November 1, 2021 • 40 mins
How did Val really feel when he found out his Dancing with the Stars partner was Olivia Jade?
Did he have concerns?
Olivia and Val discuss their partnership, their friendship, will they stay in touch once the dancing has come to end.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Conversations with Olivia Jade in My Heart Radio podcast.
Did a break up the leg fellow, We literally just
(00:24):
started recording and the chair balance sitting and completely broke. Everybody,
please welcome. You want to switch? No, I'll be fine.
Are you balancing weird? Now? No? Yes, let's just try it.
Let's let's just go okay. Um, hello everybody, welcome back
(00:47):
to another episode of Conversations today. I have somebody very
very close to me and somebody you guys have probably
seen a lot of on my social media this last
eight weeks. We've got val my coach mentor bestie on
Dancing with the Starts. I don't want like noise, applause everything. Editors,
(01:12):
whoever is editing this year? Cool, We're going to get that,
and then maybe you can make a jingle. Yeah, okay,
cool and Conversations with Olivia j It's soundly that perfect. Okay,
but just get somebody more talented to sing it. Okay,
um wow, let's just dive right in. Let's do it.
(01:35):
Thank you for having met so, of course, this is
probably gonna be my favorite episode of all time. Don't
put so much pressure on it. I'll try not to.
But I think I already stop it. I hate that
noise so much. Vow. Okay. So I know a lot
about you, obviously from hanging out with you almost every
(01:55):
day for the last two months, but I don't know
if my audience knows so much about you. So I'm
going to kind of pass it off to you. And yeah,
I'm want to let you introduce yourself, but I want
to hear you know, before we get into the details
about how you came into dancing and all that stuff,
like where you're from, you have a brother, all that
(02:18):
good stuff. So you take it away, cool, Allow myself
to introduce myself. Uh, my name is Val Tchmankowski. I
was born in Ukraine, which is a small country next
to Russia. I'm a Russian Ukrainian ida Ukraine in particular,
it's a city on the Black Seat. The reason why
(02:40):
that particular detail is important to me because it is
a very specific city that has a lot of music,
arts culture. It's kind of known as the New Orleans
of the Soviet Union, which is back when I was born,
still what Ukraine and Russia were a part of it
was a different country called the Soviet Union. I gave
(03:03):
you this history lesson, I got this one, guys, and um. Anyway,
so I was born in that small coastal city. I
started playing the violin when I was five, and then
I had an older brother, Max, who at that time
was already dancing, so I kind of tagged along. And
then I, you know, shortly after starting to dance, my
(03:25):
family immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. So I just kind
of like, you know, let's say I danced for maybe
half a year, the most basic stuff. I was like
six years old, seven years old, and then I moved
to Brooklyn, New York as a family. So it was
my parents, my brother, and myself just as two of you, right, Max,
when you were eight, I moved. I was eight, he
(03:46):
was fourteen. We moved to Coney Island area. For those
that are familiar with Brooklyn, New York, it's not familiar
with Brooklyn West Coast. K all Right said, yeah, Brooklyn,
New York. We we immigrated. It was a Russian community
that we moved into, but it was also like a
really dynamic could collect the community, right, So it was black,
(04:09):
Puerto Rican Italians, Jews, Russians, you know, it was like everybody,
and it was overwhelming and I didn't speak English when
we moved here. None of my family spoke English. So
you know, you embark on this kind of challenge as
a family, and uh there were a lot of challenges,
uh financially and just in general. You know, it's just
(04:33):
kind of that cliche immigrants family story. And then um, yeah,
I kind of, you know, to to kind of get
me out of trouble, my parents put me into the
activities that they already introduced me to. So it was violin.
They found me a violent teacher. I used to go
in Brooklyn, New York a woman that was also from
(04:55):
Ukraine that was an incredible musician, uh her entire life
and then also immigrated to America and was now teaching
private out of her little apartment in in the projects
pretty much. So I would go to her apartment and
I would learn, you know, take violin with her for
an hour and a half and then you dance. All
(05:16):
the other hours you have school, I would go to school,
you know, so what is that nine to three? Then
from school I probably grab you know, grab food real
quick and then go to violin. And then after violin,
I'd go to dance, and then I would come home
(05:36):
around like nine pm and do my homework real quick
and then go to sleep and then pretty much repeat
that every day of my life since I was like
eight years old. That's insane. I kind of knew a
little bit of that. Did they put you guys in dance,
you and Max just for reasons of like they don't
want you guys to get into too much trouble? Or
(05:57):
was that because when you guys lived in you train? Yeah,
it was a sup to get you guys to move
to America. Like you know, dance was just an after
school extracurriculum activity, right, And it's like, again, I'm just
familiar with my family, but I could I could attest
too many families in the Eastern European community. It's like
(06:23):
free time is is the enemy for for their kids,
you know. And so it's like to be a good
parent in that community, it's to occupy your your child
with as many activities and as many things, uh, you know,
to keep them busy as possible. And then along the way,
you see where they excel and you try to support
that and and you know, and that's what happened with us.
(06:45):
No one thought in a million years that my career
would would be you know, dance. They just supported their
kids in a you know, dance in particular in our
community is not taboo. It's not weak. You know, it's
not soft. It's not like weird for boys to dance.
You know, men dance, Men play sports, they wrestled, they
(07:08):
write poetry, they paint, and they dance. You know that
that's a complete kind of image of a of a man.
I always imagine a renaissance man, you know, not just
one dimensional human, but someone that has interested in many
different things. And then you know, I was then fortunate
enough throughout my life too create a life where I
(07:32):
then pursued those things that I was passionate about. But
I could have gone into medicine or law. You know,
I really loved law. I want to diagnose my strep
throat exactly before I even knew I had strapped, so
points to the medicine side. You were into law. No,
I went to UM. I just loved the Bates, you know.
And so in high school, even though I was competing
(07:56):
worldwide and you could say kind of like semi professional
in ballroom dance, and was you know, playing in a
youth orchestra that played in Carnegie Hall in Lincoln Center
in New York City. So that that sounds like these
these big achievements that you know, someone that potentially can
is just doing that would do. And and for me, again,
(08:19):
I was very fortunate with great teachers and a little
bit of talent and parents that supported me where I
was able to accomplish pretty high standards and all of
those things. And even in school, you know, I I
enjoyed school, That's what I mean. I didn't make a
choice to pursue something until maybe around n years old,
(08:40):
when I was already in college. I actually don't know
how you got started on Dancing with the Stars. I
don't think I've ever asked you that. So again, my
brother Max was recruited by Dancing with the Stars before
I was. How do they recruit people? They find them
through these competitions. Yeah, so they tapped into the world
(09:02):
of competitive ballroom dancing, which was a very small, niche
world that no one, nobody knew and and they, yeah,
they picked out some of the more talented ones. A
lot of that, you know, a lot of the top
couples said note to the project, you know, because they
(09:22):
didn't know what it was. And then on paper you know,
someone comes to you and they say, you know, it's
like going to the same Bolt right and going like, yo,
we got this project for you where it's called Racing
with the Stars. So it's like you partnered out with
you know you same bowl would be like, bro, I'm
not doing that. Yeah, you know that sounds crazy a
reality TV show where I get you know, I have
(09:42):
to teach a celebrity like even that in itself is
already like oh god, I'm not putting up with that.
Um So first season came out and and but some
some really talented pros said let's do it, you know,
and so you had that first see eason and the
entire dance world was watching a Vander Holyfield do a
(10:05):
fox shot, I think his first dance, and instantly I
went from you know, what do you do too? Oh
you do that thing that I just saw on TV?
You know, oh you're you know? So I immediately kind
of validated my my choices, and overnight, you know, it
(10:27):
went from like this weird thing that you know, my
entire life. People looked at me and said, why are
you spending so much of your time, effort, and energy
and money into that? Looked at my parents like they
were crazy, you know, these two young men and you're
pushing them to not pushing them, but you're you know,
you know, you're allowing them to pursue ballroom dance. It's
(10:51):
like yeah, yeah and yeah. And then overnight, you know,
a project like this put it, you know, made in
mainstream and we became you know, and then season who
my brother was like, all right, let me try this,
so Max said, was he invited on season one? See
what he was invited? And then season two rolled around
and here yeah, And I was like, listen, go do that.
(11:17):
Because I'm nineteen at the time. My brother um in school.
I was at Pace University in New York City for business,
not for dance, not for violent. So at nineteen, you
didn't even know for sure if dance was going to
be like an end career move right at nineteen, it was.
I never think anything is an end career anything. I
(11:40):
think like, I'm always changing, you know, right now I'm
on Dancing with the Stars. I you know, I am
not against stopping everything that I'm doing and applying that
same hustle too, Like I said, trying to get into
law school and spending the next six years pursuing that
and then go went into a career in law, like
(12:02):
that's not something that is so far fetched to me.
So at nineteen I was fully committed. At twelve, I
was fully committed. At eight, I was already taught again
by my my dad to be fully committed into everything
that I'm doing. And so if today I'm doing this,
then I'm trying to be the best this has ever seen,
you know. So at nineteen, I was pursuing competitive form dancing.
(12:25):
I was trying to become a world champion and again,
and my brother wasn't. My brother was a studio owner,
working sixty hours a week, grinding, you know, in a
really kind of down moment in his life. And so
when Dancing with the Stars once again came back season two,
(12:48):
it was all of us. He was still very proud
and still didn't want to go, and all of us
were like, bro, you have to go do this for
all of us, because again, this is television at that
time to see when the Stars was getting I mean million, yeah, yeah,
when it started. When it started, it because it was
a huge phenomena. First of all, there was no streaming yet,
(13:11):
you know, and so you tuned in and and and
talking about you know, social media. There was no social media,
so so you went on chat rooms or boardrooms on
the ABC Dancing with the Star's website, and you just saw,
you know when my brothers. After his first episode or
his premier, you know, he instantly became this kind of
(13:33):
notorious personality that kind of just said whatever was on
his mind, which was very yeah, very Schmikowsky. And and
people fell in love or really didn't like him. You know,
he was that type of personality. And I would go
on these chat rooms where they would be like, Max
(13:55):
is so cocky, Max is so arrogant. I can't believe
he allows us some let's just say things like that.
I would go and I'd make like I would comment, hey,
well he's actually really really fun. You know, he's actually
really nice, like i'd make you know, I'd make that
oh yeah, I had his back, and I like and
I would make multiple accounts like I would be his
(14:18):
super fan, low key making accounts that talk positive about him.
That's so cute. Can you do that for me because
I could use it. That's very sweet though, So but
again it was it was a family affair. You know,
he came out here and it was kind of like
that show Entourage. You know, he immediately made money he
(14:39):
never seen before. Ah, he went from you know this
whatever this this kind of this kid from from Brooklyn
to stud in Hollywood. Really yeah and so and I
would come out and visit him and I would be
I mean, it was just surreal. It was really really cool.
(15:19):
It was your first partner when you joined, um and so.
But but but yeah, just on that like so when
he joined, he couldn't help himself but be like, yo,
by the way, I got this younger brother that is fire.
So you know he's not he's not gonna do this yet.
He's not gonna sell out Hollywood just yet. He's still
(15:41):
gotta win things. Uh. And I was, you know, and
I kind of enjoyed it vicariously through him. But they
always had me on their radar from that moment. And
then I came on and did a few performances. I
performed on the show a couple of times, and they
were like, listen, whenever you're ready, we would love to
have you. And then yeah, that five years old. So
six years later I was like, yeah, I'm ready, let's
(16:04):
do it. Oh wow, So you have this kind of
brewing for a minute, and then yeah, for me, it
was I had a I had a bank full of pride,
you know. I I saw my brother was becoming this
huge star, and then I saw a lot of my peers,
you know, Derek Mark, and these are these are kids
(16:24):
I grew up with. We competed against each other, right,
because again, this is such a unique show. The pool
of talent for this show is very small. It's not
it's not a reality show on basketball where millions of
people are playing worldwide. This is a very small world
that exploded into this project. So you know, the talent
(16:46):
that you're choosing from most likely knows each other for
a really long time. And we knew each other for
a really long time. And so to see these kids
stop competing, going to Hollywood and become superstars, and you know,
seeing that from the side, I'm proud of myself. I'm
proud that I pursued the goals competitively that I still
(17:08):
wanted to have even though I had this temptation already
one foot in Hollywood. And the really the turning point
for me was several things. But really I was in
the midst of competing one time, and I was on
the dance floor and I was in motion and I
was able to think about like what am I doing here?
And as soon as I had that moment, I was like,
(17:31):
I'm I gotta be out. And then the other thing
was financial. You know, in our world, you know you're
not making a lot of money. You know, I'm not.
I'm I could be a world champion, but I'm not
making Lebron James money even close. But the sacrifice is
the same, so you really have to be doing it
(17:53):
because you love it, because you're passionate about it. And
so then yeah, and the twenty five I was like,
what's the difference between, you know, a hobby and a profession.
The passion is in the difference. You can be passionate
about a hobby, but really it's at the end of
the day, it's your paycheck. And so so if I
want to be a professional at this, I gotta learn
(18:13):
how to earn money with this write talent and passion.
And that's when I was like, yo, I gotta go
and try to earn some money. And let's say I
did it. Um wow, back to my original question. Also,
first partner, favorite partner, better saying me my first partner
(18:34):
was ELIZABETHA Canales. She was Italian model and she had
just gotten out of a very public relationship with George Clooney.
Did you get any of the tea? I got plenty
of the tea. Won't like, I'm not a snitch, so
(18:56):
I could. It's not like I'm I'm sharing any of
the tea. And um, I'm just there to teach dance.
And I was so intense and I was such a
rook and we were second to get eliminated. Yeah, so
imagine this kind of like ego and pride and like energy.
I just stopped competing. I, you know, like this big
(19:18):
recruit and I'm like, oh, I'm about to go in
here and just whoop on everybody. I'm telling my brother,
my brother is still on the show. Every everybody, all
the big guns, you know, and I'm like, what's the
school all of these? An I was out and I
wasn't deserved. Was terrible. Um, I was bummed. Yeah, I
(19:40):
was humbled, you know I was. I moved my entire
life here also, by the way, not just joined the show.
I moved from New York City to Los Angeles and
like ready to work. And I'm like eliminated seconds, So
then I'm just chilling in the city. But I'm like,
I'm I'm here, you know, and it might as well.
I gotta make it work, and that's it. I just
(20:01):
kind of paid attention and learned and studied Derek and
Mark and Max and Tony everybody on the show. Yeah,
because I'm like, if they give me another chance, I
gotta I gotta be ready. Did you want to come
back season three then, just to prove yourself a little
or whatever it was seasons? So did I want to
(20:23):
come back the next season? Yes? Yes, yes I did.
I did because I'm like, this is embarrassing. I gotta
can't be your lasting impression. And that's why I'm grateful
to the show. They believed in me and they gave
me another chance. And I got eliminated third I was like,
(20:45):
all right, I gotta be a little better than that.
So we've made it pretty far. Yeah, I mean, you know,
on the third try, I went to the finals, so twist,
and then I kept going on the finals, so there's pressure.
Were you scared when you found out that I was
your partner? Are you like, oh no, not this girl,
or were you like, of course, I was like, oh no,
(21:09):
not this girl. Why would I be like, Yay, I
got this girl because maybe you I had no idea
who you are. You know, I only know who you
are based on what I'm I've been told, yeah, and
nothing beyond that, you know. So for me, the first thing,
I was like, Okay, did she have a work ethic?
(21:30):
You know? Is she entitled? And I quickly saw that
that wasn't the case, you know, so that so immediately
once I saw that, and you feel that in the
first like two minutes of talking to you, I was like, okay, cool, Like,
let me see how Caucasian she really is. These Latin
dances and I was quite caucas which we had so
(21:55):
sad I've never danced before, and my hips looked like
I was extremely white, which again is a beautiful thing,
and we figured out a way to move those hips.
But yeah, seeing that you were coordinated still and had
some soul to you, I was like, look, yeah, she's
not a ringer, but I I'm excited to teach her.
I'm excited. And then seeing how happy it made you
(22:19):
to learn something or actually get it, that's everything you
know as as a teacher, and I've I am proud
to say I teach a lot. I that's it's my
pride and joy to be able to teach dance and
share that with people. UM. To be able to share
with a young, talented, hard working, cool last chick is
(22:41):
a huge privilege for me because we just talked about,
like tomorrow the show is going to be gone. I
don't want my style of dance to go with it.
And it will live on with you, with Zendea, with Normandy,
with Lori Amandez, with you know, with with all the
(23:01):
amazing partners that I got a chance to share this
passion with, Rumor Willis, Um, it will live on with
them because you know, hopefully you will remember this experience
and be like and and be really proud of it.
For sure. I already am really proud of it. And
it's still kind of early on in it. Um. Do
you still keep in touch with any former partners? All
(23:24):
of them? Okay? Cool? Because I was going to say,
if you think you're getting rid of me after this,
you are crazy. Um. Yeah, it's it's it's a thing.
It's definitely a thing. You know, you spend every day together. Yeah.
I feel like somebody asked me once they were like,
what why do you guys think that you know, all
(23:46):
these partners get so close some interview or was I
think after one of the shows, and U, I mean
it's so true. You literally spend every single day with
the same person on repeat. And then I think there's
also something special because you're learning something from somebody that
I think the bond just grows really quickly, right, I
mean it's coach, player, student, teacher, teammates, you know. That's
(24:12):
the other thing is like, well, yeah, because it's it's
a weird thing. I teach you, I teach you, I
teach you, and then I partner you a part and
then where we go into the performance as partners. Um,
so yeah, I mean those emotions of camaraderie and familiarity,
familiarity even you know, and so yeah, so we're going
through this as well. But also there's a you know,
(24:37):
in such a close proximity too, So we're in each
other's space, being comfortable in each other's space every single day.
Because if you're not comfortable in each othersman, then you
can't dance any of this stuff, you know, So that
with again having that, you know, having that focus and
(24:57):
purpose together common ground create in common ground every week. Yeah,
it creates a really strong bond in a relationship. And
you know, again, I bring up someone like Normandy for instance, right,
seeing her go from the show and then blossom into
an individual that's kind of like, you know, seeing her
(25:17):
career take off. I am forever now her fan, forever
her friend. I'm for you know, I'm proud to see
her sore, you know. And and it's not a matter
of me having any credit for that at all, but
just being you know, a pit stop two in her journey,
(25:40):
you know. And and and she'll talk about what dancing
when the stars meant to her. Yeah, I was gonna say,
I can't speak on her behalf, but I can say
anything I do moving forward from now. Maybe because I
came from a different, like starting point, I would say,
like coming on the show, I think it like really
did bring out a different side to me and gave
me a little bit more confidence that I didn't know
(26:01):
I had. So, yeah, I want to talk to you.
I want to ask you a question. Okay, what Yeah,
when you say you know you've gained some confidence in
what way, well, I think for me, um, I like
still answer questions like I'm in an interview, and I
have to remember that this is my podcast and I'm
(26:23):
supposed to be like open and honest. Um. No, I
think that before I did Dancing with the Stars, just
because I've given everything that was happening in the media
with my family, I was just really embarrassed to like
be associated with that, to go out in public when
I would even just go to the mall with friends.
If somebody was looking at me, they could have been
(26:44):
looking at me for nothing. Maybe I had sparkly ass
shoes on, like I don't know what it was, but
I would get so insecure, and I think that's like
one of the defining differences I can say after doing
this show, I just feel like I'm proud of something
I'm doing and then I'm working towards something and it's
not just like being handed to me, and that I
actually can go out in the world and feel like, Okay,
(27:06):
I'm doing this and somebody's looking at me. I'm not
automatically thinking, oh, they've probably read some terrible headline about me.
Like I don't know what the reason would be, but
maybe on the off chance it's like they've seen us
on Dancing with the stars, they're like, I think it
just shifted my brain a little bit, gave me some
more purpose. I mean, that's so amazing. So that was
(27:27):
a huge motivator for me too. So to answer your question,
when I found out that you're my partner, I wouldn't
want any other partner on this roster. And I love
I love the females that are on the show this season,
a lot of great dancers, a lot of great people.
But I I, yeah, I just felt connected to your
(27:52):
story and you as a person, and as soon as
I've found out that you're not that human, I was
excited for the opportunity to showcase that, right, you know,
the the element of surprise and the element of giving
someone a chance to realize that confidence like that is
(28:12):
such a great gift to me. Yeah. Yeah, It's definitely
changed my perspective on a lot for sure. And I
feel like also now going forward in life, I just
feel a lot It sounds so cheesy, but I just
feel genuinely happier, Like I think before. I think also
when you're sitting out and this can go for anybody
in any situation, when you're sitting at home and you're
kind of like dwelling on a situation. You're not actively
(28:35):
trying to come out of something. You're just going to
get further and further in this hole. And that's kind
of what I was doing to myself without realizing. And
I would just stay home because my job was basically
just YouTube, but also I was taking a step back
from it. So it's very easy to just sit around
and like not do much. And so I think if
anybody is in a rut, easier said than done, But
(28:55):
I would encourage you get out there and then take
a dance class. Take a damn dance class. I preach
the gospel of dance, So I'm gonna I'm gonna be biased. Yeah,
I agree that you should. I'll tell you why. Because
you know you're moving, So you're moving, your sweating, you're
you're your but you're also thinking. You know you're you're
(29:15):
You have to learn patterns and it keeps your brain stimulated,
and then you're also congregating with people. You buy yourself
for a year and a half. You don't get out
there and be amongst other human beings to amazing music,
your life will be better. Even if you're not going
(29:35):
to pursue dance on a professional level, your life will
be better. It's very therapeutic. Even the easiest thing, Like
sometimes I notice if I start my morning blasting music
or something and just dancing around while I make a
coffee or whatever, it is like if you don't have
the access right away to get into like a studio,
there are little ways you can just you know, I
(29:56):
think music is a a huge cure for a lot
of things. Yeah, for sure. But again on that note,
like it's also self serving, Like yes, it's you know,
I'm I'm excited for for your growth this season and
seeing you blossom into a person that you're happy with
(30:17):
has been incredibly rewarding. But on my end, I also
get a chance to dance dance, which I haven't done
on the show in a few years, just because I'm
younger and can like run around. Let's not get crazy.
Uma is also killing it. It's not about age, it's
(30:43):
about yeah, just your enthusiasm, your spirit and your joy
is at the center of what is creating so much
awesome dance from us, you know, and performance from us.
Because if you would have moved this exact in the
same way, but it was so in your head and
(31:03):
so miserable and so insecure and too you know, it
would be very tough to make this work like me today,
trying to get that step like you today. You know,
but we'll get through today, and I know that tomorrow
you will come back with this new spirit and and
that is the key that you come back better every
(31:24):
single day. Yeah, for sure, what's after this for you?
Is this your final season or a we got more?
And that little dancing body, Um, you don't know or
you don't have to discluss, No, I'm I'm definitely gonna
keep dancing for Oh yeah, No, I didn't question that.
I just mean on Dancing with the Stars. Do you
(31:45):
want to it's tv D because like you're I think
you're my eighteenth partner, jeez, and I'm you know, and
I build the relationships with all of them, but you
know it's you're my favorite, but you're my favorite to
(32:09):
hear you definitely. I'll tell you this. You definitely are
the biggest surprise for me. You definitely exceeded my expectations
out of everybody like that. There was people that came
in and turned out to be just such a wonderful season,
a winning season. But I I kind of you know,
(32:31):
I'm not saying that they were ringers, but they had
potential coming in like it was mine to Ruin, you
know what I'm saying, Like they was mine to ruin.
No money was mine to Ruin. Like they were amazing already,
and I just made some good choices for them, you know,
and then just got out of their way whatever, you know.
(32:52):
But with with you, it's like it's it's not that easy.
And this season is very competitive, so you know, it
just means more. Like I told you the heart of
the journey, the more the more it means to you,
and like this one means a lot to me. So
how many of these meaningful journeys can I emotionally go through?
(33:13):
You know, It's a lot. And you will understand what
I'm saying when when this is over, because you'll be like,
you know, you'll have this huge void in your life
that you're gonna have to fill with podcasts. No, I'm
just gonna come knocking at you and Jenna's story like, hey, guys,
which one of you who wants to teach me how
to dance today? You know, how to be able to
(33:35):
partner you? So yeah, exactly, Okay, Well, I guess we
(33:58):
can wrap it up kind of soon. We've really dove
into the dance world here. But I do want to
know what is No. No, this is I love talking
about this. No, you were perfect. You're the best guest
ten out of ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, forty out
of forty, manifesting our score for the next dance. Also,
(34:19):
I would just like to announce this on the podcast. Um,
I recently learned on Dancing with the Stars why West
Coast voting closes? And I don't think I've ever said
this on any platform I have. And I'm just gonna
plug Val and I really quickly here so we get
the votes. Even if you're on the West Coast and
you haven't watched this show yet. To vote for us,
(34:40):
you have to text at five pm between five and
six fifty pm, I think, yeah, Pacific time, So you
text three the name Olivia. Oh, my mother's calling me
and ruining my podcast. Um, what's after of this? Babies?
(35:02):
Baby babies too? I mean for me, it's personally, I
just want to continue to grow creatively. I want to
produce shows. I want to star on Broadway. I want
to star in movies. I want to like, you know, yeah,
I want to move on from you still want to
be in the industry though, and creative. Oh no, no,
this is where I'm going to be. Oh yeah, great,
(35:25):
because I plan to stay in it too. We could
collaborate moving forward to Oh for sure, it doesn't have
to just be on this project. We could facilitate our
own projects. Yeah, and tomorrow we've got a big day ahead.
That's right, because we're competing. Week seven, is it right? Now?
(35:45):
Is a week eight? This is week seven? We're doing
Queen Fat Bottom Girl. You make the Wrecking World go
from Yeah, we've been training. Really does I feel for
you that you get too kind of creatively direct this
this journey for yourself as well? Right, because so many
of these songs that we perform to are like your
(36:07):
favorite songs. And I think you also, I don't know
obviously what other coaches do, but I think you do
give me a lot of creative freedom that maybe some
other teachers maybe would take that and really kind of
figured out for themselves. I think you really let me
like have my input and little things that I think
could go well, and sometimes they don't go well, and
we don't use anything I suggest or say, but most
(36:30):
of the time, but most of the time I feel like, yeah,
it feels great. I think that's the other power exactly.
I think that's the other thing is you know the
keys to empower you to know that this thing that
you watched your entire life, right because you're a fan
of the show before joining it. Um, you are a
(36:51):
part of creating it now, and then you see the
final product and you're like, oh, wow, I could do this.
You know. It's so fun watching the dances back after
the week, when after you see it like on YouTuber,
on Hulu wherever you're watching, like the full makeup here,
because so much goes into it and then people only
see obviously such a little bit and then like a
little package and then just the dance and then actually
(37:13):
experiencing it and getting to like work towards something, and
then when it does well and you feel proud of it,
it's so rewarding to watch. Yeah, it's it's a weekly
arts project on crack. You know, it's like on a
million on a million dollar budget. It's crazy privilege, right,
but it's like, truly, we are doing what I was
(37:35):
doing when I was twelve years old, dancing in nursing
homes or restaurants or a little try state dance competitions.
I was putting on a show trying to make people happy,
you know, years later, um, in front of millions of
people doing exactly the same thing, being on a show
trying to make people happy, you know. So for anybody
(37:57):
at home that has like a passion that they really
want to pursue, pursue that and and be just excellent
in that passion, because most likely, if you're excellent, you
will be compensated for that excellently. And I think that's
an amazing way to wrap it up. Work hard, then
you get to celebrate and have fun and yet put
(38:18):
in the work and you'll feel rewarded. I'd also like
to say that Vow has done this entire interview on
a three legged chair and has balanced the entire time,
which is also very impressive and takes a lot of work. Um,
but thanks for coming on and hanging out. This was productive.
We've seen a lot of each other today. Yeah, not complaining,
(38:41):
not me either. Alright, guys, we're out of here, out
of here. Oh my gosh, Jojo text me and I
think it's going to be about stressing up as you
and Jenna one of these days. Um, all right, guys,
thank you so much for listening. Make sure you follow
Vale on all his social media plug yourself, but what's
(39:04):
your account name? Valentine no e at v A l
e I n t I v A l E n
t I n Valentine beautiful. And make sure you, guys
vote for us and tune into Dancing with the Stars tomorrow. Yeah.
So the thing about the voting, right, I hate, like,
(39:24):
please vote. I hate begging for votes really because I'm
going to like, yeah, no shame, I'm going to beg
for but you gotta vote for us because because if
you don't vote, get eliminated. There's nothing to do, and
then I'm gonna be really sad and bored. Come on,
ye okay, do it? Do it? Text to one five
to three my name Olivia at five pm Pacific time
(39:51):
or eight p m Eastern times. That's the same time
for those that are familiar. Yes, this is true. I
would hope most of my audiences all hey, y'all. Piece
of love, peace and love. H
This is Conversations with Olivia Jade in My Heart Radio podcast.
Did a break up the leg fellow, We literally just
(00:24):
started recording and the chair balance sitting and completely broke. Everybody,
please welcome. You want to switch? No, I'll be fine.
Are you balancing weird? Now? No? Yes, let's just try it.
Let's let's just go okay. Um, hello everybody, welcome back
(00:47):
to another episode of Conversations today. I have somebody very
very close to me and somebody you guys have probably
seen a lot of on my social media this last
eight weeks. We've got val my coach mentor bestie on
Dancing with the Starts. I don't want like noise, applause everything. Editors,
(01:12):
whoever is editing this year? Cool, We're going to get that,
and then maybe you can make a jingle. Yeah, okay,
cool and Conversations with Olivia j It's soundly that perfect. Okay,
but just get somebody more talented to sing it. Okay,
um wow, let's just dive right in. Let's do it.
(01:35):
Thank you for having met so, of course, this is
probably gonna be my favorite episode of all time. Don't
put so much pressure on it. I'll try not to.
But I think I already stop it. I hate that
noise so much. Vow. Okay. So I know a lot
about you, obviously from hanging out with you almost every
(01:55):
day for the last two months, but I don't know
if my audience knows so much about you. So I'm
going to kind of pass it off to you. And yeah,
I'm want to let you introduce yourself, but I want
to hear you know, before we get into the details
about how you came into dancing and all that stuff,
like where you're from, you have a brother, all that
(02:18):
good stuff. So you take it away, cool, Allow myself
to introduce myself. Uh, my name is Val Tchmankowski. I
was born in Ukraine, which is a small country next
to Russia. I'm a Russian Ukrainian ida Ukraine in particular,
it's a city on the Black Seat. The reason why
(02:40):
that particular detail is important to me because it is
a very specific city that has a lot of music,
arts culture. It's kind of known as the New Orleans
of the Soviet Union, which is back when I was born,
still what Ukraine and Russia were a part of it
was a different country called the Soviet Union. I gave
(03:03):
you this history lesson, I got this one, guys, and um. Anyway,
so I was born in that small coastal city. I
started playing the violin when I was five, and then
I had an older brother, Max, who at that time
was already dancing, so I kind of tagged along. And
then I, you know, shortly after starting to dance, my
(03:25):
family immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. So I just kind
of like, you know, let's say I danced for maybe
half a year, the most basic stuff. I was like
six years old, seven years old, and then I moved
to Brooklyn, New York as a family. So it was
my parents, my brother, and myself just as two of you, right, Max,
when you were eight, I moved. I was eight, he
(03:46):
was fourteen. We moved to Coney Island area. For those
that are familiar with Brooklyn, New York, it's not familiar
with Brooklyn West Coast. K all Right said, yeah, Brooklyn,
New York. We we immigrated. It was a Russian community
that we moved into, but it was also like a
really dynamic could collect the community, right, So it was black,
(04:09):
Puerto Rican Italians, Jews, Russians, you know, it was like everybody,
and it was overwhelming and I didn't speak English when
we moved here. None of my family spoke English. So
you know, you embark on this kind of challenge as
a family, and uh there were a lot of challenges,
uh financially and just in general. You know, it's just
(04:33):
kind of that cliche immigrants family story. And then um, yeah,
I kind of, you know, to to kind of get
me out of trouble, my parents put me into the
activities that they already introduced me to. So it was violin.
They found me a violent teacher. I used to go
in Brooklyn, New York a woman that was also from
(04:55):
Ukraine that was an incredible musician, uh her entire life
and then also immigrated to America and was now teaching
private out of her little apartment in in the projects
pretty much. So I would go to her apartment and
I would learn, you know, take violin with her for
an hour and a half and then you dance. All
(05:16):
the other hours you have school, I would go to school,
you know, so what is that nine to three? Then
from school I probably grab you know, grab food real
quick and then go to violin. And then after violin,
I'd go to dance, and then I would come home
(05:36):
around like nine pm and do my homework real quick
and then go to sleep and then pretty much repeat
that every day of my life since I was like
eight years old. That's insane. I kind of knew a
little bit of that. Did they put you guys in dance,
you and Max just for reasons of like they don't
want you guys to get into too much trouble? Or
(05:57):
was that because when you guys lived in you train? Yeah,
it was a sup to get you guys to move
to America. Like you know, dance was just an after
school extracurriculum activity, right, And it's like, again, I'm just
familiar with my family, but I could I could attest
too many families in the Eastern European community. It's like
(06:23):
free time is is the enemy for for their kids,
you know. And so it's like to be a good
parent in that community, it's to occupy your your child
with as many activities and as many things, uh, you know,
to keep them busy as possible. And then along the way,
you see where they excel and you try to support
that and and you know, and that's what happened with us.
(06:45):
No one thought in a million years that my career
would would be you know, dance. They just supported their
kids in a you know, dance in particular in our
community is not taboo. It's not weak. You know, it's
not soft. It's not like weird for boys to dance.
You know, men dance, Men play sports, they wrestled, they
(07:08):
write poetry, they paint, and they dance. You know that
that's a complete kind of image of a of a man.
I always imagine a renaissance man, you know, not just
one dimensional human, but someone that has interested in many
different things. And then you know, I was then fortunate
enough throughout my life too create a life where I
(07:32):
then pursued those things that I was passionate about. But
I could have gone into medicine or law. You know,
I really loved law. I want to diagnose my strep
throat exactly before I even knew I had strapped, so
points to the medicine side. You were into law. No,
I went to UM. I just loved the Bates, you know.
And so in high school, even though I was competing
(07:56):
worldwide and you could say kind of like semi professional
in ballroom dance, and was you know, playing in a
youth orchestra that played in Carnegie Hall in Lincoln Center
in New York City. So that that sounds like these
these big achievements that you know, someone that potentially can
is just doing that would do. And and for me, again,
(08:19):
I was very fortunate with great teachers and a little
bit of talent and parents that supported me where I
was able to accomplish pretty high standards and all of
those things. And even in school, you know, I I
enjoyed school, That's what I mean. I didn't make a
choice to pursue something until maybe around n years old,
(08:40):
when I was already in college. I actually don't know
how you got started on Dancing with the Stars. I
don't think I've ever asked you that. So again, my
brother Max was recruited by Dancing with the Stars before
I was. How do they recruit people? They find them
through these competitions. Yeah, so they tapped into the world
(09:02):
of competitive ballroom dancing, which was a very small, niche
world that no one, nobody knew and and they, yeah,
they picked out some of the more talented ones. A
lot of that, you know, a lot of the top
couples said note to the project, you know, because they
(09:22):
didn't know what it was. And then on paper you know,
someone comes to you and they say, you know, it's
like going to the same Bolt right and going like, yo,
we got this project for you where it's called Racing
with the Stars. So it's like you partnered out with
you know you same bowl would be like, bro, I'm
not doing that. Yeah, you know that sounds crazy a
reality TV show where I get you know, I have
(09:42):
to teach a celebrity like even that in itself is
already like oh god, I'm not putting up with that.
Um So first season came out and and but some
some really talented pros said let's do it, you know,
and so you had that first see eason and the
entire dance world was watching a Vander Holyfield do a
(10:05):
fox shot, I think his first dance, and instantly I
went from you know, what do you do too? Oh
you do that thing that I just saw on TV?
You know, oh you're you know? So I immediately kind
of validated my my choices, and overnight, you know, it
(10:27):
went from like this weird thing that you know, my
entire life. People looked at me and said, why are
you spending so much of your time, effort, and energy
and money into that? Looked at my parents like they
were crazy, you know, these two young men and you're
pushing them to not pushing them, but you're you know,
you know, you're allowing them to pursue ballroom dance. It's
(10:51):
like yeah, yeah and yeah. And then overnight, you know,
a project like this put it, you know, made in
mainstream and we became you know, and then season who
my brother was like, all right, let me try this,
so Max said, was he invited on season one? See
what he was invited? And then season two rolled around
and here yeah, And I was like, listen, go do that.
(11:17):
Because I'm nineteen at the time. My brother um in school.
I was at Pace University in New York City for business,
not for dance, not for violent. So at nineteen, you
didn't even know for sure if dance was going to
be like an end career move right at nineteen, it was.
I never think anything is an end career anything. I
(11:40):
think like, I'm always changing, you know, right now I'm
on Dancing with the Stars. I you know, I am
not against stopping everything that I'm doing and applying that
same hustle too, Like I said, trying to get into
law school and spending the next six years pursuing that
and then go went into a career in law, like
(12:02):
that's not something that is so far fetched to me.
So at nineteen I was fully committed. At twelve, I
was fully committed. At eight, I was already taught again
by my my dad to be fully committed into everything
that I'm doing. And so if today I'm doing this,
then I'm trying to be the best this has ever seen,
you know. So at nineteen, I was pursuing competitive form dancing.
(12:25):
I was trying to become a world champion and again,
and my brother wasn't. My brother was a studio owner,
working sixty hours a week, grinding, you know, in a
really kind of down moment in his life. And so
when Dancing with the Stars once again came back season two,
(12:48):
it was all of us. He was still very proud
and still didn't want to go, and all of us
were like, bro, you have to go do this for
all of us, because again, this is television at that
time to see when the Stars was getting I mean million, yeah, yeah,
when it started. When it started, it because it was
a huge phenomena. First of all, there was no streaming yet,
(13:11):
you know, and so you tuned in and and and
talking about you know, social media. There was no social media,
so so you went on chat rooms or boardrooms on
the ABC Dancing with the Star's website, and you just saw,
you know when my brothers. After his first episode or
his premier, you know, he instantly became this kind of
(13:33):
notorious personality that kind of just said whatever was on
his mind, which was very yeah, very Schmikowsky. And and
people fell in love or really didn't like him. You know,
he was that type of personality. And I would go
on these chat rooms where they would be like, Max
(13:55):
is so cocky, Max is so arrogant. I can't believe
he allows us some let's just say things like that.
I would go and I'd make like I would comment, hey,
well he's actually really really fun. You know, he's actually
really nice, like i'd make you know, I'd make that
oh yeah, I had his back, and I like and
I would make multiple accounts like I would be his
(14:18):
super fan, low key making accounts that talk positive about him.
That's so cute. Can you do that for me because
I could use it. That's very sweet though, So but
again it was it was a family affair. You know,
he came out here and it was kind of like
that show Entourage. You know, he immediately made money he
(14:39):
never seen before. Ah, he went from you know this
whatever this this kind of this kid from from Brooklyn
to stud in Hollywood. Really yeah and so and I
would come out and visit him and I would be
I mean, it was just surreal. It was really really cool.
(15:19):
It was your first partner when you joined, um and so.
But but but yeah, just on that like so when
he joined, he couldn't help himself but be like, yo,
by the way, I got this younger brother that is fire.
So you know he's not he's not gonna do this yet.
He's not gonna sell out Hollywood just yet. He's still
(15:41):
gotta win things. Uh. And I was, you know, and
I kind of enjoyed it vicariously through him. But they
always had me on their radar from that moment. And
then I came on and did a few performances. I
performed on the show a couple of times, and they
were like, listen, whenever you're ready, we would love to
have you. And then yeah, that five years old. So
six years later I was like, yeah, I'm ready, let's
(16:04):
do it. Oh wow, So you have this kind of
brewing for a minute, and then yeah, for me, it
was I had a I had a bank full of pride,
you know. I I saw my brother was becoming this
huge star, and then I saw a lot of my peers,
you know, Derek Mark, and these are these are kids
(16:24):
I grew up with. We competed against each other, right,
because again, this is such a unique show. The pool
of talent for this show is very small. It's not
it's not a reality show on basketball where millions of
people are playing worldwide. This is a very small world
that exploded into this project. So you know, the talent
(16:46):
that you're choosing from most likely knows each other for
a really long time. And we knew each other for
a really long time. And so to see these kids
stop competing, going to Hollywood and become superstars, and you know,
seeing that from the side, I'm proud of myself. I'm
proud that I pursued the goals competitively that I still
(17:08):
wanted to have even though I had this temptation already
one foot in Hollywood. And the really the turning point
for me was several things. But really I was in
the midst of competing one time, and I was on
the dance floor and I was in motion and I
was able to think about like what am I doing here?
And as soon as I had that moment, I was like,
(17:31):
I'm I gotta be out. And then the other thing
was financial. You know, in our world, you know you're
not making a lot of money. You know, I'm not.
I'm I could be a world champion, but I'm not
making Lebron James money even close. But the sacrifice is
the same, so you really have to be doing it
(17:53):
because you love it, because you're passionate about it. And
so then yeah, and the twenty five I was like,
what's the difference between, you know, a hobby and a profession.
The passion is in the difference. You can be passionate
about a hobby, but really it's at the end of
the day, it's your paycheck. And so so if I
want to be a professional at this, I gotta learn
(18:13):
how to earn money with this write talent and passion.
And that's when I was like, yo, I gotta go
and try to earn some money. And let's say I
did it. Um wow, back to my original question. Also,
first partner, favorite partner, better saying me my first partner
(18:34):
was ELIZABETHA Canales. She was Italian model and she had
just gotten out of a very public relationship with George Clooney.
Did you get any of the tea? I got plenty
of the tea. Won't like, I'm not a snitch, so
(18:56):
I could. It's not like I'm I'm sharing any of
the tea. And um, I'm just there to teach dance.
And I was so intense and I was such a
rook and we were second to get eliminated. Yeah, so
imagine this kind of like ego and pride and like energy.
I just stopped competing. I, you know, like this big
(19:18):
recruit and I'm like, oh, I'm about to go in
here and just whoop on everybody. I'm telling my brother,
my brother is still on the show. Every everybody, all
the big guns, you know, and I'm like, what's the
school all of these? An I was out and I
wasn't deserved. Was terrible. Um, I was bummed. Yeah, I
(19:40):
was humbled, you know I was. I moved my entire
life here also, by the way, not just joined the show.
I moved from New York City to Los Angeles and
like ready to work. And I'm like eliminated seconds, So
then I'm just chilling in the city. But I'm like,
I'm I'm here, you know, and it might as well.
I gotta make it work, and that's it. I just
(20:01):
kind of paid attention and learned and studied Derek and
Mark and Max and Tony everybody on the show. Yeah,
because I'm like, if they give me another chance, I
gotta I gotta be ready. Did you want to come
back season three then, just to prove yourself a little
or whatever it was seasons? So did I want to
(20:23):
come back the next season? Yes? Yes, yes I did.
I did because I'm like, this is embarrassing. I gotta
can't be your lasting impression. And that's why I'm grateful
to the show. They believed in me and they gave
me another chance. And I got eliminated third I was like,
(20:45):
all right, I gotta be a little better than that.
So we've made it pretty far. Yeah, I mean, you know,
on the third try, I went to the finals, so twist,
and then I kept going on the finals, so there's pressure.
Were you scared when you found out that I was
your partner? Are you like, oh no, not this girl,
or were you like, of course, I was like, oh no,
(21:09):
not this girl. Why would I be like, Yay, I
got this girl because maybe you I had no idea
who you are. You know, I only know who you
are based on what I'm I've been told, yeah, and
nothing beyond that, you know. So for me, the first thing,
I was like, Okay, did she have a work ethic?
(21:30):
You know? Is she entitled? And I quickly saw that
that wasn't the case, you know, so that so immediately
once I saw that, and you feel that in the
first like two minutes of talking to you, I was like, okay, cool, Like,
let me see how Caucasian she really is. These Latin
dances and I was quite caucas which we had so
(21:55):
sad I've never danced before, and my hips looked like
I was extremely white, which again is a beautiful thing,
and we figured out a way to move those hips.
But yeah, seeing that you were coordinated still and had
some soul to you, I was like, look, yeah, she's
not a ringer, but I I'm excited to teach her.
I'm excited. And then seeing how happy it made you
(22:19):
to learn something or actually get it, that's everything you
know as as a teacher, and I've I am proud
to say I teach a lot. I that's it's my
pride and joy to be able to teach dance and
share that with people. UM. To be able to share
with a young, talented, hard working, cool last chick is
(22:41):
a huge privilege for me because we just talked about,
like tomorrow the show is going to be gone. I
don't want my style of dance to go with it.
And it will live on with you, with Zendea, with Normandy,
with Lori Amandez, with you know, with with all the
(23:01):
amazing partners that I got a chance to share this
passion with, Rumor Willis, Um, it will live on with
them because you know, hopefully you will remember this experience
and be like and and be really proud of it.
For sure. I already am really proud of it. And
it's still kind of early on in it. Um. Do
you still keep in touch with any former partners? All
(23:24):
of them? Okay? Cool? Because I was going to say,
if you think you're getting rid of me after this,
you are crazy. Um. Yeah, it's it's it's a thing.
It's definitely a thing. You know, you spend every day together. Yeah.
I feel like somebody asked me once they were like,
what why do you guys think that you know, all
(23:46):
these partners get so close some interview or was I
think after one of the shows, and U, I mean
it's so true. You literally spend every single day with
the same person on repeat. And then I think there's
also something special because you're learning something from somebody that
I think the bond just grows really quickly, right, I
mean it's coach, player, student, teacher, teammates, you know. That's
(24:12):
the other thing is like, well, yeah, because it's it's
a weird thing. I teach you, I teach you, I
teach you, and then I partner you a part and
then where we go into the performance as partners. Um,
so yeah, I mean those emotions of camaraderie and familiarity,
familiarity even you know, and so yeah, so we're going
through this as well. But also there's a you know,
(24:37):
in such a close proximity too, So we're in each
other's space, being comfortable in each other's space every single day.
Because if you're not comfortable in each othersman, then you
can't dance any of this stuff, you know, So that
with again having that, you know, having that focus and
(24:57):
purpose together common ground create in common ground every week. Yeah,
it creates a really strong bond in a relationship. And
you know, again, I bring up someone like Normandy for instance, right,
seeing her go from the show and then blossom into
an individual that's kind of like, you know, seeing her
(25:17):
career take off. I am forever now her fan, forever
her friend. I'm for you know, I'm proud to see
her sore, you know. And and it's not a matter
of me having any credit for that at all, but
just being you know, a pit stop two in her journey,
(25:40):
you know. And and and she'll talk about what dancing
when the stars meant to her. Yeah, I was gonna say,
I can't speak on her behalf, but I can say
anything I do moving forward from now. Maybe because I
came from a different, like starting point, I would say,
like coming on the show, I think it like really
did bring out a different side to me and gave
me a little bit more confidence that I didn't know
(26:01):
I had. So, yeah, I want to talk to you.
I want to ask you a question. Okay, what Yeah,
when you say you know you've gained some confidence in
what way, well, I think for me, um, I like
still answer questions like I'm in an interview, and I
have to remember that this is my podcast and I'm
(26:23):
supposed to be like open and honest. Um. No, I
think that before I did Dancing with the Stars, just
because I've given everything that was happening in the media
with my family, I was just really embarrassed to like
be associated with that, to go out in public when
I would even just go to the mall with friends.
If somebody was looking at me, they could have been
(26:44):
looking at me for nothing. Maybe I had sparkly ass
shoes on, like I don't know what it was, but
I would get so insecure, and I think that's like
one of the defining differences I can say after doing
this show, I just feel like I'm proud of something
I'm doing and then I'm working towards something and it's
not just like being handed to me, and that I
actually can go out in the world and feel like, Okay,
(27:06):
I'm doing this and somebody's looking at me. I'm not
automatically thinking, oh, they've probably read some terrible headline about me.
Like I don't know what the reason would be, but
maybe on the off chance it's like they've seen us
on Dancing with the stars, they're like, I think it
just shifted my brain a little bit, gave me some
more purpose. I mean, that's so amazing. So that was
(27:27):
a huge motivator for me too. So to answer your question,
when I found out that you're my partner, I wouldn't
want any other partner on this roster. And I love
I love the females that are on the show this season,
a lot of great dancers, a lot of great people.
But I I, yeah, I just felt connected to your
(27:52):
story and you as a person, and as soon as
I've found out that you're not that human, I was
excited for the opportunity to showcase that, right, you know,
the the element of surprise and the element of giving
someone a chance to realize that confidence like that is
(28:12):
such a great gift to me. Yeah. Yeah, It's definitely
changed my perspective on a lot for sure. And I
feel like also now going forward in life, I just
feel a lot It sounds so cheesy, but I just
feel genuinely happier, Like I think before. I think also
when you're sitting out and this can go for anybody
in any situation, when you're sitting at home and you're
kind of like dwelling on a situation. You're not actively
(28:35):
trying to come out of something. You're just going to
get further and further in this hole. And that's kind
of what I was doing to myself without realizing. And
I would just stay home because my job was basically
just YouTube, but also I was taking a step back
from it. So it's very easy to just sit around
and like not do much. And so I think if
anybody is in a rut, easier said than done, But
(28:55):
I would encourage you get out there and then take
a dance class. Take a damn dance class. I preach
the gospel of dance, So I'm gonna I'm gonna be biased. Yeah,
I agree that you should. I'll tell you why. Because
you know you're moving, So you're moving, your sweating, you're
you're your but you're also thinking. You know you're you're
(29:15):
You have to learn patterns and it keeps your brain stimulated,
and then you're also congregating with people. You buy yourself
for a year and a half. You don't get out
there and be amongst other human beings to amazing music,
your life will be better. Even if you're not going
(29:35):
to pursue dance on a professional level, your life will
be better. It's very therapeutic. Even the easiest thing, Like
sometimes I notice if I start my morning blasting music
or something and just dancing around while I make a
coffee or whatever, it is like if you don't have
the access right away to get into like a studio,
there are little ways you can just you know, I
(29:56):
think music is a a huge cure for a lot
of things. Yeah, for sure. But again on that note,
like it's also self serving, Like yes, it's you know,
I'm I'm excited for for your growth this season and
seeing you blossom into a person that you're happy with
(30:17):
has been incredibly rewarding. But on my end, I also
get a chance to dance dance, which I haven't done
on the show in a few years, just because I'm
younger and can like run around. Let's not get crazy.
Uma is also killing it. It's not about age, it's
(30:43):
about yeah, just your enthusiasm, your spirit and your joy
is at the center of what is creating so much
awesome dance from us, you know, and performance from us.
Because if you would have moved this exact in the
same way, but it was so in your head and
(31:03):
so miserable and so insecure and too you know, it
would be very tough to make this work like me today,
trying to get that step like you today. You know,
but we'll get through today, and I know that tomorrow
you will come back with this new spirit and and
that is the key that you come back better every
(31:24):
single day. Yeah, for sure, what's after this for you?
Is this your final season or a we got more?
And that little dancing body, Um, you don't know or
you don't have to discluss, No, I'm I'm definitely gonna
keep dancing for Oh yeah, No, I didn't question that.
I just mean on Dancing with the Stars. Do you
(31:45):
want to it's tv D because like you're I think
you're my eighteenth partner, jeez, and I'm you know, and
I build the relationships with all of them, but you
know it's you're my favorite, but you're my favorite to
(32:09):
hear you definitely. I'll tell you this. You definitely are
the biggest surprise for me. You definitely exceeded my expectations
out of everybody like that. There was people that came
in and turned out to be just such a wonderful season,
a winning season. But I I kind of you know,
(32:31):
I'm not saying that they were ringers, but they had
potential coming in like it was mine to Ruin, you
know what I'm saying, Like they was mine to ruin.
No money was mine to Ruin. Like they were amazing already,
and I just made some good choices for them, you know,
and then just got out of their way whatever, you know.
(32:52):
But with with you, it's like it's it's not that easy.
And this season is very competitive, so you know, it
just means more. Like I told you the heart of
the journey, the more the more it means to you,
and like this one means a lot to me. So
how many of these meaningful journeys can I emotionally go through?
(33:13):
You know, It's a lot. And you will understand what
I'm saying when when this is over, because you'll be like,
you know, you'll have this huge void in your life
that you're gonna have to fill with podcasts. No, I'm
just gonna come knocking at you and Jenna's story like, hey, guys,
which one of you who wants to teach me how
to dance today? You know, how to be able to
(33:35):
partner you? So yeah, exactly, Okay, Well, I guess we
(33:58):
can wrap it up kind of soon. We've really dove
into the dance world here. But I do want to
know what is No. No, this is I love talking
about this. No, you were perfect. You're the best guest
ten out of ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, forty out
of forty, manifesting our score for the next dance. Also,
(34:19):
I would just like to announce this on the podcast. Um,
I recently learned on Dancing with the Stars why West
Coast voting closes? And I don't think I've ever said
this on any platform I have. And I'm just gonna
plug Val and I really quickly here so we get
the votes. Even if you're on the West Coast and
you haven't watched this show yet. To vote for us,
(34:40):
you have to text at five pm between five and
six fifty pm, I think, yeah, Pacific time, So you
text three the name Olivia. Oh, my mother's calling me
and ruining my podcast. Um, what's after of this? Babies?
(35:02):
Baby babies too? I mean for me, it's personally, I
just want to continue to grow creatively. I want to
produce shows. I want to star on Broadway. I want
to star in movies. I want to like, you know, yeah,
I want to move on from you still want to
be in the industry though, and creative. Oh no, no,
this is where I'm going to be. Oh yeah, great,
(35:25):
because I plan to stay in it too. We could
collaborate moving forward to Oh for sure, it doesn't have
to just be on this project. We could facilitate our
own projects. Yeah, and tomorrow we've got a big day ahead.
That's right, because we're competing. Week seven, is it right? Now?
(35:45):
Is a week eight? This is week seven? We're doing
Queen Fat Bottom Girl. You make the Wrecking World go
from Yeah, we've been training. Really does I feel for
you that you get too kind of creatively direct this
this journey for yourself as well? Right, because so many
of these songs that we perform to are like your
(36:07):
favorite songs. And I think you also, I don't know
obviously what other coaches do, but I think you do
give me a lot of creative freedom that maybe some
other teachers maybe would take that and really kind of
figured out for themselves. I think you really let me
like have my input and little things that I think
could go well, and sometimes they don't go well, and
we don't use anything I suggest or say, but most
(36:30):
of the time, but most of the time I feel like, yeah,
it feels great. I think that's the other power exactly.
I think that's the other thing is you know the
keys to empower you to know that this thing that
you watched your entire life, right because you're a fan
of the show before joining it. Um, you are a
(36:51):
part of creating it now, and then you see the
final product and you're like, oh, wow, I could do this.
You know. It's so fun watching the dances back after
the week, when after you see it like on YouTuber,
on Hulu wherever you're watching, like the full makeup here,
because so much goes into it and then people only
see obviously such a little bit and then like a
little package and then just the dance and then actually
(37:13):
experiencing it and getting to like work towards something, and
then when it does well and you feel proud of it,
it's so rewarding to watch. Yeah, it's it's a weekly
arts project on crack. You know, it's like on a
million on a million dollar budget. It's crazy privilege, right,
but it's like, truly, we are doing what I was
(37:35):
doing when I was twelve years old, dancing in nursing
homes or restaurants or a little try state dance competitions.
I was putting on a show trying to make people happy,
you know, years later, um, in front of millions of
people doing exactly the same thing, being on a show
trying to make people happy, you know. So for anybody
(37:57):
at home that has like a passion that they really
want to pursue, pursue that and and be just excellent
in that passion, because most likely, if you're excellent, you
will be compensated for that excellently. And I think that's
an amazing way to wrap it up. Work hard, then
you get to celebrate and have fun and yet put
(38:18):
in the work and you'll feel rewarded. I'd also like
to say that Vow has done this entire interview on
a three legged chair and has balanced the entire time,
which is also very impressive and takes a lot of work. Um,
but thanks for coming on and hanging out. This was productive.
We've seen a lot of each other today. Yeah, not complaining,
(38:41):
not me either. Alright, guys, we're out of here, out
of here. Oh my gosh, Jojo text me and I
think it's going to be about stressing up as you
and Jenna one of these days. Um, all right, guys,
thank you so much for listening. Make sure you follow
Vale on all his social media plug yourself, but what's
(39:04):
your account name? Valentine no e at v A l
e I n t I v A l E n
t I n Valentine beautiful. And make sure you, guys
vote for us and tune into Dancing with the Stars tomorrow. Yeah.
So the thing about the voting, right, I hate, like,
(39:24):
please vote. I hate begging for votes really because I'm
going to like, yeah, no shame, I'm going to beg
for but you gotta vote for us because because if
you don't vote, get eliminated. There's nothing to do, and
then I'm gonna be really sad and bored. Come on,
ye okay, do it? Do it? Text to one five
to three my name Olivia at five pm Pacific time
(39:51):
or eight p m Eastern times. That's the same time
for those that are familiar. Yes, this is true. I
would hope most of my audiences all hey, y'all. Piece
of love, peace and love. H
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