Kate Gibson, Storyteller

KATE GIBSON, Production Coordinator, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

I have a plaque on my desk that says, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible. – Walt Disney”

Ballet is the only art form I ever studied in which I didn’t dream of a career. I didn’t realize until I was an adult struggling through life as a theatre artist how much I appreciated having an art form that remained a hobby.

It…led to me going back onto pointe - for no reason other than proving to myself that I could.

In a particularly lean time, I scraped enough money together to go to a class at Ballet Arts in the City Center building in mid-town Manhattan. This probably meant that there would be at least one meal made of coffee and a banana and that I’d have to plan my subway rides strategically for a few days, but I needed something that would make me happy. That first class back became the first of many, and led to a relationship with a dance teacher who became a friend and mentor. It also led to me going back onto pointe - for no reason other than proving to myself that I could. When things get tough, and I am faced with “impossible” projects and situations, I pull out my ballet shoes, sometimes my pointe shoes, go to class, and remind myself what simple, sheer determination can empower me to do.