Years of figure skating have made Amber Glenn a top athlete. However, her experience is now creating some unexpected problems on Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). The American figure skater has spent years learning how to move on the ice. But ballroom dancing needs different steps, techniques, and body movements. Now, Glenn must break habits she has followed for years.

The Olympic gold medalist is competing with professional dancer Pasha Pashkov in Season 35 of the popular dance show. Her sports background gives her some advantages, but it doesn’t make learning to dance easy. In fact, some of the movements she’s practised for almost 20 years now make it harder.

“Like, there’s so many things that we have to do, like, a certain way we step, a certain way we shift our weight, and I’m like, that is, like, a crime in figure skating,” Glenn said in an interview with Parade. 

“Like, that is like, ‘No, no.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, yes. You have to. This is how it’s done.’ It’s like, ‘But it’s wrong.’ It’s like, ‘No, in this context, it’s right.’”

This wasn’t a new problem for Glenn, and doing ballroom dancing only made it tougher. Because remembering dance steps had always been tough for her. Plus on top of that, what she now needed to do was tweak her mind-set especially given the differences between figure skating and ballroom dancing. 

The former lets athletes perform technical moves in their own style, while the latter requires dancers to follow specific steps and timing with a partner.

“One of my struggles in skating growing up was learning choreography. I would always take something and do the opposite by accident. And another thing is, a lot of people come into Dancing With the Stars kinda with this, like, blank slate, being like, ‘Okay, I’m here to learn’ Glenn explained.

“For me, there are some things like, oh, I’ve had to do, like, ballet hands before, but then it’s like, ‘Okay, but you’re not doing that today. Like, you need to do this.’ But it’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. For 20 years, I’ve been doing it like this.’ ‘Okay, well, that—you can’t be doing that on this dance.’ Well, damn it. [laughs] Like, it’s just, it’s a habit.”

Many DWTS contestants start learning without years of experience in another sport. They don’t have to change movements they have practised for a long time. Glenn faces a different challenge because her body is already used to moving in a certain way.

This is where Glenn’s experience becomes a problem. Her body has spent years learning movements that work well in figure skating. After all, she is a 3-time US women’s champion with over two decades of figure skating experience. It means changing them isn’t as simple as following instructions.

“So there’s certain, like, bad habits you have to, like, completely diffuse in order to get to a blank slate in order to do it right. So, of course, there are advantages, but there are also disadvantages,” she added.

For Glenn, the main challenge is learning the difference between the two sports. A movement that works in figure skating may not work in ballroom dancing. And she’s had to do it while Dancing with the Stars has to deal a little controversy.

Amber Glenn refuses to let DWTS drama affect her journey

Amber Glenn’s dance lessons aren’t the only challenge she’s faced on DWTS. The show also had a tense week after an incident with Val Chmerkovskiy. The 40-year-old professional dancer was suspended over his social media comments about judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

The controversy began after Inaba criticised Jenna Johnson and her celebrity partner, Harry Shum Jr., over a lift in their Samba routine. Val, who is Johnson’s husband, later apologised for mentioning Will Smith’s Oscars slap in a social media comment.

However, during the discussion, Glenn made it clear that she was only focused on the competition and not the negative attention.

“I’m no stranger to being in a competition where there’s chaos happening,” Glenn told E! News. “Everyone’s gonna have an opinion on everything, and we’re allowed to. But what really matters is how we interact with each other, and that’s to lead with kindness and love and support.”

“So I know that for many of us, we’re not going to let anything dim our lights, because this is just such a special thing to do.”

Now, Amber Glenn’s experience has helped her reach the top of figure skating. Yet, DWTS is showing her just how difficult it can be to adapt those same skills to a different sport. Despite the challenges on and off the dance floor, the Olympian remains focused on learning from Pashkov and making the most of her time on the show.