Catherine Noblitt holds a master?s degree in business administration and enjoyed her career in finance.
“I liked what I did, but as my sister said, it wasn?t really me. It was a role I was playing,” the soft-spoken Towson resident says. Noblitt had studied performance ballroom dance while in graduate school but after “four or five years in the corporate world,” she left that behind to embrace a new life in the performance arts.
“My personality is better suited to a different type of schedule,” she says, which now has her practicing “an hour or two every day of the week” in preparation for the Emerald Ball DanceSport Championship in Los Angeles, May 3 to 6.
In L.A. she?ll compete in “American Smooth.”
“American Smooth is one style and includes waltz, tango, foxtrot and Viennese waltz,” she said. “Then there is American Rhythm, which includes swing and the Latin dances.”
Her instructor is Igor Pilipenchuk, a two-time U.S. National Professional 10-Dance champion, who together with his dance partner and wife, Polina, provides dance instruction at the Atlantic Ballroom in Towson.
“Catherine is good at all the dances. We?re just working on technique, positioning, the spacing between her and her partner, footwork,” he said. “In ballroom dance, positioning is so important, so you always look great.”
As Pilipenchuk helps tune up Catherine?s swing-dance moves, he said her late start into competitive dance doesn?t have to be a drawback.
“It?s not all physical conditioning, it?s 50-50 between what you do with your body and what you think ? and Catherine is very smart,” Pilipenchuk said.
Noblitt sees her strengths in her ability to “perform and to get into the character of the dance. Each dance has its own special character. Waltz is very romantic and dreamy. Tango is a passionate, spirited dance. Foxtrot is like a walk in the park on a Sunday afternoon ? sassy, jazzy,” she said.
Noblitt admits her love of acting ? she appeared in “The Hostage” at Center Stage ? also helps her performance.
“Drama helped me in terms of getting me up in front of people and performing,” she said. “Just as I may think about a character, the music evokes certain emotions. You might say the music and the dance choreography are your script.”
