Conversations on Dance

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance' we are joined by Artistic Director of Ballet West, Adam Sklute and choreographer Val Caniparoli. At the outset of Ballet West's 2024-2025 season, Adam lays out his vision for the company, including the season opener of Val's "Jekyll and Hyde". Val and Adam talk about their long artistic relationship, how new story ballets are the lifeblood of classica...

On today's episode of 'Conversations on Dance', we are joined by Jared Harbour and Aidan Gibney, the minds behind the upcoming dance documentary 'No Dancing Allowed'. The film explores the intersectionality of Street Dance Culture and governmental policies through the 20th century in New York City, weaving a story of ingenuity, culture, erasure and resilience. Aidan and Jared will be joined b...

Today on 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Silas Farley, teacher and choreographer formerly of the New York City Ballet, to talk about his upcoming premiere for Houston Ballet on their fall program 'Velocity'. Silas talks about his early and singular devotion to the art form, how he found his way to teaching and choreography after his career with NYCB and gives a full deep dive into the p...

Today on 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by dancing extraordinaire Caleb Teicher. Caleb takes us on the journey of their artistic self discovery, from tap to lindy hop and most recently jazz piano. Caleb is pairing up with their friend and frequent collaborator pianist and composer Conrad Tao for 'Counterpoint', an evening length work musically exploring and reimagining everything from Bac...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance' we are joined by Adam Weinert, Artistic Associate of the Kaatsbaan Cultural Park's Annual Festival held in Tivoli, NY. The festival runs four consecutive weekends beginning Friday, September 13th. Adam takes us through his personal history with dance education and performing, how expanding his personal interests to include dance history and even garde...

This episode was recorded live from the Vail Dance Festival on August 3, 2024. In this final live recording of the Conversations on Dance podcast, hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden, chat with internationally renowned ballroom dancers: Denys Drozdyuk and Antonina Skobina. A staple of the Vail Dance Festival for a few years now, the duo delights audiences with their dazzling d...

Today we are happy to share a bonus episode from the 2024 Vail Dance Festival. In this episode we are joined by Kyle Ikuma, last year's Scholar-In-Residence at the Vail Dance Festival. Kyle is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer living in California's Bay Area and a graduate of Princeton. He is also a freelance ballet dancer. Kyle's story is fascinating, so we hope you enjoy! https://kyleikuma.wor...

While artistic gifts can often run in the family, they are seldom able to cross forms in collaboration as searingly as Adji Cissoko and Youba Cissokho did at last year’s Vail Dance Festival. Adji is a ballerina with the LINES ballet (and last year’s VDF Artist-In-Residence) and Youba is a 72nd generation kora player. The two will join Conversations On Dance hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael S...

Welcome to a special bonus episode from the 2024 Vail Dance Festival. Today we welcome back our friend, Calvin Royal III, Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. We chat about his met season at ABT, his experience this year at the Vail Dance Festival, and about the ballet festival he is producing at the Joyce this month. UNITE: Joyce Ballet Festival, directed and co-produced by Calvin Royal...

This episode was recorded live on August 1, 2024 from the Vail Dance Festival. Today we are joined by: India Bradley (New York City Ballet), Mayfield Myers (Philadelphia Ballet), Olivia Bell (New York City Ballet), Philip Duclos (Royal Danish Ballet), and Spencer Lenain (freelance artist). Every year at the Vail Dance Festival, new budding talents from companies all over get the first opportunitie...

Every year audiences at the Vail Dance Festival watch the Artist-In-Residence delve deeply into their craft, pushing outside their comfort zone to create rapidly in the ten days the festival spans. This year audiences will be treated to two such artists, the beloved New York City Ballet ballerina Sara Mearns, and highly acclaimed and sought after choreographer Jamar Roberts. Sara and Jamar sit dow...

This episode was recorded live on July 30, 2024 at the Vail Dance Festival. In part two of this episode, we are joined by American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer, Catherine Hurlin. Look for part one of this episode, now in the feed. Conversations on Dance at the Vail Dance Festival is generously supported by the Town of Vail. Upcoming Conversations on Dance events at the 2024 Vail Dance Festival:...

This episode was recorded live on July 30, 2024 at the Vail Dance Festival. In this episode, Michael and Rebecca sit down with our Vail Dance Festival audience for a Q & A before our guest, Catherine Hurlin joins us. Our episode with Catherine is now in the feed in episode 407. Conversations on Dance at the Vail Dance Festival is generously supported by the Town of Vail. Upcoming Conversations...

This episode was recorded live on Monday, July 29th, 2024 at the Vail Dance Festival. At the vanguard of American modern dance since its inception, Limón Dance Company returns to the Vail Dance Festival after making their debut in 2022. The company’s first performance at the festival earned rave reviews and now they return to celebrate the incredible dance legacy of this beloved and historic compa...

This episode was recorded live at the Vail Dance Festival on Sunday, July 28, 2024. Larry Keigwin has the kind of versatility in his choreographic portfolio that makes him an instant fit for the Vail Dance Festival: commissions from iconic organizations like the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Martha Graham Dance Company, acclaimed work on broadway, and the founding of his own ensemble, Keigwin + Co...

We are leaving for the Vail Dance Festival in just a few days, so today we sit down to talk through the performances that we will be catching during the festival and preview who we will be talking to during our live events. Conversations on Dance at the Vail Dance Festival: https://vaildance.org/conversations-on-dance/ Vail Dance Festival performances: https://vaildance.org/ LINKS: Website: ...

The Vail Dance Festival is just around the corner and our coverage starts now! Today we are joined by American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer and friend of the pod, Herman Cornejo. Herman joins us in the midst of ABT’s season where he is celebrating 25 incredible years with the company. We catch up with Herman about this season, what it means to be celebrating such an important mil...

It's just us this week and we catch up on Michael's staging of Alexei Ratmansky's 'The Fairy's Kiss' at Dutch National Ballet. PLUS - JUST ANNOUNCED! Tickets for Conversations on Dance at the 2024 Vail Dance Festival are on sale now! https://vaildance.org/conversations-on-dance/ LINKS: Website:  conversationsondancepod.com Instagram:  @conversationsondance Merch:  https://bit.ly/cod...

Today on Conversations on Dance, we welcome Theresa Ruth Howard, founder of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, and Katlyn Addison, principal dancer with Ballet West. We first had Katlyn on the podcast in February of 2024 in episode 383, where we talk all about her career. We are happy to welcome Katlyn back on to talk about the upcoming "Pathways to Performance: Exercises in Reframing the Narrative" per...

Today we are joined by Dwight Rhoden, Choreographer & Artistic Director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Since it has been over six years since we last had him on the podcast, we go back to the beginning and hear about his start in dance and choreography. We dig into his process and what he looks for in dancers, both for Complexions and when he is choreographing on other companies. Dwight t...

Today on Conversations on Dance we are joined by Maria Kowroski, former Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet and current Artistic Director of New Jersey Ballet. Maria chats with us about her training, her incredible career, some of her favorite memories onstage, then the opportunity to become Artistic Director of New Jersey Ballet. She tells us about her focuses for the company, the challeng...

Michael is currently at the Dutch National Ballet setting Alexei Ratmansky's 'Fairy's Kiss.' This inspired us to go back into our vault and find this 2017 episode with dance historian, Doug Fullington, on the history of the ballet, also known as 'Baiser de la fée.' Ratmansky's 'Fairy's Kiss' was originally made on Miami City Ballet while we were in the company, and during the time this was recorde...

Today on the 'Conversations on Dance' podcast, we are joined by Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet. Ashley takes us through his career, tells us about the important roles mentors played in his dancing, how he came to the helm of the Joffrey, and what audiences can expect to see from the company this summer at the Ballet Sun Valley festival. Ballet Sun Valley presents The Joffr...

Today we are so pleased to bring you our interview with George Lee, the original 'Tea' dancer in George Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker.' Also joining us for the second time, is documentary filmmaker Jennifer Lin. Jennifer's latest film 'Ten Times Better' explores the life and legacy of George. Jennifer talked to us about this film in episode 382, before it's premiere. Today, George tells us about hi...

Today on the Conversations on Dance podcast, we are joined once again by Susan Jaffe, Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre. We last had Susan on the podcast in late 2022 in episode 309 as she was about to take the helm of the company. This week we get the opportunity to hear from Susan about what her first year has been like, some of the challenges she has faced, and we get a preview of wh...