Conversations on Dance

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Emmy award winning choreographer, Joshua Bergasse. Joshua tells us about breaking into the theater world as a choreographer, how collaborating with other creative teams impacts his work, branching out into television on the hit show 'Smash', and the full circle moment of first performing in West Side Story and now staging the ch...

This week on Conversations on Dance, we are happy to bring you a chat with our friend, Damien Johnson. The topic of today’s conversation was suggested by one of our listeners who was looking for us to delve into male specific training and some of the issues that arise that are different from females in the field. Damien is a permanent guest faculty member at The School of American Ballet...

Today we are joined by critic, dance scholar, and former chief dance critic to the New York Times , Alastair Macaulay. We talk with Alastair about the incredible legacy of George Balanchine's 'Serenade'. Originally choreographed in 1934 for students at the School Of American Ballet, 'Serenade' has gone on to become one of the most beloved works of the 20th century. Alastair takes us through t...

This week on Conversations On Dance, we sit down with Charlotte Ballet director and international choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. We spoke with Alejandro about his first season of programming for Charlotte Ballet, how important freedom and risk taking are to the choreographic process and his plans to make the company an integral part of the city's identity. If you are in the Charlotte area, you c...

Today we are bringing you another re-release from the early days of 'Conversations On Dance', this time with author Jennifer Homans. In this episode today, first recorded in June 2017, we spoke with Jennifer about the book she prior to 'Mr. B' titled 'Apollo's Angels' which chronicles ballet's entire history, as well as her own history as a dancer and her founding of Center for Ballet and the Arts...

Today on 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by choreographer Justin Peck to discuss his new work for Houston Ballet 'Under the Folding Sky'. Justin talks about how seeing the art work of James Turrell in Houston provided a jumping off point, how he's waited for almost a decade to use the ballet's Phillip Glass score and what it's been like to explore an epic scale of dance in this work for 24...

We are going back into our archives from the first few years of the podcast and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes. Today we are restoring our 2016 interview with the legendary Balanchine ballerina, Patricia McBride to our feed, and if you missed it the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up. Patty, as she is affectionately referred to by her many fans, peers and students, tells u...

This week on Conversations on Dance, we are joined by author, Alice Robb, whose memoir, ‘Don’t Think, Dear’, chronicles her experiences as a young ballet student. We talk about the creative process for the book, her decision to include far reaching studies on pain tolerance, dancer psychology, and other subjects to give context to a dancer’s life and experience, and the book’s place in recent...

Today on Conversations on Dance we are happy to bring you a panel discussion on a very special project: the reimagining of La Bayadère. Joining us are Phil Chan, of Final Bow for Yellowface, Doug Fullington, dance historian and musicologist, and Sarah Wroth, Associate Professor and Chair at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. The trio talk with us about the idea to reexamine La Bayadère...

We are going back into our archives from the first few years of the podcast and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes. Today is part two of our June 2017 interview with Edward Villella, Balanchine dancer and founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. In part two, we focus on his founding of Miami City Ballet and so much more. Listen to part one here . Subscribe to Conversations on Dance...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by choreographer, Omar Román De Jesús. Omar takes us through his early training in Puerto Rico, the leap of faith he took in moving to New York City and how his humble early choreographic beginnings have led to a Princess Grace Award and commissions from world renowned companies. Omar's first work for Ballet Hispanico will premiere...

We are going back into our archives from the first few years of the podcast and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes. Today is our first re-release: our June 2017 interview with Edward Villella, Balanchine dancer and founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. We talk with our former boss about his career, dancing for Balanchine, the specific roles made on him, and much more. Part Two o...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Linda Murray, the curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library. We speak with Linda about how her passions for dance and archiving merged, the history of the dance division, curating the collection and how every individual can protect and preserve their own personal archives. Plan a visit to the dance d...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance' we are joined by principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre James Whiteside to discuss his upcoming directorial debut film 'Daytripper'. James catches up to speed about his recovery from knee surgery, transforming his book 'Center Center' into a play and the creative concept and filming process for 'Daytripper'. You can stream 'Daytripper' as part...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by dance videographer, director and producer Nel Shelby. Nel takes us through the entire creative process of filming Ballet Hispanico's performance of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's 'Doña Peron' at the Kennedy Center. She shares with us the challenges and rewards of helming this 15 camera project. The filming will premiere on PBS as part of th...

Welcome to the brand new Conversations on Dance! We are pleased to announce we are now a part of the Acast Creator Network. Check out what else is new: New website: conversationsondancepod.com Merch: https://bit.ly/cod-merch YouTube: https://bit.ly/youtube-COD Spotify Playlists: COD Fave Ballets Program A and Program B Join our email list:   https://bit.ly/mail-COD This episode's sponsor: Dim...

On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Ted Brandsen and Rachel Beaujean, Director and Associate Artistic Director of Dutch National Ballet. We are speaking to them in advance of the company's first tour to the United States in 40 years, which is to take place at the Ballet Sun Valley festival in Sun Valley, Idaho. First, we talk with Ted briefly about his career and his d...

On today's episode of ‘Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Gregory Maqoma, founder of Vuyani Dance Theater. Gregory tells us about how he first came to discover and fall in love with dance in South Africa, his artistic journey from performer to choreographer and creator and his latest work ‘Cion: Requiem Of Ravel's Bolero', which is currently on tour and will take the stage at Pe...

On today's episode of ‘Conversations On Dance', we have celebrated choreographer Cathy Marston on to discuss her upcoming premiere for Houston Ballet, ‘Summer and Smoke'. Cathy tells us what drew her to Tennesse Williams' play as source material for a new ballet, her casting process and creating to composer Michael Daugherty's original score for the work. If you are in the Houston area...

Today we are thrilled to welcome back to the pod, the ladies of Ragamala Dance Company. Today we talk with company’s founder and co-artistic director, Ranee Ramaswamy, and her daughter, co-artistic director Aparna Ramaswamy. We first had Ranee and Aparna on the podcast about a year ago, with Aparna's sister, Ashwini, in episode 275 . If you haven't heard that episode yet, we hope you will go back...

On today's episode of ‘Conversations On Dance' we are joined by Dance Theater Of Harlem ballerina Amanda Smith. Amanda tells us about how her early extracurricular activities led to greater versatility, how her education at SUNY Purchase shaped her career, and the importance of persistence in achieving one's goals. Visit  dancetheaterofharlem.org  to see the company's tour dat...

Today on Conversations On Dance we are thrilled to talk about a special children's programming co-production between Miami City Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, ‘Rita Finds Home'. We are joined by the choreographer Amy Hall Garner and Miami City Ballet Director Of Community Engagement Monica Stephenson to talk about how ‘Rita' relates to children today, why it was important to create something entir...

It's just Michael and Rebecca this week. We start by catch up after Michael's live events at Works & Process at the Guggenheim and Inside NYCB. Michael tells us about seeing Justin Peck's newest work at New York City Ballet, ‘Copland Dance Episodes,' then about his work on ‘The Night Falls' with Troy Schumacher and BalletCollective. See ‘The Night Falls' February 9th through...

On today's episode of Conversations On Dance, we are joined by Kati Hanlon Mayo, Associate Director of Charlotte Ballet Academy. We talk to Kati about how she reoriented her career goals as a teenager, working with Patricia McBride on Balanchine classics, her beginnings as a teacher while still having a demanding performing career and how she sets short and long term goals for her students as indi...

Today's episode of ‘Conversations On Dance' is a live podcast from the Guggenheim's Works & Process series. We explore the creation of a new dance driven music theater production ‘The Night Falls', which is set to run February 9th through 12th at Montclair State University. ‘The Night Falls' is a new myth for our fractured era, depicting the metamorphosis of atomized individuals into a true co...