After recovering from a debilitating illness, Kathryn Morgan, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet, is re-launching her career in the upcoming ballet musical To Dance at the 19th annual New York International Fringe Festival. I spoke with Katie about her life after recovery and after a glorious career with NYCB.

First, I’d like to hear about this upcoming project you are working on. 

The upcoming project is called To Dance, and it’s a musical about Valery and Galina Panov who were dancers with the Kirov Ballet back in Cold War Russia. Basically, Valery was Jewish and the musical deals with what the consequences were at that point -- because being Jewish in Cold War Russia was not a good thing. My character, Galina, is his love interest and eventually becomes his wife and is faced with the decision on how to keep her career going or give it up for him.

You have had a thyroid illness and have recovered. I know that can be a very challenging experience for even the strongest individual. 

Yes! For sure! I still have to monitor myself and be very careful, but this that I went through for several years was horrendous. But, I am pretty much well now. So that’s fantastic.

Great to hear! How does this experience factor into your creative process and how might it inform the projects you take on? 

I just have to really, really watch what I eat. That’s the biggest thing because there are so many foods that you cannot eat with a thyroid problem: certain vegetables, soy, things like that, and it can be very, very touchy. As far as the projects I take on, thankfully physically, nothing is really off-limits, I just have to be careful of my stress level. Before, when I was with New York City Ballet, I would get very much in my own head. I had to learn how to not do that, to live life more, and not take things so seriously. It’s been very tricky, but thankfully I’m doing very well with that.

Has the overcoming of such a big challenge changed the way you view yourself artistically and creatively? 

For me, the fact that I got through this, first of all, is such a blessing because I didn’t think I was ever going to get well. I never thought I was going to get through it; I thought I was going to be sick and fat and miserable for the rest of my life. I had people call me a fool, I had people call me an idiot for trying to get back into dancing. The fact that I’ve overcome that and am proving them wrong by taking the lead in a new ballet musical in New York, that’s the best feeling ever. For the last four years, it’s been nothing but feeling like a total failure. For me, just to kind of appreciate everything again has made me want to dance. It’s reawakened my love for dance—my passion for it. Also, this musical is an entirely different experience for me, singing and acting; I’ve just fallen in love with this whole world. So, it’s just such a big accomplishment for me. It might not be that big of a deal to anyone else, but it’s a very big deal to me.

I wanted to ask you about your YouTube channels, on which you share tips for dancers. Can you tell us a bit about your goals for these? 

The YouTube channels started a little over a year ago when I was trying to get back into the business; I was trying to get my name back out there. I also didn’t have a lot to do and realized I wasn’t under a company where they would have to approve everything. So, I thought if there had been a resource when I was a young dancer for technique tips, diet advice, workouts and such, I would have been beside myself for that. So, I thought that’s what I want to do and I’ve always been interested in helping younger dancers. Anytime they ask me anything, I’m always willing to share because when I was a student, no one shared anything with me. It was all very secretive and very difficult.

Why do you think that is? 

I think because it’s such a high competitive field that nobody wants to help anyone else get ahead. I remember being eleven years old and getting my first pair of pointe shoes and no one wanted to help me learn to tie them. They’d be like “figure it out for yourself.” That’s the way the whole ballet world is. So, I love being that transparent one who kind of pulls the curtain back and be that resource for young dancers. I always love when a dancer comes up to me and says how much the videos have helped them reach their goals or get them through a hard time. That means the world to me.

You don’t just reach out to young dancers though, do you? 

The videos reach young girls but I have many adults comment and say “I used to take ballet as a child and have wanted to get back into it but I haven’t been able to and you’ve inspired me to do that." The fact that I have so many adult beginners is such a big deal to me.

With what you were saying about the secrecy of the dance world, I think that’s why so many people who aren’t necessarily trying to be professional dancer still don’t feel comfortable taking dance classes for recreation. I can see how what you’re doing can be very encouraging. 

Absolutely. I don’t just gear my videos to young students. I have some viewers who aren’t even dancers, they’re just fans of ballet.

What do you see for your future? 

I’m definitely going to keep up with my online presence—that’s what has helped me to re-launch my career in a way. But, I would just love to perform as much as I can. And I’m really enjoying this whole acting, singing, dancing thing. I’d like to see where the acting goes. I have many guest ballet performances coming up and to be able to perform in any capacity is my future. I’m happy in whatever opportunity is given me. I don’t have to be principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. If a company wants me, that’s great and I’ll decide then. But I don’t have to be in a ballet company to be happy anymore. I’ve had more fun doing this musical than I’ve had in a very long time.

Even with the singing? 

Yes. That’s been slightly terrifying. But yes, even with the singing. (Laughs) I didn’t really know I could sing until they started working with me. It’s gotten better than I ever thought it could possibly be.