other winter videos he dreams of making.

Check out Friesen's video of Katrina Lazzarotto skating here:

'Wicked' author reveals how one line in 'The Wizard of Oz' inspired Elphaba and Glinda's story

Doctor breaks down how to recognize ADHD in adults. The symptoms may be surprising.

Father of 3 shares what he learned about his wife’s ‘mental load’ after she left for 8 days

Doorbell camera catches a UPS driver in a moment of contagious joy over a simple snack

Gen X has hit 'that stage' of life and is not handling it very well

Refusing a tantrum: passenger sparks debate