Katarina Aubuchon

Katarina (Kate) AuBuchon, from Greenville, South Carolina, grew up training at Carolina Ballet Theater (CBT). At 14, she attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities for full-time training, attending summer intensives at Joffrey Ballet (Chicago), Orlando Ballet, and Washington Ballet. She danced as a trainee at the Louisville Ballet and CBT before enrolling at Furman University for a dual degree in Psychology and Philosophy. During her college education she continued to perform with CBT, and taught extensively in South Carolina and Texas after graduation.

In her own second act, Kate is finishing her PhD in Applied Social Psychology at George Washington University in Washington, DC, studying the social-behavioral contributors to health inequalities. She feels at home in the rigor of academia after her years pursuing ballet. When she mentors undergraduate students, she can relate to the anxiety of making dramatic shifts in career goals, remembering the decision to pivot from ballet. She hopes to help young dancers transitioning from ballet understand the role that higher education could provide within that transition, and provide support through that process.