Katherine Eppink: Dual Role
Welcome to the latest in our new series of videos! To help celebrate our next decade of dance, we’ve asked American Midwest Ballet dancers to share some of their favorite memories from the company’s first ten seasons.
Katherine Eppink is one of many AMB dancers for whom Erin Alarcón’s The Wizard of Oz is a source of favorite memories. In addition to portraying Glinda the Good Witch in the ballet, she helped bring off one of the most romantic surprises in company history, right before the Orpheum performance!
Here’s an unusual fact about Katherine: She is ordained, which empowers her to officiate marriage ceremonies. So when she learned that fellow company members Bret Samson and Sasha York were planning a wedding, she offered to help.
“Only a few days before, Bret and I were sharing a dressing room in Sioux City and we were talking about her impending wedding,” Katherine recalls. “I became aware that her parents as well as Sasha’s were planning on coming to see Wizard at the Orpheum, and I offered to officiate a wedding for them. She talked it over with Sasha and they both happily agreed.
“We worked out a few details like when and where (on stage, after class) and they decided to keep it a surprise. A week later they were married an hour before curtain call with their family and the company as witnesses. That night the company danced what I think was one of our greatest performances to date! What an amazing day that was!”