32: World Dance Champion & Sexual Assault Survivor // The Story of Anya Katsevman
Background:
Anya Katsevman is an acclaimed award-winning dancer and performer with over 20 titles in the International Latin circuit. Her many international performance credits include tours with well known shows such as Burn the Floor and Dancing With the Stars. Together with partner Luis Aguilar she also holds numerous titles in salsa. Among them, she is a two-time World Champion as well as the San Francisco International Salsa Congress and New York Salsa Congress Champion.
Anya is a passionate teacher who’s popular workshops often include philosophical musings as well as detailed and technical dance instruction. She is also a talented designer who’s dresses and costumes have been popular with other top dancers around the world. Born in Kiev Ukraine, Anya Katsevman has been living in New York City for 17 years. She has danced in the films La Epoca and Dancing Scared and in numerous TV productions.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- 5:24 Anya started dancing when she was still in Ukraine. After they moved to the US, she continued her ballroom dancing lessons.
- 9:55 Learning Salsa was a true blessing for Anya.
- 15:11 It’s easier for Anya to be on the stage with lots of people watching her. Being on stage and celebrated by people is a form of escape for her.
- 18:11 Her first rock bottom happened during a turning point in her life when she wanted to become a dancer but she didn’t know how to become one.
- 20:51 Anya shares the story of how she had a nervous breakdown and the events that led to it.
- 25:51 Talking to a therapist, she uncovered an incident in her past that she was sexually abused by someone she barely knew.
- 30:57 As Anya was trying to heal, the person responsible for her early trauma coincidentally died of cancer.
- 34:06 For Anya, the death of that person who raped her felt like she has released him.
- 39:01 Eric gave his own thoughts about anger.
- 42:17 Paying more attention to her feelings is a big lesson that Anya learned.
- 47:25 For a long time, Anya thought that her struggles were not real struggles.
- 51:39 If Anya was to go back to that rock bottom incident, she only had one thing to say to herself.
- 55:30 For those who are suffering from their own rock bottom moment, Anya has this important message for you.
- 59:50 Anya offers some very meaningful words for everyone listening.
This Episode Brought to You By:
- 12:57 Please check out You Are More Than or YAMT.org, which is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the survivors of sexual abuse. YAMT believes that every survivor should have the right to well trained, trauma-informed mental health professionals that will guide them towards building a foundation of emotional growth for the future, rather than limiting their potential due to the past. If this organization resonates strongly with you, please check out YAMT.org or share to someone who needs their help.
- 41:02 The Man, the Myth, the Canadian Legend: Eric Gilbert-Williams. Eric put together this very podcast as a passion project to help you & others. If you’d be so kind to Subscribe & Leave a Written Review of the show, it’d really make our day! You can Subscribe & Rate our Podcast right here: From Rock Bottom to Rockin’ It..
Key Points from the Interview:
- “This dream that I had inside of me, this desire to be on stage and to be seen, and to be an entertainer and a dancer, and all of the things. I was constantly told it’s never gonna happen, it’s never gonna happen, it’s never gonna happen. And so my first rock bottom was that moment where I have to choose that it was gonna happen and I didn’t know how.”
- “At the end of the day, probably what helped the most, is your own internal validation. The minute I started to just look in the mirror and say why is everyone’s opinion more important than mine.”
