Last season’s ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series was notable for the emergence of several standout new talents in ice dance. Among the new stars were Hannah Lim and Ye Quan of South Korea. They captured fans’ attention starting with their first JGP event last year, where they skated with unexpected fire and aplomb. Lim and Quan won JGP gold in Courchevel, France, and a silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final. They also challenged for the Junior World title in March in Calgary, Alberta. Although they ultimately settled for silver, it was a close-fought battle with winners Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek of Czechia–perhaps setting up an ongoing rivalry for the future.

This season, Lim and Quan are leaving the junior ranks behind them and looking to make their mark in the deep, talented field of senior ice dance. The duo have set realistic expectations and goals for their first senior season. But they’ve already experienced success, winning a bronze medal at Autumn Classic International in September. As they prepare for their senior Grand Prix debut this week at Skate America in Allen, Texas, Lim and Quan want to increase the maturity of their skating and find the perfect balance in their partnership. At Autumn Classic, I spoke with them about their background, programs, and plans for this season.

Q:  How did you originally get into skating?

Lim:  I started skating when I was four. It was at one of the rinks close to where I lived, and my mom put me into skating. I started competitive [skating] because I liked to perform and to skate, and I was pretty good at it.

Q:  When did you become an ice dancer?

Lim:  Ice dancing started later, when I was 14. I was in singles up until then. Everyone said I should try ice dance. I was like, ‘No, I’m going to stay in singles and improve myself.’ But actually, I really like to perform and to skate, and the expression aspect of skating. So when I first tried ice dance at 14, I really enjoyed it. And I’ve been doing it since then.

Q:  Did you like the jumps in singles?

Lim:  I liked it [jumps]. I just wasn’t very good at it. But it did make me stress, that competition was about that kind of stuff [jumps]. So, I’m glad I’m doing ice dance now.

Q:  Ye, what about you?

Quan:  I started when I was around five. My mom put me on skates because she wanted me to try different sports. I just did skating for fun until I was about ten years old; nothing serious. Until my coach asked me, out of nowhere, if I wanted to try ice dance. I was about to quit skating. But I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ So, at around 11 or 12, I tried out with a partner, and it worked out, and I started ice dance. Then I moved to I.AM around 2019. That’s when I met Hannah. 

Q:  After you teamed up, you initially competed for Canada. Were each of you born in Canada? What are your backgrounds?

Lim:  I was born in Toronto, and he was born in Montreal.

Quan:  No, I was not. [Laughs.] Reykjavik, Iceland, is where I was born. But the city where I lived was Bolungarvik, Iceland. Everybody’s a bit like–what? Iceland? 

Lim:  Even I forgot. [They laugh.] 

Q:  So you were born in Iceland and then moved to Canada? 

Quan:  My family moved to China for a year or two. My mother is Chinese. Then after that, we moved to Montreal. It’s a bit complicated. I’ve gone everywhere. [Smiles.]

Lim:  My parents were both born in South Korea, and moved to Canada. My mom got her Canadian citizenship, but my dad still has Korean citizenship. That’s how I was able to get my Korean citizenship. We competed for Canada in our first season. First two seasons, actually. Then during covid-19 [pandemic], I thought: ‘What if we compete for South Korea? Then we have more opportunities and more chances to show ourselves internationally.’

Quan:  [To Lim]  Also, it’s your culture. And you know Korea.

Lim:  Yes, exactly. My parents suggested it. I thought it sounded like a really good idea, and could be really exciting. I’m glad we did that, because I really enjoy competing for my country.

Q:  Figure skating in South Korea seems to be very much on the rise and becoming very popular. After you switched to represent South Korea, what was your experience in terms of visiting, and connecting with, the country? Did you start spending a lot more time there? 

Lim:  Yes, we visit about twice a year. When we started competing for South Korea, we didn’t know the teammates well, or the team leaders. But we’ve made many friends on the [Korean] team. 

Quan:  They’ve been very welcoming.

Lim:  They’re all really kind to us, and we make jokes, and it’s fun. 

Q:  Last season, you had the opportunity to compete at World Team Trophy with the South Korean team. Was that exciting? [Note: Lim and Quan participated in World Team Trophy, a senior event, after finishing their junior season.]

Quan:  It was exciting, and also a bit stressful. We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to do a new program [senior rhythm dance] within a month?’ But in the end, it only took about a week to do the program. We re-used our old transitions and old elements to mix together a program for the rhythm dance. For the free dance, we just added one or two elements.  

Lim:  And it was worth doing it, because it was such a good experience. The vibe there is just so different. It’s really fun and engaging. 

Quan:  A completely different energy compared to [other] competitions. Less about expectations, more about just presenting.

Q:  So, going back a bit, what originally drew you to each other as partners?

Lim:  Ye had a really good base for ice dance, because he had been doing it for a while. I was really new. That’s what brought me to him. I was like, ‘Oh, he’s really experienced, and he knows how to partner.’ 

Quan:  She dances a lot. I have a tendency to be–not robotic–but more square, more stiff, in my skating. Once we started to skate together, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, she’s moving so much.’ And obviously, we have to match, so it’s getting out of my comfort zone. I have to go [to a place] where I didn’t before, usually. A different way of dancing. That was a new experience for me, which was nice.

Lim:  I really like that about our partnership–how we’re always learning from each other. Ye is more solid with himself; his skating is more grounded. Whereas I’m so flowy and moving everywhere. We like to play off each other’s strengths and improve ourselves. 

Quan:  Recently, we told each other that I have to care [i.e.,think] a bit less about her, so I’m not always [focused] on her. And she has to care [i.e., focus] a bit more on me, so she can connect more with me. It’s always this dynamic.

Q:  You had a great season last year, finishing with the silver medal at Junior Worlds. How did that leave you feeling about your junior career as a whole?

Quan:  It felt really fulfilling. I feel like we started well with our competitions in juniors, and we had a really good buildup. In the end, all our efforts to improve showed, and I’m really happy with what we did at the last competition.

Lim:  Our first international year as juniors, we were doing it more for experience. The second year, we really went in saying, ‘We want to win. We want to get a medal. We want to qualify for the [JGP] Final, and do well at [Junior] Worlds.’ So having that [set of goals] put a little bit more stress on us. Ending with the silver medal, and working [hard] in between every competition to get that medal, really made us feel satisfied with closing our junior career.

Quan:  Also relieved. [Laughs]

Q:  What did you do to celebrate winning a medal at Junior Worlds?

Lim:  We went to Banff with our friends for a few days. [Note: Banff is a resort area in the Rocky Mountains in Canada.] 

Quan:  Yes, we went with the Canadian [ice dance] couple, Sandrine [Gauthier] and Quentin [Thieren]. Just to have fun and skate a bit outside in the open at Lake Louise. It was really nice. We did a couple of videos, and we had a good rest. 

Q:  Are you good friends with Gauthier and Thieren?

Quan:  Yes. We train all the time together. And we had a lot of competitions [together] this past season, so we really bonded a lot.

Q:  You obviously have a great training environment at Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM). You spoke in the mixed zone about how you’ve turned to Madison Chock for advice and how Jean-Luc Baker helps a bit with your coaching. What else do you take from the seniors at I.AM?

Quan:  I feel like the level of maturity they have is a completely different level compared to juniors. Every time they do their run-throughs, I’m trying to just watch them, when we have time, and examine whatever they do–how they deal with mistakes, manage their energy, and connect with their partner.  Each couple has a different way to reset and manage their stress. I learn a lot, just from watching on the sideline. 

Lim:  The intensity they have toward each other when they skate, the way they finish their moves, is so different from the way we did it in juniors. We were more, like, throwing ourselves [into skating] and just putting everything into our movement. But in seniors, it’s different, and I really see that with the I.AM couples. 

Quan:  There’s that level of intricacy that we don’t often see in juniors. Small details. It makes a big difference.

Lim: Subtle looks, subtle hand movements. 

Q:  When you were juniors, did you train on the same ice sessions as the senior teams? Or did you mostly have different training times?

Quan:  It really depends on our schedule. We have school, and I also work as a coach in the evenings. Sometimes we skate in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Some days, we skate mostly with seniors; other days, mostly juniors. 

Lim:  There’s no restrictions. We just put down when we’re available to skate, and they match that with schedules of other teams. 

Quan:  They’re very flexible with schedules. It happens sometimes that they ask us to cancel stuff that we planned ahead, because the schedule doesn’t work. But that doesn’t happen very often. 

Q:  Off the ice, are you both at university?

Quan:  I took a break for this session [semester]. But I’m at university for learning Korean. I’m taking Korean classes. That’s about it, because I don’t have time for other classes right now.

Lim:  I was supposed to graduate [from high school] in the summer, but I’m a bit behind. So I’m graduating in December, and hopefully going to university for the next semester. Probably in Montreal, and part-time. We’ll see which programs support that, because I also want to start coaching. I’ll see which I choose [to focus on] first, coaching or school.

Q:  Ye, do you coach ice dance or singles?

Quan:  It depends. Right now, my client base is mostly younger skaters. I teach a bit of everything–skills, dance, and freestyle. From time to time, I coach some [ice dance] couples that are in novice or pre-novice level. Not I.AM couples; they skate in another ice dance school for much younger [students]. 

Lim:  He coaches all disciplines. He even tried coaching synchro once [synchronized skating].

Quan:  I did. [Laughs] I’m not very good. I don’t know the synchro elements at all. I just taught skating skills, a short session. 

Q:  Let’s talk about your programs. Going into your first senior season, what was your initial idea of how you wanted to present yourselves?

Lim:  Usually, we’re doing pretty fun programs, or programs that are character- and story-based. So we wanted to keep that. With the 1980s theme, we wanted to do something really fun and upbeat and to music that everyone knows. So we chose Prince, and we’re hoping everyone likes it. We chose pretty well-known songs [“Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry”].

Quan:  For the free [dance], we wanted to work with our strength, in how we present  characters. But this time, it’s more romantic, more intricate. It’s less about trying to perform big all the time, and more about connecting between us. That’s something we’re trying to explore a lot more this year. 

Lim:  In juniors last year, we were trying to do that a bit with our tango rhythm dance, but it was still more about presenting outward. The crowds really liked it. But in seniors, we wanted that level of maturity. Seniors connect way more with each other.

Quan:  Yes. There’s still some sticky parts, but I think we’re steadily growing. 

Lim:  It felt weird [at first]. Usually, I’m so used to looking out at the crowd and toward the rink. But now in the free program, I almost only see Ye, and his eyes, and that’s almost it. So it’s a bit different. 

Q:  For the free dance, you chose Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which was a signature piece for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. They used that music when they won their first World medal in 2008. Did it make you nervous to use the same music? Or were you just inspired by them?

Quan:  Tessa and Scott have been inspiring me for a really long time. I can’t stop looking at their Moulin Rouge program from the 2018 Olympics. I did see their Umbrellas of Cherbourg program, which was magnificent, but I haven’t tried to copy what they did or think too much about how they did it. I’m trying to find how I myself can present the program. Sometimes I forget they did this music.

Lim:  I knew this was music that Tessa and Scott did. And they also did a Prince rhythm dance. At first, it was kind of fun to be associated with them. Then I realized people might start to compare, and it made me a bit stressed. I went to watch their programs again–I’d seen them before, but I watched again–and I thought the way they skated and connected with each other was just amazing. I feel like in their Umbrellas of Cherbourg piece, they represented young love, and a happier love story. And I appreciated that. But I said to Ye, ‘Maybe we should try to do a more mature and sad love story.’ So that it’s not compared, and to have our own take. No one can beat Tessa and Scott … except Tessa and Scott. If we tried to be like them, it wouldn’t work. So why would we try?

Quan:  We really want to portray our own emotions, how we interpret our story. To do something different. 

Q:  So your free dance storyline is of a tragic love? 

Lim:  Yes, a little tragic. In the end [of the program], I leave him. 

Q:  Your Prince rhythm dance has a totally different mood.

Lim:  Yes, it’s fun. 

Quan:  At first, it was so hard to choreograph. There were so many arms and jumps and everything. My head was fried. 

Lim:  One of our choreographers, Sam [Chouinard], was like, ‘Do you hear this one beat?’ One beat. And he says: ‘We’re going to do three moves on that beat.’ I’m like, What?? [Laughs] 

Quan:  Yes. There was a specific beat [in the music] that Sam and Hannah heard, but I couldn’t hear it. He pointed it out, but I still couldn’t hear it. In the end, I managed to find it, but it took a lot of time.

Q:  Hannah, your costume for the Prince RD really stands out. Who designed it? 

Lim:  The designer’s name is Philippe Masse. He does a lot of Cirque du Soleil costumes, and figure skating costumes for I.AM skaters and other Monreal skaters. The first time I went to him, he made a design on the spot, and I liked it. He has a very quirky, cool style.

Quan:  He did my costume as well. We did it together, to have them matched.

Q:  What would you like fans to know about you? 

Quan:  We always appreciate when fans come to cheer for us. When they have the Korean flag waving, it gives me more motivation to dance, and makes me have fun.

Lim:  Yes. When I hear the cheers from the crowd, I really, really appreciate it, because it gives me energy on the ice. And it makes me less stressed. 

Quan:  When it’s completely silent, I’m like, Ohhh. [Shudders] Our fans have always been super-supportive, whatever we do. We’re grateful for them.

Q:   Now that you’re skating in senior events, are you looking forward to having more fans and larger crowds?

Quan:  It’s going to be different from juniors. Seniors feels much bigger.

Q:  You’ve gotten off to a good start by winning the bronze medal at Autumn Classic. What are your goals for the rest of the season?

Lim:  We want to take our place at the senior level. 

Quan:  The general goal we gave ourselves is to get more experience and improve the maturity, the intricacy, of our programs and performance. And to show everyone that we’re here now–that we’re part of the senior level.