Kicking It Real

I'm Gabby, a former Rockette who heard "no" five times before I ever heard "yes." Kicking It Real started as real conversations with dancers, and somewhere along the way it turned into something bigger: a space for anyone chasing a big, scary dream to actually get celebrated for it. Every guest leaves with something most people never get: a real moment of being seen, no follow-up question, just a chance to take a bow.This is where the highlight reel ends and the honest, in-progress stuff begins. Come for the stories, stay for the "same, me too" moments 🤍

Kicking It Real is a arts podcast hosted by GABBY ROBERTS, with 61 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

GABBY ROBERTS hosts Kicking It Real, a arts show with 61 episodes published.

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  Kicking It Real

  52. why Broadway vets can't get auditions right now: celebrity casting, rejection, and starting a side business with Mary Page Nance

  Sep 30, 20261h 14m

  Mary Page Nance is living proof of something every artist finds out eventually: talent can get you into the room, but your willingness to stay uncomfortable decides what you do once you're in it. She trained in modern dance at SUNY Purchase, made her Broadway debut in the original company of Finding Neverland, swung twenty tracks in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and went on to the original companies of A Beautiful Noise and Lempicka. She also runs Monocle Productions, her custom event entertainment company, and a page of mary, her handmade paper goods business. And somewhere in the middle of all that, while she was already working on Broadway, she went back to acting school. We get into why the open calls she spent years showing up to were never real auditions, the email that got her into an Andy Blankenbuehler master class for free, and the first audition where the room was actually expecting her. We talk about what it feels like to go on for a role on a Broadway stage while quietly guessing, and why she went home early on opening night to make a 9:30 a.m. acting class in Brooklyn. If you've heard no so many times lately that you've started to wonder whether you're the problem, this one is for you. Stay in the loop with me Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Mary Page here Instagram: @marypagenance TikTok: @marypagenance Monocle Productions: @monoclenyc a page of mary: @apageofmary Her Wicked and Lempicka card designs are at The Drama Book Shop in NYC. Sarah Kleist's business course for multi-hyphenate artists: sarahkleist.com

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  Kicking It Real

  51. from Chicago Bulls dance captain to Squid Game contestant with Julia Pontarelli

  Sep 23, 202659 min

  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 whole life was built around rarely comes with a ceremony, most of the time it just quietly asks you who you are now that it is gone. Julia spent five years dancing for the Chicago Bulls, working her way up to head captain, before that move to Seattle put her on an NFL dance team for what turned out to be a single season, ending when she was cut the following year. She eventually opened her own dance studio in Seattle, and somewhere in the middle of all of it she also became Player 029 on Squid Game: The Challenge, walking straight into a show built entirely around elimination. We get into what actually happens in the two weeks between packing up a five year career and starting a brand new one three thousand miles away. We talk about the post that never happened, the one everyone was waiting for that said she made the team again, and what it cost her to be happy for the friends who did. We also get into why she signed up for a literal elimination show months after living through one, and which kind of getting cut actually hurt more. Gabby and Julia have known each other since fourth grade, back when they were both dancing in the same production of the Nutcracker, and this one is for anyone who has ever had something taken from them before they were ready to let it go. Stay in the loop with me Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Julia here Instagram & TikTok: @juliaponty

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  Kicking It Real

  50. Rockette secret retirement to future therapist with Natalie Butt

  Sep 16, 202657 min

  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 multiple seasons dancing with the Radio City Rockettes, performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and at a Madison Square Garden halftime show, and this past season quietly juggled full Rockette rehearsals with her first year of an online graduate program, all while telling almost no one it would be her last season on the line. We get into what it actually felt like to keep her retirement a secret from her castmates and friends, why burnout ended up being the thing that opened the door to a completely different career, and the moment in a job interview that stopped her in her tracks: "how'd you go from being a Rockette to here?" We talk about the sunk cost fallacy, what it's like to trade being the most impressive person in the room for a total identity reset, and the exact reframe that made the pressure of becoming someone's therapist feel possible instead of terrifying. This one is for anyone quietly wondering if they're allowed to want something new after giving everything to the thing they thought was forever. Stay in the loop with me Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Natalie here Instagram & TikTok: @nataliekbutt

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  Kicking It Real

  49. building a successful career in LA, financial literacy for dancers and knowing your worth with Bella Bernath

  Sep 9, 202651 min

  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 fourteen, and graduated high school early just to buy herself more time before her move to LA. Within a few years she booked a six year run touring the world as a dancer for Maluma, including his 11:11 World Tour, and somewhere in the middle of all that she landed a Vegas production that turned out to be run by an actual family with real mob ties. We get into what a real dance contract actually looks like, why she will not work a job that pays below Dancers Alliance rate, and the exact money habits that let her build a six month savings cushion before she ever moved to LA. We talk about negotiating retainer pay mid tour, the difference between wanting a job and needing one to survive, and why so many genuinely talented dancers still cannot shake the feeling that they are not doing enough. Bella also gets real about what touring actually looks like behind the highlight reel, the hurry up and wait days, the friendships that only exist inside a tour bubble, and the version of herself she had to build to stay steady through years of living out of a suitcase. This one is for anyone who has ever felt guilty asking to get paid what they are worth. Stay in the loop with me Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Bella here Instagram & TikTok: @bellabhungary

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  Kicking It Real

  48. stop being so perfect: breaking the desperation mindset & learning to trust yourself as a freelance dancer with Sam Assemany

  Sep 2, 202655 min

  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 flawless or constantly visible, someone is going to forget you exist, when usually the opposite is true. A Western Michigan University dance grad, Sam moved to New York in September of 2015 and took her first class with choreographer Mike Esperanza a month later, a class she still calls the most life changing hour she has ever spent in a studio. She has since become a member of BARE Dance Company, spent six years teaching at a studio on Long Island, and now works within NYCDA, one of the largest dance convention circuits in the industry. We get into the audition she didn't book two years into taking Mike's class, and why she walked away sad but not angry, not even a little. We talk about the desperation mindset dancers fall into, the fear of being forgotten if you are not constantly in someone's face, and the one uncomfortable conversation Sam finally had that changed that. We also get into what social media and convention camera culture are doing to young dancers' patience and their ability to just be bad at something in peace. If you have ever stayed too available out of fear that pulling back would mean being forgotten, this one is for you. Stay in the loop with me Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Sam here Instagram: @samassemany

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