With swag, grace and a touch of ice cold humour
The First Message
With a little swag in her step and a smirk that cuts through the cold air, Gillian Armstrong steps onto the ice in Frankfurt. It’s winter, and the rink is brutal — the kind of cold that crawls under your skin. But for her, this wasn’t discomfort. It’s home.
We found Gillian through Yuedam’s outreach program — a project we launched to connect with undiscovered talent across Europe. Late November, a profile caught our attention. Her skating was sharp, but her personality; that’s what stayed with us. What we didn’t expect was the story that came with her.
A Life on Ice
Gillian’s story starts in Mannheim, a city known for being a little rough around the edges. She first put on skates at age 9, and from that moment, the ice became her second skin. Skating is expensive. It’s time-consuming. And in a city like Mannheim, it’s not exactly the most obvious path that many take. But Gillian kept showing up, long after the excitement wore off and the real work began. By the time she hit her twenties, she had gone from hobby skater to professional performer, skating in productions like Disney on Ice, carving her own lane in a sport that rarely makes room.
When i skate, i can be whatever i want to be
Why We Wanted to Work With Gillian
Our team here at Yuedam, dont chase talent just because they’re good at something. What we’re drawn to is the way people move through life, the grit that lives underneath the talent. Gillian was this person that didn’t just practice routines — she built her whole identity on staying upright when life tried to knock her down.
We don’t believe athletes are separate from artists. And Gillian? She’s both.
The Shoot
Shooting Gillian was personal. Everything about this shoot had to show her the way she sees herself. As a woman who worked her ass off to turn grace into survival, and survival into art.
This series was shot entirely with a Sony 85mm, staying along the edges of the rink because — confession — I can’t skate. That distance forced me to think more carefully about framing. If I couldn’t move with her, I had to let the camera tell her story the way a witness would staying quiet, staying focused, capturing what was already there without dressing it up.
The breathing in my mic? That’s real too. That’s the sound of working in cold air, staying close to the moment, even when it’s imperfect. I cleaned it up, sure — but I left just enough so the final video still feels like you’re there, hearing her blades cut into the ice.
Results
The Second Yuedam Athlete
With this project, Gillian officially becomes Yuedam’s second athlete — Tough, graceful, and honest.
Every time she steps onto the ice, it’s another chapter, and we’re proud to be part of it. And to anyone else out there, skating against the grain, building something no one expected — we see you.
Want to collaborate? Reach out to Yuedam, and let’s build something together.
