Kicking It Real

GABBY ROBERTS
  • 4.6 (10)
  • Performing Arts
  • Updated Weekly

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 🤍

  1. 5d ago

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

    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 @potentiallygabbyFind Bella here 👇🏼Instagram & TikTok: @bellabhungary

  2. Sep 2

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

    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 @potentiallygabbyFind Sam here 👇🏼Instagram: @samassemany

  3. Aug 26

    47. redefining what winning actually means as a dance adjudicator after years of chasing titles and national crowns with Clara Eaton Ribeiro

    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 actually tell you how much you were worth, when it never really could.Clara spent six years performing professionally on cruise ships, training as an aerialist and dancing inside a scuba certified aqua show alongside Olympic divers and Red Bull athletes before she ever sat on the other side of the table as a dance adjudicator and coach. She is also the founder of Vertex Vibe, a boutique dance convention she built on purpose to cap attendance around thirty dancers, a direct answer to the two hundred, sometimes six hundred person conventions she grew up competing at.We get into what changed for her the first time she sat on the other side of the judging table, deciding who wins and who does not.We talk about the studio etiquette moment she sees quietly follow dancers into the professional world, why she will always argue dance is an art before it is a sport, and the very real work of letting go of other people's opinions when you have built something with your whole heart.If you have ever needed someone else to hand you permission to feel proud of yourself, this one is for you.Stay in the loop with me 🤍Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabbyFind Clara here 👇🏼Instagram: @claraeatonVertex Vibe: @vertexvibe

  4. Aug 19

    46. dethroning the industry: finding your authentic voice & defining success with Antonio King

    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 decide who you are, when it almost never does.A performer working professionally for over a decade, Antonio spent six years chasing his first national tour before landing Jersey Boys, then went on to play Jimmy Early in Dreamgirls at Phoenix Theatre, a performance he calls the proudest of his career despite a hamstring pull and sciatica that cost him two weeks of the run. He is also the voice behind a growing platform built out of what he used to call his shirtless sermons, unscripted Instagram stories that became a real resource for young performers navigating an industry built on comparison.We get into the eight callbacks and eleven sides that pushed him toward a show he ultimately did not book, and the moment two weeks later when he caught himself still spiraling and had to consciously choose to stop.We talk about the term he coined for that choice, dethroning it, and how he uses it to keep opportunities, likes, and other people's timelines from deciding his worth. We also get into his current prayer for freedom from comparison, offense, and distraction, and the small daily habits, gratitude first thing in the morning, skincare as self-care, a genuinely swift block button, that keep him rooted in his own voice.If you have ever put something so high on a pedestal that losing it felt like losing yourself, this one is for you.Stay in the loop with me 🤍Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabbyFind Antonio here 👇🏼Instagram & TikTok: @a.king_32

  5. Aug 12

    45. manifesting her dream Broadway role without losing her love for the art & work with Khori Petinaud

    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 yourself to the wanting is just learning how to hold on a little looser.With Broadway credits spanning Aladdin, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and Bob Fosse's Dancin' (plus a season as an NYC Rockette along the way), Khori is now originating a whole new chapter as one of the Fates in Broadway's Hadestown, a role she manifested and worked toward for seven years before it ever became hers.We get into what those seven years actually looked like, the early non-union hustle where she admits she was gripping the goal too tightly, and how that grip eventually had to loosen without her ever loving the work any less.We talk about the full Rockette season she danced on a torn hamstring without missing a single show, and why she flatly rejects the idea that balance is something achievable at all. And we get into the harder season right before Hadestown, when she felt like she was carrying more than she could bear, and what it took for the people around her to help hold her up.If you have ever loved something so much you were scared that loving it that hard would end up costing you the love itself, this one is for you.Stay in the loop with me 🤍Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabbyFind Khori here👇🏼Instagram: @kmr8787Substack: Khori Michelle Petinaud

  6. Aug 5

    44. 40 years on Broadway and TV since starting dance at 20 & what it taught her about motherhood and resilience with Paula Leggett Chase

    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 handed as a kid. Paula was a voice major at Indiana University, a gymnast with no formal dance training, and didn't take a real ballet class until she moved to New York in her twenties, working her way through scholarship classes at Steps until the room finally saw what she could do. She went on to build a Broadway resume that spans A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Damn Yankees, Kiss Me Kate, Curtains, and Tootsie, plus television work on 30 Rock and Younger. We get into what it actually felt like to be cast as a trained ballerina in A Chorus Line without the technique to back it up, and the imposter syndrome of faking her way through a role built on years of training she simply didn't have yet. We talk about motherhood inside a business with no guarantees and no family insurance, what it meant to have miscarriages in a dressing room and still show up for eight shows a week, and the advice she'd give her younger self about rejection that has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with fit. And we get into what happens when a woman who spent decades being seen suddenly finds herself invisible in a room full of twenty five year olds, and what she had to prove before that changed. If you have ever started something later than everyone around you and wondered if you already missed your window, this one is for you.Stay in the loop with me 🤍Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabbyFind Paula here👇🏼Instagram: @paulaleggettTikTok: @antiqueshowgirlWebsite: paulaleggettchase.com

  7. Jul 29

    43. how wearing all the hats led to dance captaining her own Broadway debut, her own LaDuca boot & the toll it all took with Lizz Picini

    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 being the whole job, and what you do with that weight says everything about who you actually are. Lizz has spent hers as a performer, dance captain, swing, and coach, most recently making her Broadway debut in Elf while dance captaining the very show she was still learning in real time, a run that also earned her a LaDuca boot named in her honor. We get into the industry insights she rarely shares publicly, like what it actually felt like to stand up and lead a room full of Tony nominated castmates before she even had her own Broadway credit to her name, and how she learned to stop letting other people's opinions determine her worth, her income, and her health insurance. We talk about the entrepreneurship behind building her own coaching business out of skills she almost didn't think were sellable, the resilience it took to keep performing through a very real relationship with burnout, and the time management it takes to run client consultations and a Broadway show in the same day. But underneath all of it is the toll that wearing every single hat actually took on her, the part she does not usually say out loud. This one is for you if you have ever felt like you needed someone's permission to take up more than one lane at a time, even when it was quietly costing you something to hold them all. Stay in the loop with me 🤍 Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabby Find Lizz here👇🏼 Instagram & TikTok: @lizzpicini

  8. Jul 22

    42. Disney cruise ships, Wicked obsession, and setting boundaries as a performer with Conor DeVoe

    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 Carolina musical theater grad who built a career across regional theater and Disney Cruise Line, now on his seventh contract across four ships, puppeteering Olaf in Frozen and once covering thirty six different dance and acting tracks in a single production. Together we get into what it actually looks like when a performance career you love starts costing you your body and your sense of self, why he stayed as long as he did before leaving a theater contract seven months early, and how a pandemic hobby turned into a social media following that reminded him why he fell in love with acting and performing in the first place. We unpack boundaries, body image in an industry that rarely names it out loud, and real career advice for anyone building a life in dance or theater on their own terms. If you have ever stayed somewhere that was quietly breaking you because leaving felt like failure, this one is your sign to trust yourself instead.Stay in the loop with me 🤍Instagram & TikTok: @kickingitrealpod @potentiallygabbyFind Conor here👇🏼Instagram & TikTok: @conordevoe

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4.6
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

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 🤍

Information

  • Creator
    GABBY ROBERTS
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    60
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © GABBY ROBERTS
  • Show Website
    Kicking It Real

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