Olympian Amber Glenn on Balancing ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and Ice Skating

Dancing With the Stars is a grueling schedule for anyone, but Olympic gold medalist Amber Glenn has found herself balancing skating and the hit ABC competition series.

“I literally just got off the ice 10 minutes ago,” Glenn tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom. The skater joined DWTS season 35 cast just months after taking home an Olympic gold medal, partnering up with professional dancer Pasha Pashkov.

“It’s a very busy day for me today, but I’m enjoying all of it,” she says. While the schedule’s been relentless, her body has been feeling good tackling both skating and dancing. She adds, jokingly, “My feet aren’t at the happiest.”

There’s some crossover between dancing and skating, naturally, but Glenn says the show has been an adjustment in both the gear and the way she moves her body. “It’s OK,” she says. “I’ll survive.”

How has the adjustment to dancing versus skating been on your body?

In skating, we’re constantly moving. I’m pushing and it’s going, going. I’m in a boot that’s been custom made for, and I’ve been in them for 21 years. I can count on my fingers how many times I’ve gone out in heels, actual heels. I’m in booties and flats. I always wear something stable. To be wearing heels every single day for hours on end is not my norm.

My feet aren’t happy. It’s not like I’m injured. They’re just swollen. I’m fine. I’m OK. I just busted my partner’s nose. I’m OK.

I heard.

Yeah, my bad. But it is tough when I have to squeeze my feet back into the boots, and they’re literally not wanting to fit.

What has the self-care looked like then?

Honestly, as much as I can. It’s not that I don’t have any downtime, it’s just during my downtime, I’m wanting to just zone out. It’s not just a lot physically, it’s a lot mentally. I’m having to learn the new choreography every week and soak that in and focus so hard. On top of already having ADHD, it’s like I’m having to really, really lock in. There’s also the content aspect, which has been progressing over the last couple of seasons of Dancing With the Stars. The social media is a whole new factor and doing things like this. It’s great, and I love it, but I am an athlete. I want to go work. I want to progress and use my entire time with Pasha to work. But this isn’t just a normal dance competition. It’s being voted on. I need people to see me. I’m not going to fake and pretend to be someone else, but I hope they like me. They don’t know me, and I have to have them get to know me. How do I do that? It’s this aspect that I’m not used to.

Knowing that skating requires a rhythm similar did you feel confident? Or were you still nervous?

Oh, I was extremely nervous. Yes, I have “rhythm,” but, this sounds so crazy, it’s more of a bounce. If that makes sense. The way we move is so different because of the gliding aspect. When we’re going up and down and rising and falling in our knees, it doesn’t look like we’re bouncing. I try and do the same thing on the floor. I look ridiculous and it’s just a different type of control. On the ice, I can just let things flow into one another, and my body naturally knows how to move and counterbalance versus on the floor.

I loved your choice of the viral song paying homage to Heated Rivalry. I know you’re a big fan of the show. What made you what to do that?

Obviously, I really connect with the story behind Heated Rivalry, [particularly] about the aspect of being a pro athlete that doesn’t feel like they can be themselves in fear of judgment from teammates, judgment of the public, from brands. Just worrying that their career could be at stake for who they are. It’s not just from the main characters, it’s also the side story that’s going on. It was beautiful to see that represented as a pro athlete myself. A lot of people just see the show at the surface level, but I mean, there’s literally an episode where they’re at the Olympics. They’re in Sochi. One of the aspects of that Olympic Games was that they weren’t accepting of queer people. It’s so much more than just some romance TV show. It’s the reality for so many people. I just really connected with that in particular, and I was lucky enough to work with HBO on a little cinematic piece.

That was really cool.

To be able to do that, and then Pasha took it to a whole nother level, really let me tell my story through dance. It was just a really, really great moment.

Season 35 of DWTS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m., simulcasting across ABC and Disney+, and streaming the next day on Hulu. Read all of THR‘s DWTS coverage here.