Kicking It Real

Julia Pontarelli packed her car, said goodbye to the only city she had ever called home, and moved to Seattle with two weeks to spare between the end of one dance career and the start of another. Losing the thing your...

Natalie is back on Kicking It Real, and this conversation is proof that you're allowed to walk away from the thing you built your whole identity around and come out the other side more yourself, not less. She spent...

Bella Bernath will tell you that talent gets you in the room, but knowing your worth is what actually keeps you working, and keeps you sane while you are doing it. She started dancing at four years old, was teaching by...

Two years into taking his class, Mike Esperanza pulled Sam Assemany aside and told her to stop being so perfect, to mess it up a little. That is the fear underneath most desperation, the belief that if you are not...

Clara Eaton Ribeiro used to stand on the podium wondering why she was the only one of her friends walking away with silver instead of gold. That is the trap of chasing recognition, the belief that a medal color could...

Antonio King spent a full month convinced one audition was going to define the rest of his career. That is the trap of wanting anything badly enough, the belief that a single yes or no from someone else could actually...

Khori Petinaud will tell you she almost strangled her dream before she learned how to hold it, and that might be the real thesis of this conversation. Sometimes the difference between wanting something and losing...

Paula Leggett Chase didn't grow up dreaming of Broadway, and that might be the real thesis of this conversation. Sometimes the skill that changes your whole life is the one you go looking for last, not the one you were...

Lizz Picini is the kind of guest who makes you want to throw out every box anyone has ever tried to put you in. There is a moment in every performance career where wearing every hat you own stops being a flex and starts...

Today I sit down with Conor DeVoe. This conversation is a reminder that walking away from something does not always mean giving up on it, and that protecting yourself is not the same as quitting. He is a Coastal...

Ryan Hayes didn't take his first dance class until he was twenty years old, and this episode is proof that the timeline you think you're supposed to be on rarely has anything to do with the career you actually end up...

Years before she ever thought she'd actually play her, Deanna Cudjoe performed Cassie's monologue in a college acting class and texted her old teacher the day she booked the real thing. Deanna is the middle of five kids...

This episode wrecked me a little, in the best way. I went into this conversation thinking I was catching up with someone whose childhood I half remember from Disney Channel, and I came out of it talking about identity...

This episode felt less like recording a podcast and more like exactly what it is. Two WMU alums who haven't had a real sit-down in way too long, finally doing it on mic. If you haven't met Erzsi yet, she's the kind of...

In today's episode, my first ever repeat guest is back and honestly, it felt less like recording a podcast and more like exactly what it is.In today's episode, my first ever repeat guest is back and it felt less like...