Episode Notes Pooja Kalyan is a former Team USA skater and current Brown University student. Pooja competed in the Junior Grand Prix in 2018 , and at Skate America in 2020, before injuries forced her to pause her elite career. At Brown, she co-captains the collegiate team and is passionate about expanding opportunities for skaters at all levels and building a supportive team culture. Pooja also served as an athlete representative on the US Figure Skating board of directors. She serves on the Div...
Jun 30, 2025•1 hr 23 min
Episode Notes Gary Beacom is a 1984 Canadian Olympian who has continued to perform and compete for more than half a century to develop mastery through theoretical and experimental research. Gary teaches seminars around the world, and with his YouTube channel, he shares exercises, challenges, and pieces of choreography, encouraging skaters at all levels to learn good technique and explore the blade. He is also interested in equipment and is part of the company SK8INSOLL, building high-tech insole...
Jun 16, 2025•55 min
Episode Notes Czech sibling ice dance team Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler have been skating together since 2017, and have placed as high as 8th in the World. They have made many fans because of their unique style, and the strength and speed they bring to the ice. In the last year, Natalie and Filip have spoken out about the pressures that social media and judging put on the mental and physical health of athletes, and the need for more acceptance of diverse body types. At the 2025 World C...
Jun 02, 2025•52 min
Episode Notes In this episode, I spoke with two ice dancers who have become strong advocates for survivors of sexual assault. Soléne Mazingue is a two-time Estonian national champion and three-time competitor at the World Championships. She made headlines for returning to competition after recovering from life-threatening brain injuries. Olivia Oliver is a Polish national champion and represented her country at the 2024 Worlds. Last fall, both women chose to go public about the sexual assault th...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 25 min
Episode Notes Tarah Kayne is a retired competitive pair skater and a coach and choreographer. With her former partner Danny O’Shea, Tarah is the 2018 Four Continents champion, and 2016 US national champion. In our conversation, Tarah reflected on the challenges she had to overcome in her career, including financial barriers and several severe injuries. She also shared the importance of mental health and having a support network outside of skating. Tarah is now bringing these lessons to her role ...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Episode Notes Madison Hubbell and Gabriella Papadakis debuted their new professional partnership at Art on Ice 2025. I spoke to them backstage in Zurich about providing an example of what open-gender ice dance can look like, and their advocacy for change in the sport. Gabriella Papadakis is the 2022 Olympic Gold Medalist in Ice Dance and a five-time world champion. She was also a guest on the Future of Figure Skating episode 33. Madison Hubbell is the 2022 Olympic Bronze Medalist in Ice Dance an...
Feb 13, 2025•26 min
Episode Notes Peter Grütter competed representing Switzerland throughout the 1950s and 60s, including at the 1964 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck. He's now been a coach for more than 60 years and is acknowledged as an expert when it comes to steps and turns and control of the blade. His most famous student is Stéphane Lambiel, who he coached to two world championship titles and the Olympic silver medal in 2006. After the end of compulsory figures, Peter took what he had learned from his coach,...
Jan 13, 2025•54 min
Episode Notes Khoudia Touré is a street dancer, choreographer, and performer from Senegal. In 2018, Khoudia was selected for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and worked with renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pité. Since 2020, she has been a frequent collaborator with Stéphane Lambiel’s Skating School in Champéry, Switzerland. She teaches hip-hop dance and improvisation techniques to the students during the summer camps and has collaborated with Stéphane, Guillaume Cizeron, and ...
Dec 23, 2024•35 min
Episode Notes Drew Meekins is a coach and choreographer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Together with Natalia Mishkuntenok he runs M&M pairs, and coaches US Champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, Junior Champions Olivia Flores and Luke Wang, and teams from eight nations. He is also involved in coaching and choreography for singles skaters at the World Arena, most notably Elyce Lin-Gracey. Drew was the 2006 junior world champion with pairs partner Julia Vlassov. We talked about the role o...
Nov 26, 2024•49 min
Episode Notes Episode 42 features an interview with 3-time European medalist Matteo Rizzo. We recorded in late July in Madesimo, Italy, where Matteo trains at altitude for part of each summer. Matteo is one of the most seasoned and consistent competitors in the men’s discipline, with two Olympics and six world championships under his belt. He has won four bronze medals on the Grand Prix circuit and has finished first or second at the Italian national championships every year from 2014 to 2023. A...
Oct 29, 2024•35 min
Episode Notes Niko Cohen has combined a background in theatrical costume design, and their passion for skating as an adult competer, to found Lavender Threads, a figure skating costume business. They have made costumes for team USA skaters like Max Naumov and Jimmy Ma. Niko is the 2024 national silver medalist in the US Adult Silver Women’s category - and they are determined to take the title next year! As a trans and agender person, Niko has advocated for inclusion and policy change within thei...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Episode Notes This is part two of my conversation with coach and choreographer Daniel Aggiano. Daniel is passionate about expanding awareness of eating disorders and how they impact male skaters. In this part of the conversation, he shared his struggles with bulimia as a competitive and professional skater, and his ongoing work to find a healthy approach to food and weight. If you think hearing details about disordered eating will be unhealthy or triggering for you, you can skip ahead to the 30 ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Episode Notes Daniel Aggiano is a coach and choreographer who is passionate about mental health and eating disorder awareness. He competed nationally and internationally for Great Britain and Italy from 2004-2012 in singles, pairs, and synchro. He won national titles in pairs for both countries and competed in the Junior World Championships in 2009. After a career in show skating, Daniel began coaching and now works at the IceLab in Bergamo, Italy, where he works with many top skaters, including...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Episode Notes Elizabeth Ramsey is the Executive Director of the Team USA Athletes Commission. Team USA is working toward a fully independent athletes' commission, as recommended by the Congressional Commission on the State of US Olympics and Paralympics. She has an important viewpoint to add to the conversations on athlete representation and how increase the power of the athletes voice in figure skating. This is also a great episode to dig into as we watch the Paris Games! Transcript: https://do...
Jul 29, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Episode Notes Ashley Cain is a two-time U.S. champion in pairs and 2022 Olympian. In the last two years, she has been coaching, and touring with Disney on Ice. We talked about life on tour, the advantages of being a tall pair girl, concussion protocol and recovery, and being part of a generation of young coaches who want to support healthier and happier skaters. Transcript available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G9kWS5c946dHfGNWVdl0INo5WStXQyJXYrMFRhvb_lo/Instagram You can follow Ashley o...
Jul 15, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Episode Notes In 2010, Dr. Mary Louise Adams wrote one of the best books about figure skating that I’ve encountered, called "Artistic Impressions: Figure Skating, Masculinity and the Limits of Sport". I highly recommend the whole thing, and was grateful for the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics - queerness in skating! - with her! Mary Louise Adams is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies and the Department of Sociology at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Episode Notes Maja Luther is a creative working in performative arts creating interdisciplinary work with ice, and working in figure skating, focusing on movement skills and efficiency. Maja has an MA in Creative Practice and a diploma in dance studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of music and dance inLondon, UK. She performed over a decade in professional shows as soloist, and in that time managed and led ice shows and choreographed professional performances. Maja was previously a guest on ...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Episode Notes I’m so excited to bring you this conversation with Gabriella Papadakis. With her ice dance partner Guillaume Cizeron, Gabi is the 2022 Olympic champion, the 2018 Olympic Silver Medalist, and a five time World Champion. She’s been taking a break from competition the last two seasons, skating in shows with Guillaume and exploring life away from the rink. Gabi has been vocal about support for opening up dance to teams of any gender, and in 2023, she and Madison Hubbell shared a video ...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Episode Notes Part 2 of my conversation with choreographer, director, and producer Sandra Bezic! We talked about the World Championships in Montreal and the moments that made Sandra more optimistic about pairs skating and the future of the sport. We also got into the proposals from the ISU Technical Committee for Singles and Pairs to add a choreographic lift and spin to the pairs free skate. Transcript of our conversation at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vylQQ1GQQrbSsXatPIKzVA0_V6YcksIfUH...
May 06, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Episode Notes Part 1 of my conversation with choreographer, director, and producer Sandra Bezic! With her brother Val, Sandra was a four-time Canadian pairs champion and competed in the 1972 Olympics. She is most well known, however, as a choreographer and the creative force behind many skating shows and TV programs. She has choreographed for champions like Brian Boitano, Kurt Browning, Katarina Witt, Lu Chen, and Tara Lipinksi. Most recently, she made Lindsay Thorngren’s short program for the 2...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Episode Notes My guest today is journalist and author Christine Brennan. Christine is a USA Today columnist and frequently appears on ABC, CNN, and PBS. She has covered figure skating since the Calgary Olympics, and her books Inside Edge and Edge of Glory are classics. Christine is also actively reporting on the sexual abuse scandals in figure skating, and we talked about covering these difficult topics and holding institutions accountable. Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RLvetYp...
Apr 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Episode Notes What will it take to end the crisis of abuse in sports? This issue has been reverberating in the skating world, as more survivors have come forward with their stories, and the institutions charged with protecting athletes have largely failed to make the needed changes. Gymnasts for Change Canada advocates for eradicating maltreatment and misconduct in sport and is at the forefront of the campaign for a national inquiry into sport in Canada. Their sister organization, Figure Skaters...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Episode Notes A special conversation about the anti-doping system and how it is working (or not working) to support athletes. I'm joined by Meagan Duhamel, a 2018 team gold medalist and individual bronze medalist in pairs from the PyeongChang Olympics, by Rob Kohler, director of Global Athlete and formerly deputy Director-General at WADA, and by Paul Greene, who is the founder of Global Sports Advocacy and a leading lawyer representing athletes. We talk about the CAS decision in the Kamila Valie...
Mar 11, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Episode Notes This episode features Bruno Massot, the 2018 Olympic and World Champion in pairs. Bruno is now coaching full-time, and we spoke at the European Championships where he was accompanying the Swedish team of Greta and John Crafoord. This was a shorter-than-usual conversation but it was still a very interesting one. We got into the future of pairs and what makes for a great coach. You can follow Bruno on Instagram at @bruno_massot and reach me with comments or suggestions by email at fs...
Mar 04, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Episode Notes Johanna Allik is a former Estonian national team member in singles and ice dance and the co-founder of JIV Sport apparel company. She has recently published The Book of Figure Skating , a beautiful coffee table book full of information and original interviews. We spoke at the 2024 European Championships about the growth of skating in Estonia and Belgium (where she now lives), her experience speaking out about her eating disorder and the importance of keeping athletes in the sport p...
Jan 29, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Episode Notes Joining me in conversation were Isabelle Ragnarsson of Ice Theatre of Stockholm, Kate McSwain of American Ice Theatre, Katja Grohmann of Ice Lab Leipzig, Maja Luther of Maja Luther Studio, and returning guest Phillip Tischendorf. In October, they spent a few days together in France with other contemporary skaters at the second annual Performing Arts Project. I was eager to learn more about their companies, their collaborations, and the different approaches each brings to contempora...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Episode Notes Today's guest is Jamal Othman, the managing director for the Ice Academy of Montreal and Markey International Arts. Jamal was the 2009 Swiss national champion. In his post-competitive career, he has combined his interest in international business with his love of skating. In this episode, we talk about marketing and branding, the Olympic cycle, and how ice dance can fit between sports, art, and entertainment. This is also the first video episode for the Future of Figure Skating, so...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Episode Notes Philipp Tischendorf is a former competitive figure skater for Germany, a member of the Contemporary Skating Alliance, and an osteopath and physical therapist. He has turned his experience with injury, pain, and rehabilitation during his athletic career into a practice supporting both skaters and the general public. This episode challenges our misconceptions about injury and invites us to ask, how can we approach injury and pain with curiosity and even appreciation? Transcript You c...
Sep 25, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Episode Notes Artificial intelligence is impacting many industries, and sports is no exception. How can AI help figure skating judging be more accurate? What other benefits could it have for skaters, coaches and viewers? My guest today is Craig Buntin, a Canadian Olympic pairs skater and the founder of Sportlogiq. Sportlogiq is a company at the cutting edge of this technology and has been working with the ISU to explore the feasibility of AI in figure skating. While Craig wasn’t able to discuss ...
Aug 28, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Episode Notes This is a special episode, rebroadcasting the live discussion held on August 2nd with Anything GOE. We discussed the classic book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters. Lois and I talked with the author Joan Ryan, and Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver. It also goes full circle for me as the one-year anniversary of this podcast - which also began with an interview with Kaitlyn Weaver! You can also watch the video archive of the conversation...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 22
