Kathryn Morgan

Kathryn Elizabeth Morgan (born August 17, 1988) is an American ballet dancer. She joined New York City Ballet in 2006 and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 2009. Morgan left New York City Ballet in 2012 due to health complications related to her suffering from Hashimoto's thyroiditis.[2][3] Throughout her recovery, Morgan taught ballet and performed as a guest artist. From 2019 to 2020 she was a soloist at Miami City Ballet.

Kathryn Morgan
Born (1988-08-17) August 17, 1988[1]
Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States
EducationSchool of American Ballet
OccupationBallet dancer
Years active2006–present
Spouse(s)
Eric Young
​
​
(m. 2017; div. 2018)​
Former groupsNew York City Ballet
Miami City Ballet
Websitewww.kathrynmorganonline.com

Early life

Kathryn Elizabeth Morgan was born on August 17, 1988 in Fayetteville, North Carolina.[4] She was adopted.[5] After completing a 23andme genetic test, Morgan discovered she was of one hundred percent European descent with mostly British, Irish, French, German and Scandinavian ancestry.[6] Her adoptive father was an endodontic dentist serving in the Air Force and the family moved to the Minot Air Force Base in Minot, North Dakota. She began studying ballet, tap, and jazz dance when she was two years old. When she was five years old her family moved from North Dakota to Mobile, Alabama and she enrolled in the school at Mobile Ballet, deciding to focus only on ballet training. When she was nine years old, Morgan went with her family to New York City and saw the New York City Ballet perform George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, inspiring her to work towards dancing with the company. When she was ten years old she was awarded a scholarship to train at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City for four weeks.[7] At age eleven, Morgan was accepted into the regional youth company of Mobile Ballet, where she performed in full length ballets including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, the latter of which she performed the role of Clara at age thirteen and Arabian and Snow Queen at age fifteen.[8] In 2004, at the age of fifteen, she attended the summer program at the School of American Ballet in New York City and in the fall she enrolled as a full-time student. Morgan's mother rented an apartment in New York City and stayed there with her, while her father commuted up to New York from Alabama every other weekend.[9]

Career

In June 2006, at the age of seventeen, Morgan joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice.[10] Her first solo performance with the company was as Juliet in Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet in 2007 while she was an apprentice. In February 2007 she became a member of the company's corps de ballet. She was promoted to the rank of soloist in October 2009. In 2010, Morgan faced serious health issues due to an under-functioning thyroid, and left New York City Ballet in 2012 to focus on her recovery. Her illness had caused her to gain weight excessively, suffer from fatigue, lose muscle strength, caused hair loss, and suffer from depression.[11] Morgan was later diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.[12] She moved back to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to receive treatment.[13] Since 2014, Morgan has returned to the stage performing as a guest artist with ballet companies across the United States, Europe, and Asia.[14] She has been featured in Dance Magazine, Pointe, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Teen Vogue.[15][16] She also teaches dance classes, has created her own mobile app, has a podcast on iTunes presented through the Premier Dance Network,[17] does public speaking, and has a blog. Morgan's YouTube channel, which focuses on body positivity, healthy lifestyle habits, make-up tutorials, and dance tips has over 200,000 subscribers.[18]

New York City Ballet

Morgan danced with New York City Ballet for six years, from 2006 to 2012. She was a soloist from 2009 until her departure from the company. While with New York City Ballet, Morgan performed many featured roles. She performed as Marzipan, Dewdrop, and Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. She also performed in other Balanchine works, including Ballo della Regina, the Waltz in Coppélia, Divertimento No. 15, Stars and Stripes, Scotch Symphony, La valse, and Western Symphony. While Christopher Wheeldon was working with NYCB, Morgan performed in three of his ballets; Carousel (A Dance) and Scènes de ballet in 2006, and Mercurial Manoeuvres in 2009. Also in 2009, Morgan performed in Jerome Robbins' 2 and 3 Part Inventions, Dances at a Gathering, The Four Seasons as Winter, Les Noces, and West Side Story Suite as Maria. Morgan performed the pas de deux from August Bournonville's Flower Festival in Genzano. She performed in Sean Lavery's Romeo and Juliet as Juliet Capulet. She performed in Peter Martins' Mirage, Romeo + Juliet as Juliet in 2007, The Sleeping Beauty as Jewel and Princess Aurora, Stabat Mater, and in the pas de trois and pas de quatre of Swan Lake. In 2010, Morgan performed in Benjamin Millepied's Why am I not where you are and 28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini.[19]

Principal guest roles

After leaving New York City Ballet and recovering from her under-functioning thyroid, Morgan has toured and performed with various ballet companies as a guest artist.[20] With Mobile Ballet in Alabama, Morgan performed as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She performed in George Balanchine's Who Cares? at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece, in Divertimento No. 15 and Carousel (A Dance) at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, in Les Noces at Santander & Majorca in Spain, in Carousel (A Dance) and West Side Story Suite as Maria at the Orchard Hall at Bunkamura in Tokyo, and in The Red Shoes, Kitri in Don Quixote, and Odile in Swan Lake at the Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio.[19]

Morgan also performed with Dancing in the Dark Productions as the lead role of Galina in To Dance the Musical.[19]

In March 2016, through the Cleveland-based program Ballet in the City, Morgan performed a two night show sponsored by Bloch titled Bloch's Evening With Kathryn Morgan at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.[21]

Miami City Ballet

In February 2019 Morgan contacted Lourdes Lopez, the artistic director of Miami City Ballet, about the possibility of joining the company.[12] On 17 April 2019 Miami City Ballet announced in a press release that Morgan would be joining the company as a soloist.[22][23] Upon joining the company, she began rehearsing for the title role in Balanchine and Jerome Robbins' The Firebird, the role of Mercedes in Don Quixote, the role of Striptease Girl in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy, Dewdrop, Spanish, and Demi Flowers in The Nutcracker, the Strangers in the Night Pas de Deux from Nine Sinatra Songs, and roles in Stravinsky Violin Concerto, I'm Old Fashioned.[24][25] She was removed from the casting of Stravinsky Violin Concerto before the first performance.[25] In October 2019, Morgan made her debut at Miami City Ballet performing Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.[25][26][27]

Morgan had been told, upon signing her contract with the company, that she would be dancing the Bitter Earth Pas de Deux from Five Movements, Three Repeats and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and was fitted for costumes for both roles, but was not called to rehearsals.[25] During The Nutcracker rehearsals, Morgan pulled a calf muscle and sat out of the performances.[25] In the second program of the season, Morgan performed in I'm Old Fashioned.[25] In the middle of the season, Morgan was removed from the casting list for The Firebird due to her weight.[28][29] Morgan was told by the artistic staff that, as a size 2, she was an "embarrassment" and "would not represent the company well" dancing in The Firebird.[25][30] Morgan was then removed from the casting of Nine Ninatra Songs two days before the show.[25] She was scheduled to perform in Don Quixote, but the season was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[25]

At the end of the 2019-2020 season, Morgan left Miami City Ballet for mental and physical health reasons.[28][31] On October 8, 2020 she released a video on YouTube explaining why she had chosen to leave the company.[25][32]

Awards

Personal life

Along with ballet, Morgan is classically trained in piano.[2]

On May 27, 2016 Morgan became engaged to Eric Young, the couple got engaged in North Carolina. They were married on May 27, 2017 at Ashland Place United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama.[33] After their wedding, Morgan and Young moved to Houston, Texas and she began teaching ballet at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.[34] On September 3, 2018 Morgan announced on Instagram that she and Young were no longer married.[35] Later that month she announced via YouTube that her divorce had been finalized.[36]

In December 2017, Morgan addressed the sexual assault allegations made against Peter Martins, stating that she had never been a victim of abuse by Martins and was treated respectfully while at New York City Ballet but had heard rumors about Martins having sexual relationships with dancers in the company.[37]

Since leaving Miami City Ballet in 2020, Morgan lives in Salt Lake City with her boyfriend, Christopher Sellars, a former first soloist with Ballet West.[28][38]

References
  1. "YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  2. "Kathryn Morgan talks to Ballet NEWS - Ballet News - Straight from the stage - bringing you ballet insights". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  3. "About – Kathryn Morgan". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  4. "KATHRYN MORGAN NEW YORK CITY BALLET SOLOIST". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  5. Milzoff, Rebecca. "3 Ballerinas Tell the Truth About Dance Wellness". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  6. "YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  7. "Interview with My Mom". March 23, 2018.
  8. Kathryn Morgan (10 June 2016). "My Early Dancing Years & Footage as a Child - Kathryn Morgan". Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via YouTube.
  9. BalletHub. "Kathryn Morgan Ballet Biography - BalletHub". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  10. "How I Became a New York City Ballet Apprentice" – via YouTube.
  11. Adams, Rebecca (1 October 2014). "Kathryn Morgan, Former New York City Ballet Dancer, On What It's Like To Gain Weight In The Dance World". Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via Huff Post.
  12. Emily Dixon. "Doctors couldn't explain why an acclaimed ballet dancer was ill. Finally, she's resurrecting her career". CNN.
  13. Kourlas, Gia (7 September 2014). "Kathryn Morgan Uses Social Media as She Gears for Her Return". Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  14. "Kathryn Morgan is Dancing Again - Dance Magazine". 30 July 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  15. Kiefer, Elizabeth. "When Your Body Betrays You: Ballerina Kathryn Morgan Shares Her Inspiring Comeback Story". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  16. "Dear Katie". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  17. "The Kathryn Morgan Show by Kathryn Morgan, Premier Dance Network on iTunes". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  18. "One tough tutu: Mobile's beloved ballerina Kathryn Morgan beats a longtime illness and gets back on her feet". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  19. "About – Kathryn Morgan". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  20. "Videos - The Huffington Post". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  21. "Ballet in the City presents: Bloch's Evening with Kathryn Morgan - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts". Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  22. "Miami City Ballet Grows its Roster to 53 Dancer" (PDF). Miami City Ballet (Press release). 2019-04-16.
  23. "Kathryn Morgan Is Restarting Her Dance Career at Miami City Ballet". Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  24. "The Author of Her Own Story: A Look Inside Kathryn Morgan's Return to Company Life". Pointe. January 28, 2020.
  25. "Why I Left Miami City Ballet | #LifeUpdate | Mental Health & Body Image | Kathryn Morgan - YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  26. "The Comeback: How Kathryn Morgan Beat Incredible Odds to Return to the Stage". Dance Magazine. February 10, 2020.
  27. "Miami City Ballet Opens 2019-2020 Season with "Slaughter"". danceviewtimes.
  28. ""You Are Not a Failure": Kathryn Morgan's Advice for Dancers Who've Lost Roles Because of Their Weight". Pointe. October 13, 2020.
  29. "Dancers Say It's Time to Talk About Ballet Companies That Body-Shame". November 30, 2020.
  30. "A Ballet Education". A Ballet Education. October 9, 2020.
  31. "Body Shaming In Ballet: Yes, It's Still Happening". www.newuniversity.org. January 1, 2021.
  32. "Why I Left Miami City Ballet". October 8, 2020.
  33. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2018-05-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  34. "Kathryn Morgan Begins New Chapter at Houston's Royal Academy of Fine Arts". Dance Teacher. August 9, 2017.
  35. "Kathryn Morgan on Instagram: "To my amazing followers- Thank you all for being so patient with me through the last couple months. I know I disappeared for a good long…"". Instagram.
  36. "LIFE UPDATE: Weight Loss & Where I've Been | Kathryn Morgan". September 11, 2018 – via YouTube.
  37. "Addressing the Allegations Against Peter Martins | Kathryn Morgan". December 12, 2017 – via YouTube.
  38. "Interview with Christopher Sellars". February 21, 2020.
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