Athlete Voices

Anastasia Muravyeva is a retired professional ballroom dance champion. In a career that spanned nearly three decades, Anastasia reached the pinnacle of competitive ballroom dancing. Together with her dance partner, Victor Fung, she became the 2017 Blackpool Champion in the Open Professional Ballroom category, the ballroom-dance equivalent of an Olympic gold medal. After retiring from competitive d...

American artistic gymnast Aly Raisman published her autobiography, Fierce, in November 14, 2017. In the book, she details her gymnastics journey beginning at 18-months old, and culminating in 2 Olympic gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Games.  In today's podcast, I share my thoughts surrounding the book and themes that resonated with me, including those of mental health, perfectionism, and abu...

Masha Alieva is a 17 year-old competitive figure skater. At 14, she made the switch from singles skating to ice dance. She competes with her skating partner, Mathieu Couyras, and together they represent France at international competitions. Currently recovering from hip surgery, Masha strives to heal soon and get back to training and competing. She keeps her eye on her ultimate dream: skating on t...

Jenny Rokhman is an American rhythmic gymnast. She competed in both individual and group disciplines of rhythmic gymnastics, and was a member of the US Team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has competed internationally at various World Cups, Grand Prix, and World Championships. Jenny has an identical twin sister, Monica, who was also a member of the Rio Olympic team. In this interview, we talk about...

Rickie Taylor Dubovyk is a 22 year-old American ballroom dancer. She is a force in the world of competitive ballroom dancing, also known as Dancesport. In addition to making appearances on major talent television shows, she is 10-time United States National Champion, multiple time World Finalist, and World Champion. Along with her immeasurable love and passion for competitive ballroom dancing, whe...

Kevin Wong is a professional dancer and dance scholar with a background in experimental, contemporary, hip hop, modern, pedestrian, and Chinese dance. He has danced with STEAMROLLER, Project M, and the Flying Angels Chinese Dance Company. Kevin holds a Bachelor's degree in Dance with an Education Minor from UC Riverside. After working at Rae Studios in San Francisco for 4 years as a manager and in...

Erica Der Mesropian is a former Level 10 Elite Rhythmic Gymnast, Certified USAG Judge, and founder of EmpoweredByStretch, LLC. EBS Mindset is an athletic psychology training program empowering athletes to unlock their full potential in sport and life with educational videos and one-on-one mindset training sessions. Through her work with gymnasts, Erica is a force in the growing athlete mental heal...

Quinn Annemans is a professional dancer and choreographer. Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, he competed at the highest levels in competitive teams and solos in the Modern Competition scene, and has established himself as a respected and versatile dancer, performer and choreographer. Quinn has worked and choreographed across many disciplines of dance. He has been featured in Live Performan...

U.S. national team rhythmic gymnast Evita Griskenas talks about her experience competing at the Tokyo Olympics. At Tokyo, Evita placed 12th in the qualification round and was the second reserve for the all-around final. While training for the Olympics, Evita was also a freshman at Columbia University. Now entering her third year at Columbia, Evita has continued training and competing whilst a full...

Shelli Epstein is a gymnast, acrobat, Cirque du Soleil artist, personal trainer, and high performance coach. She began her circus career at age 18, landing her first gig in the Macau's famous "House of Dancing Waters" show. She has since toured the world, flipping, diving, and flying in various Cirque du Soleil shows. Shelli recently released her first book, "Flying High: Life lessons from th...

Serena Lu is a Team USA rhythmic gymnast. She was on the U.S. National Team from 2010-2018, competed at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, and finished third at the U.S. Olympic trials in 2016. Serena was first featured on Athlete Voices in 2019, while a junior at Princeton University. Since then, she graduated college with a degree in psychology and is presently working several jobs in New Yo...

Former USA national team rhythmic gymnast Jazzy Kerber, now a coach, certified Brevet judge, and athlete representative on the programs councils, offers insight into the technical component of rhythmic gymnastics: a sport often described in media as “elegant”, “beautiful”, and “unabashedly girly,” but less noted for its athleticism and technical demands. This episode is also featured as a blog pos...

Hey guys, it's Belicia! On this episode, I'd like to formally introduce myself and why I began Athlete Voices in 2018. I explain the mission statement of Athlete Voices and the reason behind its title. This episode is also available as a blog: https://athletevoices.net/why-the-title-athlete-voices/ --- Stay connected with Athlete Voices! Instagram: @athletevoices Website: https://athletevoice...

Grace Stevens is a professional dancer/choreographer based in New Zealand. In this interview, Grace breaks down her dance journey, how she started and where she wants to take her dancing, insider's knowledge on the New Zealand dance scene, and advice for aspiring professional dancers. Follow Grace on social media: @gracestevens  --- Stay connected with Athlete Voices! Instagram: @athletevoice...

Welcome to the Athlete Voices Podcast! On this podcast, we turn the spotlight on aesthetic sports, featuring exclusive interviews with gymnasts, dancers, figure skaters, artistic swimmers, and more. Our mission is to humanize athletes and de-stigmatize their struggles while offering them a voice to share their stories. Click subscribe to stay up to date for weekly episodes. You can also check out...