Kathryn Morgan on Ballet Competitions & Pressure to Be Instafamous

Did you do ballet competitions when you were a kid? I didn't.

They were just starting when I was a kid.

You know, YGP started in 1999.

I was 11.

And so I went to SAB at 15.

And during those four years, they were just kind of getting off the ground.

And people were like, what is this? So it was not a thing.

And then also I went the New York City Ballet Balanchine Path, which doesn't really...

None of us, too many of us didn't do competitions anyway.

And so...

No, I never did them.

I came in later and started judging.

And so that's how I got involved.

But I never did them as a kid.

Interesting.

I don't think I would have been able to handle it, actually.

I think I would have crumbled.

Oh my gosh, Jennifer Rinker said the same thing to us.

She's like, there's no way.

Nope.

Absolutely not.

Yeah.

Curious why you say that, that you think you would have crumbled.

I was very, I loved being on stage.

I loved performing still do, you know, I mean, that's why I wanted to be a professional dancer, but I think it's the competing aspect, that kind of pressure, having to get scored, being in competition with everybody else, which when you're in a ballet company, you are that anyway, but it's, it's over a longer stretch.

Did you do ballet competitions when you were a kid? I didn't.

They were just starting when I was a kid.

You know, YGP started in 1999.

I was 11.

And so I went to SAB at 15.

And during those four years, they were just kind of getting off the ground.

And people were like, what is this? So it was not a thing.

And then also I went the New York City Ballet Balanchine Path, which doesn't really...

None of us, too many of us didn't do competitions anyway.

And so...

No, I never did them.

I came in later and started judging.

And so that's how I got involved.

But I never did them as a kid.

Interesting.

I don't think I would have been able to handle it, actually.

I think I would have crumbled.

Oh my gosh, Jennifer Rinker said the same thing to us.

She's like, there's no way.

Nope.

Absolutely not.

Yeah.

Curious why you say that, that you think you would have crumbled.

I was very, I loved being on stage.

I loved performing still do, you know, I mean, that's why I wanted to be a professional dancer, but I think it's the competing aspect, that kind of pressure, having to get scored, being in competition with everybody else, which when you're in a ballet company, you are that anyway, but it's, it's over a longer stretch.