Company Secrets: Ballet Unfiltered

Company Secrets with Kathleen Breen Combes: Directing Ballet Rhode Island

• Jared Redick • Season 1 • Episode 4

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This week on Company Secrets, Jared sits down with Kathleen Breen Combes, Artistic and Executive Director of Ballet Rhode Island. A former principal dancer with Boston Ballet — once described by The New York Times as “a ballerina of colossal scale and boldness” — Kathleen brings both artistic depth and business acumen to her leadership role.

In this candid conversation, she shares what it’s really like to wear both the artistic and executive hats, how she curates seasons, and the challenges and rewards of growing a small company into a statewide cultural force. Kathleen also discusses what she looks for in dancers, how she approaches auditions, and why transparency and trust are central to her leadership.

For young dancers, her advice is clear: don’t waste time, focus on your own path, and seize every opportunity. Kathleen also reflects on the importance of understanding the business side of the art form, her own journey of pursuing further education mid-career, and why building supportive company culture is essential to making ballet relevant and accessible today.


Show Notes:

Company Website: https://balletri.org/

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Jared Redick:

Welcome to Company Secrets Ballet Unfiltered, the podcast where we pull back the curtain on the professional dance world. Each week, I sit down with artistic directors and industry leaders to have candid conversations about how dance companies really work, what they're looking for, how decisions get made, and what it takes to thrive. I'm your host, Jared Reddick. My guest today is the wonderful Kathleen Breencombs, Artistic Director of Ballet Rhode Island. Before stepping into leadership, Kathleen had an incredible career as a principal dancer with Boston Ballet. The New York Times once called her a ballerina of colossal scale and boldness. She danced everything from Juliet and Romeo and Juliet to Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and has worked with some of the biggest names in the ballet world, including William Forsythe, Jorma Ello, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, and Alexander Ekman. She also created leading roles in many other new works throughout her career. What's equally impressive is that while performing, she was also building her skills offstage, earning degrees in communications, management, and nonprofit leadership. As artistic director of Ballet Rhode Island, she's leading a company that's becoming known for its bold programming, community focus, and commitment to making ballet accessible, relevant, and exciting. Kathleen and I danced together for many years at Boston Ballet, so this is also a really special opportunity to reconnect and reflect on the paths we've both taken. Welcome, Kathleen.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Oh, thank you so much for that so super kind introduction. I appreciate it.

Jared Redick:

I'm so happy to have you here, and it's good to see you after so many years.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

So great to see you. Thank you for having me.

Jared Redick:

You've been artistic director there for the last couple of years. I would love for you to tell our listeners, what is a typical dance Oh my gosh,

Kathleen Breen Combes:

everything and anything. I always say I have a plan for the day and then I go in like 47 different directions based on what happens throughout the day. But in addition to being the artistic director, I'm also the executive director. So I handle a lot of the business side of the organization as well. We're a smaller organization. But I really I try to be in the studio as much as I can while the company is in season. So you know, while they're here, I typically try to teach class at least once a week. And then in the studio in whatever, you know, is being staged or rehearsing and coaching at least a little bit each day. So I really try to make that a priority as our organization is growing and I am building more of the administrative side. I'm trying to build a foundation that I can be in the studio a bit more than I have been. So I'm really excited about that. But, you know, I handle everything. speaking to dancers every day, scheduling, speaking to choreographers, strategic planning, finances, marketing, really all aspects of the organization. I

Jared Redick:

was looking at your bio on your website and it said it's artistic executive director. What some of our listeners might not realize is it's usually you have an artistic director and an executive director, but it seems like you're holding both hats. And even though some directors do do that, it seems, is that a more Yeah, exactly.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Right. So I took over both roles at the very beginning of the pandemic. The organization was going through some changes and the board said, can you do both? And at the time, right, nobody knew what was going on. I was like, absolutely, I can handle this. And now the board's like, great, you're doing both. Fabulous. But I think as I stated, you know, now the organization's growing, I'm five years into this position and understanding the needs of the organization. And it's growing, which is wonderful. And I've really put a lot of effort into the artistic product of the organization. And I've seen that grow over the last five years exponentially. I mean, I'm just so thrilled where we are artistically. And so now I'm really looking at how can I add more of that on the administrative side to allow me more time to really do what I'm passionate about, because I'm passionate about the art form. And while I know how to run the business side, and I can appreciate and knowing how to run it, I don't enjoy it as much as being in the studio.

Jared Redick:

Yeah, I can totally understand that. Kind of left brain, right brain situations, like, okay, really want to be correcting people, but I have to fundraise and I've got to keep the bills paid and the lights on. It's a lot. Hopefully in the near future, you'll get a partner to help you on that other side.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Absolutely. And I think also, you know, in the past, there had been kind of this group of art, you know, artistic directors who really had no understanding of the business side. And I think we saw a lot of companies to their detriment under that leadership where people didn't understand the business side, the organization, it didn't flourish. So I think I think it's really important in my position to understand the business side. I'm happy I have those skills, but like I said,

Jared Redick:

I'd love to focus on the art part more. curating a season now?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, so there's so many different aspects to consider. Think of, I start with my dancers. Like, who do I have in the company? And what do I want to feature, you know, them in moving forward? What kind of dancers do I have for the next season? And then I think of, you know, what's still in our repertoire? What do we still have under licensing? And then where's the audience at? And those three things really inform my decision. And then Also, it's where do we want to push our dancers to? How do I want to challenge them over the next year and challenging our audience? We want to continue to expose them to new works where a small company, new commissions, and then also like do service to the art form and make sure that we're pushing it forward as well and maintaining relevance. So a lot of factors when programming.

Jared Redick:

Let's move along to kind of our nuts and bolts questions. Really the reason that our audience is here is to understand what are the inner workings of your companies. Let's start with how many dancers do you currently have in your company?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

We have 18 main company dancers, and then we have seven apprentices. That is similar to another company's second company. Really, they're paid dancers, but they're oftentimes just either right out of a school or a training program. And they typically spend a year as an apprentice, either before moving into the company or move And then

Jared Redick:

how many weeks of work do they have, the main

Kathleen Breen Combes:

company dancers?

Jared Redick:

40 weeks of work, which is really great for dancers for their employment and for the stability of the company and the organization. For dancers who are outside of the company and they're looking to audition, how can they tell when you're actually hiring?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

So we have put it on the website right away. We have our employment section of the website. We also post it on social media. I'm really cognizant of the cost of auditioning. We have a portal on on our website where people submit applications, but I don't invite people unless A, I know that I have a position available and B, I am seriously interested in hiring them. So I just understand the costs of flying out and taking company class. So I'm very careful about who I invite to our company class. And then we also hold open auditions typically in New York and Chicago every year.

Jared Redick:

Thank you so much for doing that and thinking about the dancers who are out there because I know the dancers that I work with, they fly everywhere all over the country auditioning. It's so expensive and resources are limited. Their time is limited. It can be a shame to see them like try so hard when companies might know that they really don't have any opportunities within their companies for that season. So.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Absolutely. So, I mean, there's been several times where I've seen a dancer who's submitted their stuff via video and I say, I email them, say, I'm super interested. I don't know if I have any positions available. I will reach out if I do to invite you for an audition. So that's worked well for me. And I think people do appreciate that because it is, I mean, the expenses are astronomical.

Jared Redick:

It's really tough for young dancers. It's hard to break into the field, get the first real professional job, as we all know. It's so competitive, but not from a dancer to dancer situation. It's just the industry is competitive because the limited number of full-time positions that are out there for them. For a new dancer who's coming into your company, what is their story? Starting salary, either weekly or monthly salary, what does that look like?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

So our apprentices are paid $250 a week. They have a stipend for that. And then our main dancers start between $485 and $500. Oh,

Jared Redick:

that's great. And do the apprentices and obviously the full company, are pointe shoes provided for them?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, pointe shoes. I have kind of a scaling number, you know, for apprentices into the company. But yes, shoes are covered.

Jared Redick:

That's always a question that I get asked. I was offered... position in this company, but I have to pay for shoes and maybe they even have to pay for being the apprentice or second company members. We know how expensive pointe shoes can be. And then for Ballet Rhode Island, how many performances per season do you all have?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

So next year, we have 56 performances actually currently scheduled, you know, six different programs. And we're actually performing in six different theaters next year.

Jared Redick:

Wow. That keeps you very busy in terms of managing So

Kathleen Breen Combes:

we rebranded a few years ago. We were Festival Valley Providence when I took over. And, you know, Rhode Island's the smallest state. And I felt like we were making ourselves even smaller by tying ourselves to a city. And we really wanted to, you know, move beyond just Providence. You know, Providence has 130,000 people. Rhode Island only has 2 million. You know, we really wanted to connect with all of Rhode Island. So that's really been part of our mission is to not just stay in Providence. So the This is really highlighting that by traveling all over the state and performing in different theaters.

Jared Redick:

I can tell you as someone looking from the outside in, your rebrand is so beautiful. Your website, you really see your artistic vision coming through what you've done there since you've taken over the leadership position.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Thank you. That means a lot because a lot of work went into it. If anybody's ever rebranded a company.

Jared Redick:

Oh, no doubt.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

It's a lot.

Jared Redick:

You were saying that dancers, you have an audition portal, if I'm not mistaken. When dancers send their audition materials to you, what is the process? Who sees it? And when do they see it? And when does it get to you? Because you're the ultimate decision maker about who's hired into the company.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, so it goes in and it's either myself or one of the rehearsal directors in our organization, mainly our rehearsal director, Christopher Anderson, who is also the principal of our core program in the school. And we have different levels of files within in that audition folder. So he'll go through and make a first pass and put specific people into my file that he thinks I would be interested to look at. And he's very liberal with it. And we have different, you know, this person would be a good full company member. This person would be a good apprentice. We also have a training program. So we'll slot people into our training program. And so it narrows down and then I'll go in there. And if there's somebody who he's like, I know Kathleen would love it. He actually emails them directly to me and take a look at this person. And then I look at it. And we really try to stay on top of it because there's just so many submissions. And I think it's really important to follow up and kind of be on top of it. And you don't want to miss a potential talented person that could be a part of your company.

Jared Redick:

It's great if you're following up with those dancers because I know it's such a challenging position to be in, to be auditioning all the time and not hearing anything back from all the places you've sent reels to, you've sent audition materials to. That's wonderful that you're doing that. And so for your company, Now you have these audition videos in front of you or you have a dancer right in front of you in company class or an audition that you're holding. What qualities immediately catch your eye?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

I am looking for artists. Like I want to see people who have an absolute joy for what they do and a hunger to get better. I think for me, the main thing that drives me crazy about dancers is complacency. When I see a dancer who's just, I mean, you can tell in their eyes the minute they're focused and they want it and they want it in classical and contemporary and it projects this energy from them that they're interested and they're open. And I think that's a big thing because I just find that we're a small company and even one dancer who has a different kind of approach to their work or a different attitude can make a really big difference in the culture of the company. I'm really careful about who I bring in to the organization. You know, that goes dancers, choreographers, stagers, everybody. But even with the dancers, I mean, I'll watch their video. They'll come here and then I'll have an interview with them, you know, like a Zoom interview and talk to them. Like, why do you want to work here? What do you think about, you know, work culture and what kind of environment do you want to be a part of? Because that just plays so big a factor into the culture of the organization and the company.

Jared Redick:

Hiring a dancer from a class is one thing, but getting to understand what's the chemistry going to be like when you bring this dancer in. It can be a situation where a dancer could be brilliant and you love their talent, but it doesn't really work once they get there. They're not set up for success. The company's not set up for success in that respect. You want them to succeed, right? Anyone you bring in, you want them to succeed so badly because it is so challenging to create the resources to bring these dancers in and have them a part of the company and produce the level of art that you are producing. Oh,

Kathleen Breen Combes:

my gosh. And I tell that to my dancers, you know, at the very beginning of the season, like, each of you are here because I already love you as artists. Like, I so appreciate the work that you've already done just to get to this level. I think if you can start from there with your company, and there's an understanding and appreciation for the art and work that they've already put in, then you're starting at a different level. I think there's a trust that's there that when you're pushing them harder, into certain roles that they trust that it's for the right reasons. And you're pushing them because you believe in them, not because you're trying to break them down.

Jared Redick:

There's been a generational shift in the ballet world in terms of that, the more supportive environments in companies, because I feel for my own career, I didn't feel like I had that support. It felt like they were trying to break me down. Right.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Survival. Absolutely.

Jared Redick:

It's survival of the fittest of the company. And it's like,

Kathleen Breen Combes:

yeah, sink or swim. You know, it was either like you're given an opportunity and prove us that you deserve this. You know, I always said like every day was an audition. And while I don't like complacency, you know, so it goes hand in hand, but you don't want a fear based model or dancers who don't feel like they can take risks and fail.

Jared Redick:

The ability and the space to take risks as an artist. And again, being in ballet companies, it's so challenging to get those opportunities to be able to take those risks.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, especially when you only have one performance. And that's where, you know, it's so hard sometimes because you don't want people to hold back at all. You want them to just go for it and really just seize the moment.

Jared Redick:

Exactly, because the opportunities are few and far between. Even if you're in a big company, it still can feel that way. Thinking about these young dancers now, what do you wish that these young dancers knew about company life?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Don't waste time. It's so short-lived. It's like, get down to business. right away, right? Come in and work and be the best that you can be. There's so much time spent either comparing yourself or waiting for something to happen. And I think the biggest thing is like, just get in there and put the work in and put your head down and do the work every day and worry about your own path. It's really about seizing the moment and not wasting time. In this industry, time is money and you want to make make sure that you don't waste any moment of it. It's getting in the studio every day, putting your head down, putting the work in and worrying about your own path and not what it looks like compared to somebody else's.

Jared Redick:

Since you first joined the company five years ago, how have you seen the expectation change for dancers?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

I mean, I think that my expectation and, you know, I came from a big organization and I had very high expectations. I think our artistic staff has very high expectations. And I wanted the company to step up, to level up to a certain presentation of artistry, physicality, technique, all of those things. I really pushed each of our dancers to just continue to improve. And every year I've seen the level of people who are coming interested in joining our company. The level has gotten higher and higher, which I'm amazed sometimes. I'm like, oh my goodness. Wonderful. I've watched the level of the company really grow. You can see it internally at first as somebody who's in the field. But then when you have external people saying, oh, my goodness, the level of the whole company is so much higher. For me, that's really lovely to hear because we've been working so hard.

Jared Redick:

It's interesting that external validation and how much it means to an organization or for you as a leader, because you're working so hard on the day to day things that sometimes it can get lost. you lose track of that progress that you're making.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, I've had choreographers come back a few times and I haven't been here in a few years and they're like blown away. They're like, oh my God, you're a company now. And I'm like, really? Do you think so? Because I feel it. But to hear people within the industry see it, it is really nice to hear.

Jared Redick:

That must be so gratifying, as you mentioned. Thinking about mental health, we've been in this conversation about dancers and their mental health more direct and more succinctly. What's one habit or mindset that has served you throughout your career in terms of mental health?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

I think personally, and I don't know if this works for everybody, because I started working on the administrative side of the organization in the middle of my career, I realized how impersonal some of the decisions were and how it wasn't a personal attack on the dancer. And that's really hard as a because you are the artist, right? It's your vessel and you care so deeply about it. So to think that a decision that affects you and your entire being is not personal is hard to understand or comprehend. But having been on the other side and realizing that sometimes it's like a chess piece, you know, or it's like a puzzle that has to be put together and it may have been not because you did anything wrong, or casting decision or something, but like this is just how it worked out. And so the understanding that sometimes it just there was nothing you could have done differently is really important. And I've worked really hard to even when those hard decisions are made for my dancers to at least acknowledge the work that went into it on their part goes a really far away in them understanding or accepting kind of the final end result and being OK with it and being able to move on.

Jared Redick:

It's the idea that once you're in, it's hard as a dancer to have that more global perspective of what's actually happening day to day within the company and how the artistic staff and artistic director need to make these decisions in different kinds of ways. And it has nothing to do necessarily with you as a dancer or as an artist, but just what are the needs of the organization or the company? And it's so multifaceted, all those decisions.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah. And I just, I mean, I sit here so many times throughout the year and have conversations and say, like, you did everything right like yeah you worked so well and how amazing was that process for you and you still gained something from it like even if you didn't make it to the stage or even if you weren't opening night like the process for you was really wonderful and you've gained so much from it but this was just like a decision that had to be made you know so trying to separate those two and it's it's difficult those are difficult conversations

Jared Redick:

it might soften the blow but for a dancer we've been on the other side of that casting decision where it's like Like, oh, man, I, you know, I didn't get cast in this role or that role or wasn't called for this ballet. But, you know, at least you're having the conversation. At least the dialogue is happening and maybe trying to educate these dancers about, you know, it's not about you. It's about what we need to do as an organization.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

I think that's the key, though, Jared. It's really about the conversation, because for me, there was a lot of withholding of information. I'm not really sure why or the reasoning behind it. And I think that's industry wide. It was just the way things were done. You got told to be at the show and your name was put on the board and there was no reasoning behind it. And that was really hard as a dancer did not even know why. I think if I can at least provide some sort of context or at least have a conversation acknowledging the hard work behind it softens the blow, as you said. I

Jared Redick:

wanted to circle back to you were talking about mid-career. You started pursuing further education on the administrative straight upside. Can you talk a little bit about that and maybe how that might be helpful for the young dancers or dancers who are in the middle of their career, why they might want to pursue that and what kind of insights that might give them into what they're doing as dancers?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

I was always a dancer who was very aware of like the end of my career. I knew I wasn't going to dance, you know, until I was 50. I had to have another plan. I had to know what was next. But I also knew that like I loved this art form and I saw myself continuing on. And there were so many things that I saw throughout my career that I was like, I would have done that differently, which is really easy to say at the time. Now, now I'm like, it's a little harder to change things. But I kept like that list of things that I would like to do differently. And how can I use that and move forward. But I also felt like it was really important to have education behind it. So to go back to school to get a degree in management and communications and nonprofit leadership, it felt like it gave me the tools. And during that time, I kind of said yes to everything within the organization. I was asked to go speak at this event. It's a yes, you know, if I was asked to do this interview or go speak here. So I just I started realizing that there was a lot of opportunities for me to learn a lot. And I think another thing that dancers really need to understand, and there's a weird relationship dynamic with boards sometimes where it's like, oh, they give us money, so we can't talk to them. But it really is access to Right. These are people who are invested in the culture, invested in the city. They're hugely knowledgeable about their own fields. So I think utilizing that network and speaking to those people and understanding what they're doing. And, you know, some of my board members from Boston Ballet have been my mentors and are still are mentors to me because they have so much information. So I think there's so much opportunity. to learn a lot from the people that are surrounding the organization.

Jared Redick:

I shared that perspective as a dancer moving through the company and being asked to go to these board events or to speak here and there. The people who are on the board, they're there because they love the ballet and they love the mission and they want to forward the mission. It behooves us as dancers and as artists to go speak with them and understand, learn, surround yourself with people who have different perspectives and can help you. I know so many of the board members They have such interesting lives.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Fascinating. They're running the biggest companies in the city. You know, I mean, it's really and they care. They care about the art forms. I've heard kind of people being like, oh, we have to go to these events. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is just such a great opportunity to meet people who are really invested in what we do.

Jared Redick:

I'm wondering when you were younger, did you ever imagine yourself becoming an artistic director? Was that something that a goal that was like, I'm going to do this in the future? Tell us about that. I

Kathleen Breen Combes:

mean, honestly, not. Not really. I felt like an artistic director during my time. It was mostly men when I worked with one female choreographer my entire career. And the weird thing now looking back at this is I never questioned that. I never questioned why I never worked with a female choreographer until about like 10 years into my career. It was so normal that I had never even questioned it. I didn't know if I had that in me to kind of lead an organization But I also feel like now I do. I got to the point where I was like, why not? I've been in this industry for so long and I do have a lot of knowledge. And I remember speaking to a stager who said, you need to be doing this. And they really like kind of lit this fire in me and supported me. As

Jared Redick:

someone who's had such a prolific career and you've been given so much information and knowledge by so many stagers and choreographers and directors and rehearsal directors to give that back to the dancers right it feels like a heavy responsibility it's like I have this knowledge I might not have ever thought of myself as being a leader but I do feel like a responsibility to the art form how can I give back to the art form that's given me so much at this point in my life so

Kathleen Breen Combes:

yeah and if we don't who's going to it's in the process it's so funny because you'll get in the studio and you'll start working on a role and then all these like memories of like what was told to you comes back and you're like, oh my gosh, I have so much here. You know, there's like layers. It's like an onion. I

Jared Redick:

just have to say how wonderful it is that you are in that crop of all the female directors that are now populating the ballet world. So congratulations for that. Thank you. It is that glass ceiling, right? It is. It is there.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Absolutely. You know, and I think as artists, we always doubt ourselves. We're always waiting to be perfect to take the next step. So I think that was something too that like I had to say, No, like you can learn on the job. You can take this opportunity and you can analyze your mistakes and take risks and then change the way you do things like that's OK to do in the position.

Jared Redick:

That's the way we learn, right? We have to try. And then, yes, we fail. But how do we manage with some of those failures or things that don't go necessarily as planned? Failure seems like a heavy word, right? Yes, exactly.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

It's repair. We repair.

Jared Redick:

What's a dream project or collaboration you'd love to bring to life. I know. Oh,

Kathleen Breen Combes:

so many things. Of course. You know, so many things. But I really I want for this organization, I would say like I really want to bring us on tour to the Joyce. Like that's a dream because I think that we deserve to be there. I think New York deserves to see the level of work that we're putting on here. So that's for me where I would love to do. But there's larger choreographers that I would love to work with. You know, if budget permitting in the next few years and do a full length work here. And I'm also working on this idea of hosting different companies like for this smaller company group, bringing a company to us and hosting them and us having an opportunity to go to them. So creating these partnership opportunities because touring is really expensive. So how do we get us to tour but kind of with this reciprocal partnership with other companies our side?

Jared Redick:

I have no doubt that you'll make that happen But I have to ask, which choreographers, what ballet is the top of your list that

Kathleen Breen Combes:

you're like, oh, if we could just do this ballet? those ballets did for me as an artist was just so monumental. And I would love for my dancers to be able to experience that.

Jared Redick:

You think about ballets or choreographers such as Killian and how much they feed a dancer artistically and how much development you have within those works. Yes, you get it in the studio, but performing it in front of an audience, it's just there's nothing like it.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

No, absolutely. Yeah. And it's just there's so many layers to each of it. You know, you would do it how And every time you do it, they're like, oh, you learned something new about it. And how incredible is that? And also, I have to say, everybody I've worked with who has been part of that trust or staging has just been so incredible in the studio. And I think that says so much about the choreographer and the work that

Jared Redick:

he did. was that environment with Yuri Kilian. Tell us what's coming up for you. What's exciting about next season?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

We have a few really cool projects I'm really excited about. We are partnering with a museum, the Westerly American Impressionism Museum, and I'm bringing in three choreographers who will each be inspired by a work from the museum to create a new piece, and we're calling it Off the Wall, you know, bringing art to life. So I'm excited to see that but actually the project I'm most excited about next year is we're bringing Sophie Treadwell's 1928 play called Machinal and we're creating a ballet to that so we've partnered with the University of Rhode Island and director of the theater department at URI and she's done this play as a play and is going to be working with our resident choreographer Yuri Yanowski and they're going to be creating a new ballet it's a really feminist ballet I think it was written in 1928 about like kind of the machine of life and how can you break these expectations. And I think there's still so much to it today. So I'm really excited to see it come to life in a different way. Oh,

Jared Redick:

that sounds fantastic. Congratulations for getting that off the ground. And I'm looking forward to, I can't, I probably won't be able to see it, but I look forward to reading the reviews.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Yeah, thank you. No, it's an exciting project. And, you know, it's our first kind of like commission of a full length ballet that's a different ballet. And it's also it's a risk on our part because it's not a Peter Pan. It's not a very common story, family oriented ballet. It's certainly a risk, but I'm excited about it.

Jared Redick:

Kudos to you for taking that risk and bringing such a wonderful story forward. We need more of that in the dance world. We need new stories.

Kathleen Breen Combes:

We need to make the classics of tomorrow, right?

Jared Redick:

Absolutely. I'd like to end each interview with our full circle question. What's one piece of advice you'd give your younger self at the start of your professional career?

Kathleen Breen Combes:

Don't waste time. I think that's my biggest one. And I think it's also like enjoy the process and don't be embarrassed by not being perfect. I think I spent probably like the first half of my career, you know, not wanting to work on things in the studio because I thought I was supposed to be perfect right away. And then And I backtracked and I had like this reset in my career where it was like, oh my gosh, that's how you get better. You know, the failing in the studio, the trying things in the studio, the taking the time to like reset every once in a while and really figure out what you need to do to be better. And enjoying that process is really, really important to the entire thing. You know, I was so worried about being perfect all the time. And then I kind of realized that actually my imperfection made me more interesting as a dancer so to remember that right that's what made me like perfect is boring and embrace your imperfections I wish I did that earlier and don't be afraid to fail and yeah just go for it

Jared Redick:

that's great advice for young dancers Kathleen thank you for being here today I really appreciate your time we'll link to Ballet Rhode Island's site where our listeners can learn more about the company and follow your upcoming season

Kathleen Breen Combes:

thank you so much

Jared Redick:

if If you liked our conversation here today, you can follow Company Secrets Podcast on all platforms and on our website, companysecretspodcast.com. Thank you for listening because the stage is only part of the story.