Kate Gengo has serendipity. The story of how she became one of a handful of professional women in-line skaters at 33, is so coincidental, it is almost unbelievable. Except in Kate's world.

It all began in New York City some years ago when Kate was in the middle of hip-hop classes and auditions all over the city for music videos, commercials, and theatre gigs. After landing a spot in a music video with "Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam," Kate got "tired of just training and dancing inside all the time."

During one of her last auditions for dancing, she met up with a buddy who had a pair of skates slung over his shoulder. Kate told him she'd just got a pair, too, and he told her he also skated professionally. "You mean you get paid for skating?" she asked him. He said, yes and that, as a matter of fact, he was choreographing a skate show and "would she like to audition?"

"At the time, I didn't know how to stop very well. I was thinking it was like figure skating, with lifts and classic dancing moves. I mean, I was a hip-hop dancer who couldn't really even stop. But at the audition, they asked if I could do a cartwheel [on skates] and I threw my first cartwheel and landed and got the job."

Turns out the show was for an eyeglass company and the choreographer was also a member of Team Rollerblade-the hottest dance team from the country's hottest new sport. "It all trickles from this one thing," says Kate. The eyeglass convention just happened to be across the street from the Interbike Convention, which had hired Team Rollerblade to put on daily shows. Kate's crew invited them over to see their show. After, Team Rollerblade said they were looking to form a team in New York and "would she like to audition?"

"[Team Rollerblade] were into stunts. I'd never launched off a ramp even at my skate park [Malaley in the Bronx]. At the park, they had a halfpipe and I was too scared to drop in. I'd just roll back and forth and watch people do the launch," says Kate. "But at the audition, we had to launch and so I did-for the first time-and landed it."