What life is really like as a fulltime ballerina 6 minutes to read Carly is a weekend writer for the Bay of Plenty Timescarly.gibbs@nzme.co.nz@ Bay_Times W aiting in the theatre wings, Katherine 'Kat' Skelton feels a shot of adrenaline and excitement before her big role, but seldom nerves. Her confidence is due to her being one of Royal New Zealand Ballet's (RNZB) longest-serving dancers, having spent 11 years with the company. As well as doing her own performance hair and makeup, she sews her own ribbons on to her pointe shoes, destroying up to two pairs a week from frenetic dance practice.