Conversations on Dance

On today’s episode of ‘Conversations On Dance’ we are joined by author, Jennifer Homans. Jennifer received critical acclaim for her 2011 book ‘Apollo’s Angels’, a historical documentation of ballet from its creation to the present day. She has spent the past ten years working on ‘Mr. B’, a biography of George Balanchine that was published this November. We talk to Jennifer about the research process, her most fascinating finds and what her final takeaways are from spending a decade getting to know the life of George Balanchine.  Get your copy of ‘Mr. B’: https://amzn.to/3VRCKEH. This episode’s sponsor: Just in time for holiday gift-giving, DANCIO, the online dance instruction provider, has announced an expansion of its line-up of classes, teachers, and menu of subscriptions. Led by world-renowned teachers, Dancio’s library now includes over 100 classes in a wide range of dance and fitness genres from Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, and West African dance, to yoga and body conditioning. Available in monthly and yearly subscriptions and ala carte individual classes, Dancio offers high-quality instruction at affordable prices from the comfort of your home or studio. Aspiring dancers of all ages can turn to Dancio to improve their technique, develop artistry, or simply participate in the joy of dance. Best of all, Dancio is run by dancers for dancers, and makes a memorable holiday gift. To gift Dancio, Go to dancio.com and click on subscribe.  LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance

On today’s episode of ‘Conversations On Dance’, we are joined by choreographer, visual artist and experimental theater director Dimitris Papaioannou. Dimitris’ life as an artist began with a natural gift for visual arts at a very young age before eventually venturing into theater and dance. He founded his own company, Edofos Dance Theatre, leading to critical acclaim and a devoted fanbase. Dimitris talks to us about how his experience in a wide array of arts comes together to form his vision, his early years of creating art with few resources, and the difference between commercial and artistic endeavors as defined through his experience choreographing the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. His latest work ‘Transverse Orientation’ has embarked on an ambitious tour that will have its final performances this coming December 9th and 10th at the Memorial Auditorium in Stanford, CA. Tickets can be purchased at live.stanford.edu.  _____________________________ LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance

You know her as @laurynjohnson20 on Instagram. On today’s episode of ‘Conversations On Dance’, our guest is Lauryn Johnson, a dancer and New York City Ballet usher who has captivated the dance world with her documentation of historic NYCB photography via her social media. We talk to Lauryn about how she fell in love with the company, grew her collection of dance books to nearly 1,000, where she sources her incredible images of the Balanchine era and her brand new merchandise line of ornaments and sweatshirts. To view Lauryn’s curation of classic NYCB images, follow her on instagram at @laurynjohnson20. To purchase from her merchandise line, go to lauryn-johnson.com and use our special listener code ‘COD10’ for 10% off.  This episode’s sponsor: The Bard College Dance Program, located 90 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley and housed in the Frank Gehry designed Fisher Center, sees the pursuit of artistry and intellect as a single endeavor and the study of the body as a cognitive act, demanding both physical practice and exploration of the broader academic contexts in which the art form exists. Through intensive technique and composition courses, onstage performance, and production experience, dance students are prepared to understand and practice the art of choreography and performance. Since 2009, the Bard Dance Program has hosted an in-residence dance company or performing arts organization bringing professional technique and composition to the academic program in the form of teaching, educational licensing projects, master classes, full-Company production residencies, and public performances. Past partnerships have included Bill T Jones Dance Company, Trisha Brown Dance Company, American Dance Festival, and Gibney Dance. For more information please contact Program Director, Tara Lorenzen tlorenzen@bard.edu. ________________________________ LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance

This week on ‘Conversations On Dance’ we are joined by Viki Bromberg Psihoyos, former New York City Ballet dancer and repetiteur with the Balanchine Trust. Viki takes us on a journey through her experiences working with Balanchine from her childhood to her professional career, how she became a repetiteur and what it is like working in companies who have never previously danced Balanchine’s work. This episode’s sponsor: The BFA Dance program at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University prepares students to be at the forefront of dance innovation through performance, choreographic and critical historical and theoretical exploration. Studying dance at Johns Hopkins, one of the world’s premier research institutions, gives students the opportunity to make connections between dance, science, technology, and the humanities. Peabody students take courses in Modern Dance, African Expressions, Ballet, somatic approaches to movement, choreography, and dance as social justice; perform in a pre-professional student dance company, and collaborate with world-renowned guest artists. From the first year, students have the opportunity to choreograph their own pieces. At Peabody, we welcome a broad range of creative voices and prepare student artists for success in the real world.  Submit your application by December 1st. Learn more at Peabody.jhu.edu/dancebfa ________________________________ LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance

This week on ‘Conversations On Dance’ we are joined by Mai Lê Hô, the founder of LayeRhythm Productions a NYC-based non-profit dedicated to highlighting freestyle voices in performance art. Mai Lê takes us through her artistic journey of falling in love with house music and dance while growing up in France, the emotional release she discovered in shared dance experiences, her exploration of how musicians and dancers can interact with one another in live performance and how she has built LayeRhythm’s reputation and performance schedule since its founding. Presented by the Guggenheim Works & Process and the 92nd St Y, LayeRhythm will be performing at Gibney Dance Center November 17th (tickets) and the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center on December 15 (tickets), both at 7:30 PM.  This episode’s sponsor: The BFA Dance program at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University prepares students to be at the forefront of dance innovation through performance, choreographic and critical historical and theoretical exploration. Studying dance at Johns Hopkins, one of the world’s premier research institutions, gives students the opportunity to make connections between dance, science, technology, and the humanities. Peabody students take courses in Modern Dance, African Expressions, Ballet, somatic approaches to movement, choreography, and dance as social justice; perform in a pre-professional student dance company, and collaborate with world-renowned guest artists. From the first year, students have the opportunity to choreograph their own pieces. At Peabody, we welcome a broad range of creative voices and prepare student artists for success in the real world.  Submit your application by December 1st. Learn more at Peabody.jhu.edu/dancebfa ________________________________ LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

On today’s episode of ‘Conversations On Dance’ we are joined by choreographer Jodi Melnick. (Listen to our most recent conversation with Jodi in episode 300). Jodi has been featured on the podcast several times to explore the range of her experiences as both choreographer and dancer, but today we focus  specifically on how Jodi defines and explores the collaborative process. Jodi’s latest creative output, a work for American Ballet Theatre principal, Devon Teuscher will be featured at Art Bath in New York City on November 12th. Tickets are available at artbathnyc.com.  See Jodi in her collaboration with Maya Lee-Parritz at Weiss Acres, Sunday Dec 11th. LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

Today we are joined by Michele Byrd-McPhee, founder of Ladies of Hip-Hop. Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective is an all female intergenerational dance collective that creates dance works illuminating the strength, power and diversity of women in Hip-Hop. Michele founded the company in 2004 and continues to lead the organization. On November 3rd, join Ladies of Hip-Hop for “The Black Dancing Bodies Project” in the Clark Studio Theater in Lincoln Center as part of Works & Process at Lincoln Center. An ongoing performance and documentary effort to represent Black women in street and club dance culture, this session highlights the choreopoem. Led by Michele, new writing, poetry by Ursula Rucker, and music and dance of street, club and African culture come together in this show-and-tell, culminating the Ladies of Hip-Hop’s Works & Process LaunchPAD residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation. Tickets on sale now at lincolncenter.org. Photo: Ladies of Hip-Hop. March 29, 2021. Works & Process at the Guggenheim. LINKS: Ballet Collective 10th NYC season Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

Today we are joined by global artist, Stefanie Batten Bland, founder of Company SBB. Child of a jazz composer/producer father and writer mother, and raised in Soho, Stefanie was clearly destined for a future in the arts. She situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre, film, and installation, with a focus on the interrogation of contemporary and historical culture. This November 1-5, Stefanie’s ‘Embarqued: Stories of Soil’ takes the stage at BAM. This new dance-theater work is an excavation of self and country, created in textiles, skin tones, labor, land, humor, and moving bodies.  Stefanie talks with us about how she got her start in the arts, founding Company SBB, her creative process, and the impetus for ‘Embarqued.’ Tickets for ‘Embarqued’ are available at https://www.bam.org/embarqued. More information on Company BB: https://www.companysbb.org. Transcript excerpt available here. ________________________________ LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

It’s just us this week on Conversations on Dance. Michael is in Denmark setting a ballet for choreographer Justin Peck at Royal Danish Ballet, so he fills us in on how it’s going, 3 weeks in. Rebecca fills us in on how everything is going with her new baby. Links: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

On today’s episode, we are joined by former ballerina and incoming artist director of American Ballet Theatre Susan Jaffe. Susan has previously appeared on the podcast in an interview that covered her rapid rise to stardom at ABT, the accompanying self doubts during this success, and how working through those moments affects her present day work as a coach and director. (Listen here: https://conversationsondancepod.com/2020/08/31/susan-jaffe/). Today she talks about her time directing Pittsburgh Ballet Theater through a pandemic and what her plans are for when she takes the helm of American Ballet Theatre later this year.   LINKS: Rate and Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3RwJqWc Join our email list: https://bit.ly/3USVfcp Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance Facebook: facebook.com/conversationsondance Facebook Group:  facebook.com/groups/conversationsondancefriends Twitter: twitter.com/convoondance conversationsondancepod.com

Today we are joined by Yaron Lifschitz, Artistic Director and CEO of ‘Circa.’ Yaron is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, and National Institute of Dramatic Arts, where he was the youngest director ever accepted into its prestigious graduate director’s course. Since graduating, Yaron has directed over 60 productions including large-scale events, opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus. His work has been seen in more than 40 countries and across six continents by over 1.5 million people. Yaron tells us about how he came to the circus, what he looks for in artists, and how he created a new work called ‘Leviathan,’ co-commissioned by Stanford Live. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, see ‘Leviathan’ at Stanford Live September 30th and October 1st, 2022. Tickets available at live.stanford.edu.

On today’s episode of ‘Conversations On Dance’ we are joined by choreographer Arthur Pita. Arthur’s choreography has been featured across a broad spectrum of art forms including opera, ballet, film, and musical theatre, never shying away from artistic risks like tackling Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ or creating to the music of Bjork. Today we talk to Arthur about his surprising early inspirations, finding his own choreographic voice and how his new work for Houston Ballet finally found its way to the stage after navigating its way through the pandemic. If you are in the Houston area, you can see Arthur’s ‘Good Vibrations’ starting Thursday, September 22nd through October 2nd. You can purchase tickets at houstonballet.org. https://www.houstonballet.org/seasontickets/pdps/2022-2023/good-vibrations/

It’s just Michael and Rebecca this week. We’re back and catch up on what we have been up to this summer and we dive into some recent news. Subscribe to Conversations on Dance wherever you get your podcasts to notified of our upcoming content featuring dance this fall, all new interviews, and much more!

In his first year at VDF, New York City Ballet soloist Jovani Furlan is set to take Vail audiences by storm. Joining the ‘Conversations On Dance’ podcast, Furlan will discuss his dance upbringing in his native Brazil, the leap to american stages and what dancing at VDF for the first time has been like.  Please note: ‘Conversations On Dance’ co-host, Rebecca King Ferraro, will be on maternity leave this summer.  These live events will be hosted by Michael Sean Breeden with special guest hosts throughout the festival. This episode was recorded on August 9, 2022 with special guest host, Mira Nadon. Special thanks to the Town of Vail for their support of Conversations on Dance and the Vail Dance Festival. This episode was recorded at the Manor Vail Lodge. Photo by Christopher Duggan.

Acclaimed Choreographer Claudia Schreier returns to the Vail Dance Festival this year with a new work to commissioned music by Conrad Tao. A classic Vail success story, join the ‘Conversations On Dance’ podcast as they talk to Claudia about her origins at VDF as an intern and chart her path to one of the most highly sought after choreographers in the country. Please note: ‘Conversations On Dance’ co-host, Rebecca King Ferraro, will be on maternity leave this summer.  These live events will be hosted by Michael Sean Breeden with special guest hosts throughout the festival. This episode was recorded on August 7, 2022 with special guest host, Kate Penner. Special thanks to the Town of Vail for their support of Conversations on Dance and the Vail Dance Festival. This episode was recorded at the Manor Vail Lodge. Photo by Christopher Duggan.