Kait Sardin: Stepping Into Her Own Rhythm

What happens when you blend the precision of Irish dance with the raw energy of hip-hop, jazz, and dancehall? This question sets the stage for our captivating conversation with Kait Sardin, also known as "Kaitrock", a trailblazing dancer who took a fascinating detour from her biology studies to illuminate the dance world. Join us as Kait recounts her incredible journey from the sunny shores of Florida to the buzz of New York City, unveiling the life-altering moments that led her from aspiring physical therapist to social media dance sensation. From her time at Hofstra University to her unexpected rise to fame during the pandemic, Kait story is as dynamic as her dance moves.

In our deep dive into Kait world, she opens up about the community she found within Irish dance and the unique challenges she faced in a competitive scene that was scarce in her hometown. We explore her participation in Dance Drama—an Irish Dance Broadway fusion—and her significant move to New York, where she juggles dance gigs and a new lifestyle. Kait passion for dance is infectious, and she shares the joy and struggles of balancing her artistic endeavors with professional responsibilities, giving us an inside look at the resilience and creativity required to thrive.

Kait also speaks candidly about the emotional aspects of her journey, from battling self-doubt and impostor syndrome to celebrating the power of self-love and empowerment. We touch on her fears, the importance of living in the moment, and the joy she finds in simple pleasures like Thai food and museum visits. This episode is a treasure trove of personal insights and inspiring lessons, highlighting Kait's adaptability, passion, and the unwavering support of her loved ones. Don't miss this vibrant and heartfelt discussion that's sure to resonate with anyone pursuing their dreams against all odds.
@kaitrock

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Chapters

• 0:24 Embracing the Art of Dance
• 10:13 Finding Community Through Irish Dance
• 16:43 Navigating Artistic and Digital Integration
• 28:16 Navigating Loneliness and Self-Discovery
• 38:54 Embracing Self-Discovery and Empowerment
• 52:10 Embracing Change and Pursuing Dreams

Transcript

Lisa Hopkins: 0:24

This is the Stop Time Podcast. I'm your host, lisa Hopkins, and I'm here to engage you in thought-provoking, motivational conversations around practicing the art of living in the moment. I'm a certified life coach and I'm excited to dig deep and offer insights into embracing who we are and where we are at where we are at. So I first came across today's guest when I was captivated by her impeccable rhythm and exuberant energy in a video that she shared. She's truly unique in every sense of the word and has inspired so many with her talent and creativity.

Lisa Hopkins: 1:04

You might as her as Kaitrock, the artist behind the one-of-a-kind Irish dance meets hip-hop mashups that have earned her an avid following on Instagram and TikTok and beyond, and it's no surprise to me at all that she was featured as one of the dance magazines 2024-25 to watch, an annual list that highlights dancers, choreographers, directors and companies poised for a breakout dancers, choreographers, directors and companies poised for a breakout. She describes herself as an Irish dancer with a twist, and since 2015, she has been curating a unique fusion of Irish dancing with hip hop, jazz and dance hall. As one of the few Black women in the Irish dancing community, she continues to push boundaries and inspire others worldwide, from dancing in Ireland to performing in LA. She has always found a way to dance, no matter where she is. So I am so excited to introduce you and for myself to get to know Kait Sardin. Welcome.

Kait Sardin: 2:03

Hello, thank you Hello.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:11

Hi, so nice to meet you. So nice to meet you. How are you? I'm good, I'm laughing. The reason I'm laughing is because you know, yes, you're a fabulous dancer and all that, but it's you that's so fabulous, your energy is incredible.

Kait Sardin: 2:23

Thank you, I really appreciate it. I'm so excited to do this.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:26

Ditto. I'm curious. I'm always curious to know like why, why you said yes.

Kait Sardin: 2:31

I just enjoy just talking about like dance and like spreading it. But also I thought it was very interesting to just like hearing that you wanted to hear about the dancer instead of just the dances, so I thought that was super cool, yeah, yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:46

Yeah, no, I'm super interested in in like what I call the human behind the headlines, right?

Kait Sardin: 2:51

I'm so excited for this. I'm down to just enjoy and just chat. Yeah, awesome.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:57

I'm super curious. Well, let's just get a context where where are you right now? I'm currently in New York okay, and is, and is that home for you? I don't think so, or is it?

Kait Sardin: 3:07

It is now. I recently moved up here.

Lisa Hopkins: 3:10

Okay. You're from Florida but you're in New York now, so talk to me how long have you been in New York and how are you liking it?

Kait Sardin: 3:16

I've been in New York since May. I had a job up here and I was just like, let me just buy a one-way ticket. My friend was like you can stay on the couch and then we'll find a place. And I was lucky enough to find a job pretty quickly and I had a bunch of different dance gigs and around all of that time I met a few people and I found my current living situation, which is great I get to be in Bed-Stuy and I'm so excited.

Lisa Hopkins: 3:44

Nice. Is this your first time in New York, first time living in New York?

Kait Sardin: 3:47

So excited. Nice, is this your first time in New York? First time living in New York? No, well, in the city. Yes, I used to go to school at Hofstra in Long Island, so I was in Long Island for a hot minute Amazing.

Lisa Hopkins: 3:58

What was your major. What was your major?

Kait Sardin: 4:00

Biology what? Yes, I was biology, but then during the pandemic I left because I couldn't do any of the labs in person, and that's actually when I started really jumping into dance and posting online.

Lisa Hopkins: 4:16

That's really interesting. So talk to me. I know, you know, I know from my research, that you've been training in dance, particularly in Irish, right from a very young age and I'm curious to know was there a gap where you stopped and where you were maybe pursuing, you know, biology? Talk to me more about that. That's really interesting to me.

Kait Sardin: 4:33

So I've been Irish dancing for 20 years and up until 2019, I was competing with Irish dancing and after May of 2019, I stopped competing, stopped Irish dancing. I was focused more on biology, but also with other dance styles. Before, like when I was growing up, I wasn't really able to explore like hip hop, dancehall. I did ballet for a bit, but I never tried other styles. So being in New York, that was a big jump for me to like really explore and see what else my body can do. Big jump for me to like really explore and see what else my body can do.

Kait Sardin: 5:12

And after that, I was hooked with all of these styles. I tried getting different lessons anywhere, everywhere and it just kept happening where I just would be in all these new dance situations. And finally, in 2020, I went back to Irish dancing, once the world stopped and I was like why not continue putting these two worlds together with Irish hip-hop and why not share it now? And I posted online and people really enjoyed it and I was like this is so cool because, like in the Irish dance world, it was pretty frowned upon for a bit to not like just post your competitive steps. So it was just like let me try something different. Let me do this, and a lot of people really enjoyed it.

Lisa Hopkins: 6:00

Yeah, you know, enjoy is is the real word, and we use that word so often, but joy, right being the root of that word, that's what I feel with you. That's what I told you the second I met you too. I was like I almost I don't tell me if you think this is true, but this is what I read on you already is that you know, dance, dance is currently your medium, but that you would bring joy through whatever you did. If you were doing biology, you'd probably be the most joy as a bi there is. Is that true? I mean, am I getting that right?

Kait Sardin: 6:29

it is I just, whenever I truly love doing something, I love putting my all into it and I just love seeing where it takes me. And, like specifically for dance, I find it it's the easiest way for me to communicate how I'm feeling. So that's been another big reason why dance has always been my favorite medium. Even like when I'm sad, I'll just throw on a song that I feel just to like explain how I'm feeling sometimes, and I'll get those videos out, and it's helped me a lot in understanding my own emotions that's cool.

Lisa Hopkins: 7:06

That makes a lot of sense, right?

Kait Sardin: 7:09

so so for you, in a way, dance, dance has been a therapy for you absolutely, absolutely, um, I didn't start therapy until 2020, so that was definitely the first thing. I would always go to dance and now, like with therapy, I've understood how to put my words with my emotions, but still, my first go-to is always going to dance and now, like with therapy, I've understood how to put my words with my emotions, but still, my first go-to is always going to dance or finding a song to help me figure out where it is and what emotion I'm actually feeling, before I start writing it down.

Lisa Hopkins: 7:40

Oh, that's interesting. So you connect with your body. First your body tells you where you're feeling it, and then that that helps you sort of solidify what or in order to express what it where you're feeling it, and then that that helps you sort of solidify what or in order to express what it is you're feeling. Is that what I'm hearing? That's really neat yes, absolutely.

Kait Sardin: 7:54

I'm definitely more of a kinesthetic learner and feel it so that's where everything comes from. And then finally getting my body and mind well, my mind and my words to come together and elaborate those things out, which has been cool seeing the progress. How did you?

Lisa Hopkins: 8:12

how did dance attract you? You know a lot of little girls, right. They, they either get put in dance or or they just see it right, because that's it's one of the many things we either do, sports, or we do dance or we do music right in this country anyways, and and I'm just curious to know, like, what was it that drew you? Or when, maybe even further back, when was your first kind of experience where you kind of went, huh, that's interesting.

Kait Sardin: 8:37

Definitely a little further back. I remember when I was younger I used to love watching Janet Jackson and Britney Spears just their movement.

Kait Sardin: 8:45

That was the biggest full tour dance for me me. And then, when I was three, my mom put me in ballet. And it wasn't until I was six where I first saw Irish dancing at a ballet recital where I was like this makes noise, this is different, what's this? I want to try that. And a week after that I started Irish dancing. Since I was young, I just loved movement and anything where it was just you're doing something cool with your body. I want to try that too.

Lisa Hopkins: 9:12

Yeah, that's fair. So so many things. So your mom, she put you in ballet. Do you? Do you have a sense of why she put you in ballet? Was it that you wanted, or what? It was just close by and she just thought maybe you should like ballet. Talk to me about the relationship of your mom and dance and how that kind of came to you, Because our parents do introduce us to things, right.

Kait Sardin: 9:34

Yes, so my mom has always been a super big supporter of me dancing and when I was younger, there was this show called Angelina Ballerina and I thought it was cool. So ballet was the first thing I did ballet and I thought it was cool. So ballet was the first. That was like our first thing. I did ballet and jazz when I was younger.

Kait Sardin: 9:51

I just thought it was super cool to be on the stage, so we kept going so she just she saw that you liked it, she saw that you liked the show and said, hey, do you know you can actually take a class in this yeah, and that was sort of the same with Irish dancing too, because she, as soon as I told her that I wanted to do that, she found like a newspaper article and found a class right by us and I was able to start.

Lisa Hopkins: 10:13

You know I say wow because for anyone that's not a dance person in in the audience, irish is not ubiquitous Like it's it's. You have to look to find an Irish class. Like it's almost like a club, right.

Kait Sardin: 10:27

Yeah, it really is. Especially when I was younger, there weren't a lot of studios nearby. Now, like from where I grew up, there is a good three of them. But we were lucky A studio opened up right by about a year or two before I joined, which was super cool and it ended up working out. Cause, yeah, everything else is so far away, especially in florida, because you would have your schools in orlando but then the next one would be in miami and it would just be so far away yeah, and they were, and they're dedicated irish studios.

Lisa Hopkins: 10:58

I'm guessing right, like it wasn't, like they taught irish at your local studio yeah, dedicated irish dance studios, just irish dance. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm so aware of that. So I'm as a tap dancer myself. I'm curious did you see tap dancing in your like, in your studio, when you were doing ballet? You must have right.

Kait Sardin: 11:17

I definitely did, but it was like one of those things that you have to be older to do, so it wasn't like I'm hearing that it didn't light you up as much as the Irish did.

Lisa Hopkins: 11:29

Is that true?

Kait Sardin: 11:29

It did not, it didn't. I yeah, I want to say too with Irish, like it was the music. There was this movie on Disney channel called the luck of the Irish, where I was like this is so cool. And then the fact that it was in person, I was like wait, it's so close.

Lisa Hopkins: 11:49

What do you think it is about Irish that really drew you? What was it that really differentiated it for you? Because, again, tap dancing in studios around the country is way more accessible than Irish. So that's a very specific thing that you had. So I just find that really interesting and curious. I mean, I love it too, so I get it. I never did, I never took it like I never trained in it. So talk to me, yeah yes.

Kait Sardin: 12:10

So I want to say honestly it was the routine that I saw because they were doing like in Irish dancing we have figures, but when I was younger I had no idea what that was, but how everybody was moving together and how the formations were was what was a big job too, because I was like the shapes you guys are making was so incredible Cause, like as a kid, I was big into puzzles and Lego, so that was a big like I can see, like where all of these people are going, I understand where they're like going next and I thought it was super cool.

Lisa Hopkins: 12:39

That makes sense. That makes so much sense and from what I'm learning about you slowly but actually pretty quickly is that community is really important to you and that right Power in numbers and that and and tap dancing can be way more of a solo kind of thing. Now it is interesting, though, cause it's? It's kind of a paradox, because when you're, when you're doing Irish as a competitive dancer, you're pretty much by yourself, right.

Kait Sardin: 13:04

Yes.

Lisa Hopkins: 13:05

So there's, there's that, and now you, as known as the, you know. Whatever. What do you like to call yourself as a dancer?

Kait Sardin: 13:15

a lot of people have. I feel like kate rock has become like the like who I am as a dancer now perfect, I love it.

Lisa Hopkins: 13:21

So you are, you are the brand. So so now, as a kate rock dancer um you, you're kind of by yourself again.

Kait Sardin: 13:30

Yes, it's been interesting because when I was competing I would also do bigger competitions, but also this competition called Dance Drama, where it was basically like Irish Dance Broadway. You would have six minutes where you would tell a story with Irish dancing and that was my favorite thing when I was competing and there was just something. Again, like you said, I really loved the community.

Kait Sardin: 14:00

But like being able to do Irish dancing and all of these other avenues with dance drama, like I learned how to juggle and like all this random stuff because of dance drama, but I thought it was so cool to do all of these other things and I honestly think that helped me decide to use all these other styles, doing the random different, like rifle twirling you wouldn't expect that with irish dancing, but I learned how to twirl a rifle cool.

Lisa Hopkins: 14:29

Yeah, yeah, that's really cool I love it yeah, that's so, so interesting. So where are you at now? You're in new york, and you said you were brought there by a gateways. Was it a dance gig that brought you there?

Kait Sardin: 14:43

yes, I was doing a magazine photo shoot and we were figuring out when I could come up. So we figured out, at the end of the month, end of May, come up, we'll do the photo shoot. And yeah, I was like, okay, this is the time, it's time for me to just jump and do it and do it. Yeah, and I did. And now I'm just doing a bunch of random gigs in New York, definitely a lot more in Orlando, and I'm just slowly finding a dance community up here. Yeah, and it's.

Lisa Hopkins: 15:16

That's been amazing so correct me if I'm wrong, but I had well actually just tell me what. What's different about your life before you came to New York. What were you doing in Orlando versus what you're doing now in New York?

Kait Sardin: 15:30

So in Orlando I was mainly doing pharmacy tech stuff and I was also. I think I had a lot more access to my dance board when I was in Orlando because I would just go outside. Most days I had a lot more time because I was always trying to fill my day, so I would just go outside and go on my dance floor. Yeah, and now I feel like being in New York is just like which I don't mind, it's great, but it's also just like finding that balance.

Kait Sardin: 15:57

But back in Orlando I felt like I just had a routine of this normal, okay, you're going to be a pharmacy tech, like you're going to do that in the day, and then come back home and I wasn't really enjoying that. And the big draw for New York I had a lot of friends from college we were all in a dance club together who I'm still very close with. They've always been super supportive with me in my dance career. Even when I've gotten like negative feedback or negative hate, they've always been people to just uplift me. And I didn't really have that in Orlando. So that was another big draw for me to come up to New York.

Lisa Hopkins: 16:39

That makes sense. So it's interesting that you bring up. I'm sure that a lot of people resonate, resonate with this. In the arts in particular. You know, there's this limiting belief that as an artist, especially when you go to New York, that suddenly that needs to be your only focus and there's all sorts of like milestones you're supposed to hit and the clock starts ticking. And how long have you been here and you're surviving and you've got your survival job. And it's so interesting to me because, again, before getting to know you, I was researching and I got the sense that and you said that you had this regular job right In the tech, biotech field right, which I thought was super interesting, but that you were balancing actually your life really well with doing this stuff.

Lisa Hopkins: 17:28

That kind of took off just dancing for yourself essentially and sharing it right, going out and chilling out and doing your thing. And then and then you know being being enthused by creating more, because people were responding so naturally oh, this is good for me and it's good for them. Talk about a win-win right. And then and then you still had your job, talk to me about, like in my brain, like it seems like that in some ways that's much less pressure because your livelihood is not dependent on it, right? You're not having to make money on it versus when you go to New York and you're there now like piecing it together and again, maybe that's not what you're doing. I have no idea, so fill me in. I don't want to assume anything.

Kait Sardin: 18:11

Yeah, so I've been really lucky. A lot of my dance gigs have been coming back to back, but even now up here I still have another job. Just rent is so much. I work full time right now at a museum, which has been super fun, love being around a bunch of creative people, so it was like the perfect little avenue and I'm able to perform and do things with them, which has been nice, nice and it's been exciting. But it's definitely been very interesting Cause I've always loved dance and I always knew I wanted to be a part of my life. But I never expected it to be in this way and, having it become so, I never expected it to be viewed this much, so I thought that's been awesome. So it's been a lot of just like coming back to like whoa. This is really happening and I am doing this and it's been very. It's been a very interesting journey, a very fun one, but a stressful. A stressful one too, but I've been enjoying it.

Lisa Hopkins: 19:17

I love the ride of it, y'all yeah, sometimes we find ourselves somewhere and you're not really sure how you got there, and then it really takes that time just to kind of go no, no, this is actually happening. Not like, oh no, this is really happening, I'm great or anything. I'm not getting that vibe, but but I'm getting the no, this is kind of what's going on and it's, it's hard, right, because it's well, it's online first of all, right, so so until you actually perform and and like perform and actually engage like you've done before, but with the humans, that at least gives it a catharsis of knowing that it really is real. What would you say is the biggest struggle right now for you as an artist and as a human, just in this current moment of your life?

Kait Sardin: 20:04

Right now I feel like finding the space to dance has been hard at least, not necessarily the space to dance, because I'll dance anywhere. But actually recording right now has been hard, figuring out what to do I still have been dancing every day, but I feel like it's been hard getting the exact backgrounds or like making my ideas come to fruition.

Kait Sardin: 20:32

but I have had a lot of time to choreograph, which has been nice, so it's been like there's wins in other areas right now yeah yeah, but yeah, and the one nice thing though, since being up here I've been able to perform a lot more, and I used to perform a lot with Irish dancing and like with my old Irish dance school. But it's been so interesting actually doing my fusion in public and seeing the feedback on that, finally doing it in person, just because sometimes I'm like, oh, this might sound weird with the music, it's because it's like little steps. But especially this year I found ways to work out the rhythm of the hip hop moves to still sound great on an Irish track and not just sound muffled. So that's been another big focus of me lately, but I'm happy with the progress of that lately, but I'm happy with the progress of that.

Lisa Hopkins: 21:30

Yeah, the, the word that's coming to mind as almost a way of being I'm hearing it in your art for sure, but even even in who you are is integration yes, yes, absolutely.

Kait Sardin: 21:40

I love integrating different parts of me into my life and just like I feel like so much of me is in my life, like I, literally just before this call, I was reading tarot cards for my friends, and I will find ways to do like different things in my life, just to like yeah, be me, yeah, fair, I love that and and that that speaks to the openness, right that that invited me to you.

Lisa Hopkins: 22:13

I mean that's, it's that's kind of how I feel. Um, I'm interested too to know I heard a little bit about in in what you said about it's a little bit trickier in new york like to do videos and to you know, get outside. And you know it said about it's a little bit trickier in New York to do videos and to get outside.

Lisa Hopkins: 22:31

It's really normal, when we change our environment or when something works well, for us To be taken away from that or to take ourselves away from that can be scary. You know our strengths then become our weaknesses because you're like well, I always do it this way and it always works. You know I had a rhythm, if you want, it was a rhythm that worked for me, and so when our rhythms get messed up, fear comes in right. Then you start thinking. You know your voice in your head starts saying well, the backgrounds aren't as cool as they were and you're not outside, and why aren't you going every day? And then the other voice in your head is going well, because you have to work and I'm paying rent and I'm going to the museum and the other one's going. Look, you're 26 years old, right?

Kait Sardin: 23:13

Are these like the voices, are these familiar? Absolutely, there's definitely some time. The fear voice has always been a big one, but this year has been a lot of just like, even with the fear. I feel like the fear has been pushing me to try new things, which I've been loving, because it's like you just have to try it. Sometimes you have to go for it, and that's what I feel like this year is going for it. So I definitely have those inner voices Absolutely. But then I'm also like it's time of the day, I can still go do this, so why not do it?

Lisa Hopkins: 23:48

yeah, yeah, you just let the voice know. You know you got old, old data, man. Like the new data is that I'm in New York now and I like this. This is cool. Yeah, exactly, yeah, no, it's funny. No, we just, we re-rescript, right? We don't try to get rid of the negative voices, we just tell them that oh, no, no, you didn't get the update.

Kait Sardin: 24:06

Like it's like you haven't refreshed yet exactly no 100, because I'm always thinking about, like, the shadow sides of my personality and I'm like, that's okay, that's who I am. However, we could add that to like our work, because sometimes I'll be very, like, focused on something and instead of just being focused on that one thing, I'm like, okay, let's throw some of this energy over here instead, like I can still be focused, but you can put it somewhere.

Lisa Hopkins: 24:32

Yeah, I love that, that's beautiful, so thank you. So you're Gen Z, you're, are you 26? I think, right, gen Z. Yep, I guess Gen Z can be defined by you know, the first generation of digital natives. They say, right, like you don't, you've never not known having having the digital. And then obviously you've also, you know, had the pandemic right in right in the heart of where you're supposed to be, yeah, so, so talk to me about that.

Lisa Hopkins: 24:56

Yeah, what it's like to to navigate the world and your world, and specifically as a Gen Z?

Kait Sardin: 25:02

It's been interesting because, yes, I grew up on the computer.

Kait Sardin: 25:06

My dad has been an IT person all my life, so he's always as a kid he was like here's the computer he would show me.

Kait Sardin: 25:14

We would like fix computers together and I've always loved digital things, so that was super cool. I find it very interesting because I feel like right now especially, everything is so connected, which can be very scary at a time with the internet, but it's also been such a nice thing because it's like if I really need to do something, I can google it and see how to do it, and I feel like that's been so incredible. Or if I need something, I can just reach out to somebody, and usually with our phones, like we get to each other pretty quickly. So I definitely love that. I feel like for my day's career, a lot of it has been because of social media. A lot of people will reach out to me from my social media and I think that's been incredible and a very positive side of being Gen Z just having that being able to use Instagram in a way that also puts me out there for other people other dancers, other performers to reach out, and then we could connect and collaborate, and I love it that's cool.

Lisa Hopkins: 26:27

Are there any any things you learned about yourself during the pandemic that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise learned?

Kait Sardin: 26:37

yes, the pandemic was a big reason why I started therapy. That's how I found out I had ADHD and everything just so much just made sense. Um, I definitely spent a lot of time alone during the pandemic as well, so I got to really know myself and see myself. I took a lot of that time just figuring out who I was as a person and like what I enjoyed doing, which is another big reason why I started Irish dancing again. I realized that even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the competitive world, I still genuinely loved the dance style. So a lot of it was me disconnecting the competitive side and just going back to what originally drew me to it.

Kait Sardin: 27:28

So there's also, of course, like being far away from everybody was definitely hard, but again with the phones like I was able to FaceTime so many of my friends and through that I got closer to a lot of other people who I wasn't necessarily close with before and we became super close friends. Because of the pandemic I didn't have to worry about how other people perceived me. So I just I feel like I really learned to love myself and just like who I am during the pandemic, which I really like. I'm really very thankful for. So I think like just being inside and being with myself, I really learned to be okay with being alone, if that makes sense, and like being with myself.

Lisa Hopkins: 28:16

Yeah, it also is interesting that you know those are four critical years of growth for you. Right Between, what were you in 2020? You were 22?.

Kait Sardin: 28:29

Yes, yeah, 22.

Lisa Hopkins: 28:29

You know what I mean like that's obviously there's that, there's that too. I mean, that's a, that's a massive. Like you know, you have no idea what, how, like that inner growth might have happened anyways for you right at that age, which is interesting. What's, what's your definition of living in the moment?

Kait Sardin: 28:48

Honestly, it's just feeling those emotions and allowing your emotions to really be there in that present, not worrying about past things and just or the future, just enjoying your surroundings and enjoying your company and just like making those moments, not even thinking about making the moment, but just being there in that moment.

Lisa Hopkins: 29:12

Yeah, love that. How often are you able to do that, to really kind of live in the moment?

Kait Sardin: 29:19

Honestly, a lot lately I've been feeling really nice. I've been making time for myself, but also, like on my off days I I just go and visit museums and like go to new parks and find things that I haven't been to. So that's been like my living in the moment. And then also I still see my friends a lot, which is nice, and we'll just have little afternoon times or just like get lunch together. Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 29:44

It sounds fabulous. So where do you, when you think about you know, when you're, when you're sort of sitting by yourself and thinking about stuff and kind of you know, processing what comes into your mind as possibilities of of which direction you might want to go in, or you know what possibilities you want to explore, what, what's kind of germinating in there for you, possibilities you want to explore?

Kait Sardin: 30:07

what? What's kind of germinating in there for you right now? I still want to keep seeing what happens with Dan, so I'm just seeing where that takes me. Um, I'm in a relationship and I'm very happy about that, so I'm always excited to see what new things happen in the day or like how things are going for us. I feel like right now, in this world too, it's just right in this moment. I feel like living in the moment has been like what's been getting me through. Like I still will focus on what's happening around in the world, but sometimes, when things get too heavy, living in the moment really is like the best way to just get through the day I've been finding. Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 30:56

So, if I'm hearing you correctly, you prefer not to really think ahead too far and just to sort of embrace things as it comes definitely because I will be.

Kait Sardin: 31:07

I get so focused sometimes on the future where it's like I end up putting what I'm doing on pause. So I've been trying to work on while I can still think about the future, I can still move forward, if that makes sense. So it's like, oh, definitely I'm. I get anxious about the future all the time, but I'm also like I don't have to let that anxiety stop me. So it's like I'll have, like whatever I do, something. I definitely think about the outcome. But I'm also just like how likely is that outcome to happen? And like, how can we what's overthinking, what's being paranoid and what's being-.

Lisa Hopkins: 31:45

What is true?

Kait Sardin: 31:45

Yeah, overthinking what's being paranoid and what's being what is true? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense so what are you like?

Lisa Hopkins: 31:51

what are you most afraid of? Would you be, would you be comfortable to share like, like currently?

Kait Sardin: 31:55

yeah, um, right now, um getting sick. My sister's amino compromised and just like I don't want to get her sick or other people around me and my community sick, so that's been a very big thing on my mind. So I'm always just like thinking about how to do things safely and not just living dangerously that will affect like other people in my life. So that's been a big focus right now um Working in the museum. We see a lot of people so it's always just like how can I be safe there? And, yeah, not hurt the loved ones in my life from getting sick.

Lisa Hopkins: 32:40

That's right now my biggest worry, just because you never know if you were to be able to believe, or if it were true, that everybody you love is going to be fine and that you can let go of worrying about it, then what would be there for you in terms of what keeps you up at night?

Kait Sardin: 33:07

I feel like for a long time it was loneliness versus being alone, where I was like, am I lonely? That was the big one. But then that's like some days I still definitely I'm like, oh, I'm so lonely. But then I'm like that's where I had to like learn to like love myself and enjoy my time if I'm like ever by myself, so that's something. But that feels like, especially now that I have the option to hang around more people, it's not as worrying and I found that I've been choosing to be alone more. Now that I know that I also have the time to be able to do that yeah so it's yeah.

Kait Sardin: 33:50

Some days I'm still definitely like oh no, I feel so lonely, but that I'm like hold on, yeah do you ever dance when you feel lonely?

Lisa Hopkins: 34:01

you talked about expressing yourself like it's interesting. The reason why I ask and she's nodding, yes, which makes sense, not surprising if you're not watching a video, but um, what's interesting about that is the distinction between what you told me, which is sometimes you have a hard time tapping into what you're feeling, and then you dance and you find it through that. In this case, I'm curious to know. It sounds like you know what it feels like to be lonely.

Lisa Hopkins: 34:29

Like it's not like there's a question about how you feel right when you get there right? Do you hear what I'm saying? Yeah, and so, yeah, talk to me about how loneliness feels for you and how it, you know, manifests.

Kait Sardin: 34:42

Yeah, so in high school I was homeschooled and that was a lot of me being by myself and I remember in high school I would always see all of my dance friends talking about like high school moments and like all the things they were experiencing and in those moments like I did feel a sense of loneliness just because I was like by myself a lot and like the only thing I had was really dance and that was like an emotion I sat with for so long and it was like I still have like dance classes. I was able to see them, but it was just so heavy in my mind because I was like what I would wake to, wake up to in the morning, just being by myself, and loneliness was always just something where it was like I wasn't. I didn't know who to talk to. Back then I was too afraid to like say my emotions, so I that added to the loneliness. So I felt emotionally lonely too and I feel like when the pandemic happened, that brought me back to that space. But I don't know, being older when the pandemic happened, I felt like I was able to understand some of my emotions more.

Kait Sardin: 36:06

In 2020 and 2019, during the summer, when I was like home by myself. I just spent that time dancing, like I still have a lot of the videos from 2019. I made over 500 dance videos because I was just like that's the time that I had and I was really just like, oh my gosh, I'm really feeling this song like this is so I've ever had this range of movement. Why am I able to do all this right now? It was such a weird experience, yeah that's so beautiful thank you.

Kait Sardin: 36:39

Thank you, it's me was a formative time in my life, but I am very thankful for all of it.

Lisa Hopkins: 36:47

Yeah, it sounds like you really figured out how to navigate loneliness. I'm sure that you have not extricated it from your life, because I think that's a human condition. I think there's a tendency to feel a longing or to feel a right, and then we attribute it to something, usually right. We attribute it to either you know I was with this person or I want to be with that person, or it's usually connected to or, like you were saying when you were a kid, right when there was a group of people you'd be watching from, you'd feel like an outsider.

Kait Sardin: 37:19

Yeah, fomo in a way, fear of missing out.

Lisa Hopkins: 37:24

Yeah, exactly, fomo, big time, right. Yeah, I'm curious to know like when, uh, when it comes up, when loneliness comes up now these days, how do you navigate it with what you've learned?

Kait Sardin: 37:37

because you've learned stuff about it, obviously, and about yourself yes, um, so now I'll usually I'll journal, I journal so much now I'll like journal how'll journal? I journal so much now I journal how I'm feeling, just to like see if there's any specific reasons why I'm feeling lonely first of all, and then usually it's like sometimes on my free days, so that I'm like what could I do today? Can I maybe do something of just start enjoying like myself and just like enjoying little things I can do? And I've been doing a lot of hobbies. Oh, yeah, I've been trying to find. Yeah, I like picked up a skateboard recently and I've been doing, yeah, definitely very different. I always loved skateboarding when I was younger. So I was like, let me listen to my inner child. What would my inner child want to do? And that's been a big one. My inner child is why I wanted to dance, so why not listen to see what else my inner child likes?

Lisa Hopkins: 38:41

Yeah.

Kait Sardin: 38:42

So I've been doing that and it's been nice and exciting.

Lisa Hopkins: 38:46

I love it. Yes, we must never let go of our inner child right In our pursuit to be an adult. What do you think is your weakness Like? Can you tap into what that is? Because you really present as a very strong working on self-actualizing yourself. You know kind of human being and I'm curious to know if, in your consciousness, if you know what your weakness is doubting myself.

Kait Sardin: 39:15

I I feel like, um, honestly, I feel like this is really big too with gen z, just like imposter syndrome, like just feeling like, am I really doing this? I'm always just like I have to go back and be like, no, what you're doing is cool, like this is, this is cool. But it's like sometimes I'm just like, oh no, like this isn't what I should be doing and I don't want to say that. But also, trying to follow other people's paths, I realized that everybody's life is very different, so I shouldn't worry that my path looks different than other people's. And that was always a big like insecurity in me where I was like, ah, all these people are doing all these things, they have like their nine-to-five job and I'm out here doing this. But I'm like that's okay, this is a different path and it's so. Yeah, figuring out, doubting myself is a big thing, and then also getting too focused, too hyper focused on certain things and not seeing the big picture yep, yeah totally well, yeah, and that makes a lot of sense, right.

Lisa Hopkins: 40:27

Comparison can is the enemy of growth, right.

Kait Sardin: 40:31

Absolutely.

Lisa Hopkins: 40:33

Yeah, I mean it can be. It can be like, you know, there's this like this fine line, right, like so, when you notice something, usually it's because you see yourself in that. So when you see someone doing something and you start to feel a little bit I don't know jealous or envious or whatever you know, it's really good to tap into yourself and go, no, no, that's cool. And what is it that I find cool about that? Just like what is it cool that I found about Irish or about skateboarding or about living in New York. It's not going to be the same as what other people think is cool. So, your brand of whatever it is you do, there is room for you, 100%. There's room for you because you've got your own, you know, your own style, your own way of being.

Kait Sardin: 41:17

Yeah, thank you for saying that. Yeah, that's definitely a big thing, too that I've been trying to like. Yeah, I don't have to compare myself to people.

Lisa Hopkins: 41:28

Well, there is no comparison.

Kait Sardin: 41:30

Yeah, period.

Lisa Hopkins: 41:34

We're all unique, right? I think once we recognize that, you know not, that we want to be unique and therefore separate ourselves from everybody else and stand out from everybody else. See, that's ego.

Kait Sardin: 41:45

When you recognize other people's brilliance and other people's unique uniqueness, then you grow your own yeah, I really like how you said that too, like how finding what you like about this other person and like what you see, and you're like seeing what they're doing and like what you can see. I I don't know, I just there's this saying that somebody I don't remember who said it, but like I think it was in a book I was reading, where it was talking about are you envious of this person or is there something like a quality in them that you see or that you enjoyed about yourself, and that's I think about that sometimes too, and I'm just like that's a media and like yeah.

Kait Sardin: 42:25

Yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 42:26

Yeah, it's really a flag for potential. So when you feel jealousy, you can convert that to go wait, I'm not jealous, I'm aware that I could do that and you know you could. Then, you know, fall into the whole victim mentality of all the reasons why you can't. Why, well, they can, but the reason they can is because, I don't't know, they're rich or they're whatever. You know, you fill in all the blanks or they're lucky, or you know and it's like no, I can you know, and it's up to me, and that's where that's ownership, that's empowerment.

Lisa Hopkins: 43:00

Empowerment is not doing something and then showing off. That's not empowerment.

Kait Sardin: 43:04

Look what I did.

Lisa Hopkins: 43:05

Empowerment is feeling like that, feeling like you know, gosh, I'm jealous owning it. Why am I jealous? Getting curious right, dissolving the jealousy into recognizing that you know, it's humility, actually, you know. Or being humbled by you know, by recognizing that actually, maybe I'm not living up to my potential, not in a bad way, like bad me, but like so do I. And then you ask yourself the question do I want to step up? It's up to me. If I don't, that's okay, but the choices in me. But all this in comparison is not, is not um helping anybody especially.

Kait Sardin: 43:41

Yeah, yeah, 100%. I feel like also realizing so many things, our choices has helped a lot. It's definitely improved life quality, I feel, because it's like, yeah, no, I actually can do that. Why am I limiting myself? You can do whatever you want to do. Why not try it? Right?

Lisa Hopkins: 44:01

Yeah, and that's been cool, it's what, like, what are your non-negotiables that? But that's up to you and they can change too, right, they don't. Again, they don't need to be something that you pronounce that you say you know that's my. I mean, you know it's something that you connect to and then you reconnect to and go wait, is that still true? Because as you get older, you're going to go no, actually with with that, I want I have some flexibility on that boundary or that, whatever it might be, my non-negotiable right yeah, yeah, everything constantly changing and that's okay yeah 100 yeah 100.

Lisa Hopkins: 44:37

Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it's resonating with you this conversation.

Lisa Hopkins: 44:43

Absolutely, I'm enjoying this yeah, no, ditto, ditto, no. I thank you for playing. I love it well, and we don't have to get deep into this. But I am curious. You know, and I'm sure anyone that researches you will can find stuff about the naysayers of you know, someone of your color doing um irish. More importantly, like as a human, you navigate it.

Lisa Hopkins: 45:06

I don't need to hear about what people say or I get it. This is the world we live in. It's, you know, sad but true, but you're way more conscious. I don't even think we need to even pay lip service to the fact that you know that people have not received you. But you know what, when you're out in the world, like, not everyone's going to like you, yeah, and that means that means that you're, you're living. That's really cool. And the more popular you get at whatever it is you do, or the more known, the less people that are going to like you, but also the more people that are going to like you. But who cares? Right, yeah, but how do you navigate? How do you currently cause? It's gotta be hard, like, how do you you, how do you navigate? The naysayers?

Kait Sardin: 45:48

definitely was very charting when I was first receiving naysayers. Um, I remember when I first like the first like day, I was like looking at that's, when I was like, nope, we are cutting that off. Right now. I have my mentions off, I have any notifications like that off. I'm staying mindful because, yeah, there's just, I do not look anymore, I just close my eyes. I just have to disconnect certain days because it's like I could stay focused on negative comments, but at the end of the day that won't do anything but affect me negatively. So I just disconnect, yeah, and just, either I just, either I'll even go dance, so I'll just do something else and I'll go about my day how do you recharge, because you got a lot of energy right?

Lisa Hopkins: 46:40

yes, yes so what do you do? You talked about journaling. What else?

Kait Sardin: 46:45

yes I make sure that I get my sleep and I am going out, I am getting my sleep because I need rest to know that I'm going to be, yeah, a functioning human next days. I love. I love trying new foods too, like those are like my two, like real, like moments where I get to rest, yeah. So I'll just like try something sometimes.

Lisa Hopkins: 47:07

I'll give myself days, yeah, where I'm just like let me try something new and that helps me, just like reset totally totally, hey, how do you want to be remembered?

Kait Sardin: 47:23

I honestly, I want to be remembered as somebody who was able to make a community where people felt safe to just dance and be something that I've been working on a lot. I didn't always feel this and, like all my dance classes, just like having that space to create and I want people to experience that and I want them to feel safe when they're dancing with me or collabing with me and I just want them to have those memories and just like have that time be a special time for them.

Lisa Hopkins: 48:00

Yeah.

Kait Sardin: 48:00

Because I've definitely had moments where there have been such wonderful people in the dance world and just my life in general who have, like, made space for me to just be me and I want to allow other people to feel that with me as well yeah, that's beautiful, I love that well success.

Lisa Hopkins: 48:23

You're doing that, thank you, thank you. Do you have any like? I don't know, I don't know if it has to be audacious, but any kind of goal or dream that you haven't put out into the universe yet? Is there anything kind of percolating there?

Kait Sardin: 48:37

Ooh, I mean, I just want to make a dance collective, but I feel like the one like, super like, just like for me as a person, I would love to go on tour with beyonce oh there you go. Yeah, I just I feel like it would be so cool, just like I really appreciate her as a performer and I just think that'd be incredible. That's like my one, like be a dream come true yeah yeah that.

Kait Sardin: 49:07

That and the dance collective. Those are like my two, because I feel like having a dance collective that's definitely my more thought out one where, like I said, I want people to have a space where they're able to just dance and just try these new things. I've had a lot of people in my inbox just saying how they're very thankful that they were able to see me dance, because now they want to try Irish dancing and they think that it's super, because a lot of people thought that they weren't able to do Irish dancing because of their skin color and after seeing me they're like wait, I could do this too. And I just want people to have a space where they're able to like realize they're able to do these other dance styles and not be afraid.

Lisa Hopkins: 49:53

Yeah, I love that. What do you think you'd do if you couldn't dance?

Kait Sardin: 49:57

Poetry. Whenever I'm not dancing, I'll write poetry. That's been the other, that's been the other thing where I've been like oh, wow, especially after finding my words, I realize that I'm able to say things like how I'm feeling. It might not always be the most direct way of saying it, but I'll find myself writing poetry instead and like describing those feelings. So poetry is a big one for me that's pretty cool.

Lisa Hopkins: 50:25

Hey, can you finish this phrase?

Kait Sardin: 50:26

most people think kate sardon is, but the truth is most people think kate sardon is chaotic, but the truth is they're right. I don't think not chaotic. Well, yes, I feel like I just do a lot of side quests. So whenever my friends ask me what I'm doing, they're always just like why are you in Idaho? And I'm like I got a job here, I don't know, and I wanted to go there. I feel like whenever somebody's chatting to me, sometimes I feel like it's a dice roll for what I'll be doing.

Lisa Hopkins: 51:13

That's funny that you said chaotic, because you know, another word that comes to mind for me is spontaneous or maybe impulsive, but more intuitive is what I would think. I don't think you're impulsive, because impulsivity to me connotates like you do something dangerous which I don't think you would Um. So it's more like you listen to your intuition, you tap into it and you go. You go with the flow.

Kait Sardin: 51:38

Yeah, I definitely go with the flow, but I'm also, yeah, I will not like do something that will put me in danger, that's like in a risk or other than danger.

Lisa Hopkins: 51:47

no, but, yeah, spontaneous. Well, it's so funny because chaotic, like to me, conjures like really like angular movement, you know like, yeah, right, and whereas, whereas I'm thinking about spontaneous, it it's more like it comes from inside and then it just, you know, spills out and flows yeah, yeah, definitely more spontaneous than chaotic, but even with like chaos.

Kait Sardin: 52:10

I feel there's a lot of chaotic things in the world that will just like disrupt something, but I don't necessarily think those disruptions are a bad thing. Just like something that, like you said, going with the flow, or just something that you'll change towards. And I feel like there's been a lot of moments in my life where something abrupt has happened, where I had to change or work around it and things still ended up being okay. Even the pandemic. That was something I had a completely different goal of what I was doing in life with before the pandemic, like I was ready to go off into biology, about to be a physical therapist, but then I realized that wasn't necessarily what was in my heart, what I really wanted to do. And then, with the pandemic, I just sat down and like I used to not think I was able to really perform with my dancing later on in life, but then I was like why can't I? Yeah, and I was like I don't I, let me just go for it yeah, why not?

Lisa Hopkins: 53:23

yeah, trust the process. Yeah, trust the process. I think I love that. I love that. All right, as we finish, we usually do a rapid fire, and so I'm just going to throw out a word at you. I'm going to say what makes you, and then I'm going to say a word, and then you can just respond Whatever comes to mind.

Kait Sardin: 53:42

Okay.

Lisa Hopkins: 53:42

Okay, here we go, you ready. What makes you hungry? Okay, here we go, you ready. What?

Kait Sardin: 53:47

makes you hungry? Ah, thai food. If I smell Thai food, see Thai food, it's over. I love it so much. What makes you sad? Oh, so many. I hate seeing like when somebody's like off by their self or if they like feel like left out. I hate that and like I feel sad.

Lisa Hopkins: 54:05

I mean what inspires you joy, happiness yeah, what frustrates you?

Kait Sardin: 54:19

honestly hate racism just like ignorance. It frustrates me, especially when they don't want to listen, and that's when I have to pull myself back and what makes you laugh? So many things, um a good short video, a silly moment, or I'll just like sometimes, especially at work people I'll just like catch like the ending of somebody's conversation sometimes and it was just be something so like outlandish or just something like so dynamic, and I'll just I have to chuckle to myself, cause I'm just like how did you get here?

Lisa Hopkins: 54:57

I love it. Which museum do you work at?

Kait Sardin: 55:00

MoMA.

Lisa Hopkins: 55:01

Oh, nice, cool, that's so cool yes. What, what makes you angry? Um, what, uh, what makes you?

Kait Sardin: 55:07

angry People being rude to other people are just again hate, and just there's certain things that I'm just like. Why are you hating this person for their characteristic? Just let them live.

Lisa Hopkins: 55:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no fair, and finally, finally, finally, what makes you grateful?

Kait Sardin: 55:31

my family, my girlfriend, especially my girlfriend. She's been so supportive of me and my dance career and just me as a person too. My best friend sean. He was the one who let me stay on his couch when I came up here. He we've been super close since college and I'm just so thankful for him.

Lisa Hopkins: 55:48

So what are the top three things that have happened so far today?

Kait Sardin: 55:54

So far today the FaceTime with my girlfriend. I've been enjoying this so much. Like this has been great, like thank you, this has been one of the most fun like podcast things that I've done. Like I really this has been cool connecting. And then the third thing I have my dinner. I like went out and got ingredients for dinner, so I'm super excited about that.

Lisa Hopkins: 56:18

What's, what's something that you're looking forward to today, or in the near future, if you want, and then and then zooming out, and what's something you're looking forward to in the future, in the, in the broader future yeah, so I actually fly out to ireland tomorrow.

Kait Sardin: 56:34

Oh I have a gig. Yeah, I have a gig on saturday. Super excited about that. I'll be performing by myself, but I'm also there's going to be um a band as well, like a marching band, and all these other people around. So I'm excited to see all of them and I'm just excited to perform yeah, that's not your first time to ireland, right?

Lisa Hopkins: 56:57

you've been there before, am I right? I've been there a couple times.

Kait Sardin: 57:00

I've been there three times for competition, and then I was just there last year. I was filming this movie over there, which I'm super excited about too. Um, it's still in production, but I'm excited to see it what's?

Lisa Hopkins: 57:15

what's the movie? Can you, can you give us a little hint?

Kait Sardin: 57:17

yeah, yeah, so it's the supremes in 1981. Um, basically, the supremes had a tour in limerick 1981 and for the movie we were going around all the different locations that they like hit, and we were also talking about what was happening in Ireland in 1981 too. So it was like seeing what was happening there while also the Supremes were touring. So it was like, uh, both of those things affected each other. And then at the very end we had a little concert where me and two others were a part of Mary Wilson and the Supreme. So we all were a different Supreme and we yeah, we were singing, I did some Irish dancing.

Kait Sardin: 57:59

I'm very excited to see yeah, what's it called Something different. The Supremes in Limerick 1981.

Lisa Hopkins: 58:06

That's really neat. That sounds so interesting.

Kait Sardin: 58:09

I'm super excited about it yeah and I think, overall, like super, like future, super future. Uh, I'm very excited to just I'm gonna, I'm making the collective, I'm excited to see where that goes and I'm excited to just see what people I get to meet through that. And yeah, it's something that I look forward to. And just having a place and just being able to hopefully we'll see with the economy, but having a dance studio at my place too, just to like dance and yeah hell yeah, I'm, I'm uh, my mouth is sore from smiling.

Lisa Hopkins: 58:56

I've enjoyed, so enjoyed, speaking with you today. You are such a joy and you're you're so bright and intelligent and full of life and I'm just so excited for what the world has in store for you, what life has in store for you. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for joining me today on Stop Time.

Kait Sardin: 59:11

Thank you. Yeah, this was amazing. Thank you for having me. This was amazing. I really appreciated our conversation and it was just really nice just getting deep. It was great.

Lisa Hopkins: 59:23

I've been speaking today with Caitlin Sarden. I'm your host, Lisa Hopkins. Thanks so much for listening. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment. In music, stop time is that beautiful moment where the band is suspended in rhythmic unison, supporting the soloist to express their individuality In the moment. I encourage you to take that time and create your own rhythm. Until next time, I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks for listening.