Kathryn Morgan: A Tale of Success
- Emma Rose
- May 1, 2018
- 3 min read
Kathryn Morgan is a Youtuber, teacher, and dancer. A quote that sums up Kathryn Morgan's success and ability to inspire is "Everybody's path is different so don't compare yourself to others" - Kathryn Morgan. Morgan attended the American Ballet School in 2004. She suffered from an ankle injury during that time which still affected later in life. In 2006 she became an apprentice with the New York City Ballet. An apprentice in a ballet company is someone who doesn't have a contract yet and is often still in the sister school but dances in the corps with the ballet company. It is where a lot of people start, even if you are an apprentice there is not guarantee you will make it into the company. Though in 2007 Morgan was promoted to corps de ballet member, which are the background dancers of the ballet, think the swans in Swan Lake or the Wilis in Giselle, those are the corps de ballet dancers. Two years later she became a soloist with NYCB. A Soloist is a dancer who mostly dances secondary or corps roles in ballets, sometimes if the dancer is very good and very lucky they will dance principle roles, like Kathryn Morgan did. When she corps de ballet member she danced Juliet in Peter Martin's Romeo + Juliet. During her time at the New York City Ballet she danced roles such as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in both Peter Martin's Romeo + Juliet and Sean Lavery's Romeo & Juliet, Winter in Jerome Robbin's The Four Seasons, The Sugar Plum Fairy in Balanchine's Nutcracker, and many more.
Kathryn Morgan fell ill to an autoimmune disease and was unable to continue at the New York City Ballet. Since her departure in 2012, Morgan has regained her health. She has started teaching, judging, and dancing. Kathryn Morgan taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Houston before it was unfortunately closed. Since 2012 she has run a successful Youtube channel where she talks about ballet tips, commentary on performances, makeup tutorials, and her experience as a dancer, a segment called #OnceUponAPointe. She has started a podcast called the Kathryn Morgan Show. Dancewear Corner and her have teamed up to create the Kathryn Morgan Dance Haul, a quarterly dance haul box filled with ballet goodies! Through Dancewear Corner she also now offers the Kathryn Morgan Scholarship. Again, with Dancewear corner she has the Kathryn Morgan Collection, a line of dance wear. She writes for the Dance Spirit Magazine, she also does masterclass and judges at the Youth America Grand Prix Ballet Competition.
Kathryn Morgan is truly inspirational to me because I love to dance but I don't think it can possibly be my career, a girl can dream but a girl can also be realistic. Kathryn Morgan has shown me that just because something was put in our way and for whatever reason professional ballet isn't in the cards, doesn't mean I don't have to leave the dance world behind. I can learn, and grow, and one day I could teach. Although Kathryn Morgan had wonderful career at NYCB which was sadly cut short, she still pursued what she loved and continued to excel at, and share ballet. That is what I want to do, and that is what I dream of doing! She has taught me there can be a world inside of ballet that isn't just dancing.
Kathryn Morgan went through so much hardship and so much unsuspected success in the unique field of Youtube and teaching. Her story is very inspirational to those who were forced to diverge from their original path and make a new one, a possibly even better one. Of course, I do not know how Kathryn Morgan feels about leaving the New City Ballet, but one must thing that that career in NYCB was her intended path yet her new path has lead her to unique opportunities and wonderful success. Kathryn Morgan's story should be remembered when we are faced with an obstacle and must improvise a new way, a new path.
You can follow Kathryn Morgan at:
Instgram @kathryn_morgan
Twitter @Kathryn_EMorgan
Blog http://kathrynmorganonline.com/
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/Tutugirlkem
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