Kathryn Morgan

Kathryn Elizabeth Morgan (born August 17, 1988) is an American ballet dancer.

Kathryn Elizabeth Morgan was born on August 17, 1988, in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

She was adopted.

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.

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.

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.

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.

She joined New York City Ballet in 2006 and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 2009.

In June 2006, at the age of seventeen, Morgan joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice.

Morgan danced with New York City Ballet for six years, from 2006 to 2012.

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.

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 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.

She was promoted to the rank of soloist in October 2009.

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 (Balanchine), and Western Symphony.

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.

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.

Morgan was later diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

She moved back to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to receive treatment.

In 2010, Morgan performed in Benjamin Millepied's Why am I not where you are and 28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini.

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.

Morgan left New York City Ballet in 2012 due to health complications related to her suffering from Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Throughout her recovery, Morgan taught ballet and performed as a guest artist.

Since 2014, Morgan has returned to the stage performing as a guest artist with ballet companies across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

She has been featured in Dance Magazine, Pointe, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Teen Vogue.

She also teaches dance classes, has created her own mobile app, has a podcast on iTunes presented through the Premier Dance Network, 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.

From 2019 to 2020 she was a soloist at Miami City Ballet.