Conversations on Dance

This week on ‘Conversations On Dance', we are joined by the choreographic team sweeping the modern dance world, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener. The duo performed together at Merce Cunningham Dance company where they discovered their choreographic compatibility and a similar willingness to explore the way abstraction and representation coincide in the body. Their works have been presented...

This week on ‘Conversations On Dance', we are bringing you a special bonus episode, with one of of most frequent guests, Alastair Macaulay. Today, Alastair has announced his decision to step down from his post as chief dance critic of the New York Times. In his years writing for the Times, Alastair's reviews became events unto themselves, illuminating the performances he saw for many avid re...

On this week's episode of ‘Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Boston Ballet principal Misa Kuranaga. A native of Japan, Misa first came to dance professionally in America with the San Francisco Ballet, before additional training at the School of American Ballet. In 2003, she joined Boston Ballet, where was quickly handed major soloist and principal opportunities, ultimately rising to...

On this week's episode of Conversations On Dance, we are thrilled to be joined once again by American Ballet Theatre principal Isabella Boylston. We caught up with her at the Vail Dance Festival, where we talked about her most recent season at the Met with ABT, how her second year running the Ballet Sun Valley Festival differed from the first, and her preparations for her first performances dancin...

This week, Rebecca & Michael sit down to discuss this past summer, what we are up to in the coming months, and to discuss the New York City Ballet Artistic Director job description.  Here is the New York Times article  by Michael Cooper which we reference. We are thrilled to welcome Yumiko as our newest sponsor of Conversations on Dance.  Visit their Flagship boutique in New York City featurin...

Summer is almost over and many of our listeners are getting ready to head back to school. To help ease us into that transition, we sat down with the director of the Boston Ballet School, Margaret Tracey. Margaret had an illustrious 16 year career as a principal at the New York City Ballet, dancing a massive repertoire of works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Trey Mcintyre, William Forsythe a...

The dance world has a complicated relationship with food. Plagued with pervasive body dysmorphia, our culture is often riddled with myths and negativity regarding our diets. We spoke with dietitian Suzanne Fisher about the dance world’s unique problems with diet and what can be done to overcome them and maintain a healthy relationship with the food that fuels our art. Suzanne's website:  fishernut...

On today's episode of Conversations On Dance, we are joined by Devon Teuscher, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. In 2006, after completing her training at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Devon was invited to join ABT's studio company. Consistent soloist work led to her first promotion in 2014, and following a triumphant turn as Odette/Odile in the full length ‘Swan Lake',...

Join us for another live Festival Forum panel discussion with Damian Woetzel and Claudia Schreier.  Damian Woetzel is the Artistic Director of The Vail Dance Festival and Claudia Schreier is back creating work at the festival for a third time.  We talk about Damian's beginnings at the festival and how he developed it's mission.  We talk with Claudia about her roots in the Vail Dance Festival as a...

Today we talk with New York City Ballet Principal, Lauren Lovette.  The last time we chatted with her was last year at the Vail Dance Festival, so this year we catch up with her, talk about her guesting gig with Royal Danish Ballet, and hear about her new work “Papillons” that premiered on August 6th, 2018 at the Vail Dance Festival.  (Note: This episode was recorded on August 6th, 2018.) Photo: U...

Roman Mejia is one of the newest members of the New York City Ballet, having burst onto the scene at the Vail Dance Festival fresh out of the School of American Ballet. In just his first year at the company, he’s garnered critical acclaim for numerous solo roles, and is quickly gathering momentum as a dancer to be seen. We talk with Roman about the pressures of being thrust into the spotlight so s...

Merce Cunningham is one of the greatest and most influential choreographers of the 20th century. In honor of the Merce Cunningham centennial, we were pleased to host Melissa Toogood, a dancer of his works and Abi Sebaly, a Cunningham scholar.  We discuss Merce’s work methods, collaborations with artists like John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg, broad influence in the avant-garde in dance and beyond,...

We sit down in Vail to catch up with The New York Times Chief Dance Critic Alastair Macaulay and discuss the Vail Dance Festival.  We discuss what makes the festival so special, how it has evolved, dancers who he has watched flourish in Vail, and what makes him keep coming back for more.  (Note: This episode was recorded on August 3, 2018.) Photo: Erin Baiano The post BONUS: Alastair Macaulay from...

Welcome to our first episode from the 2018 Vail Dance Festival.  For our first live event we spoke with Justin Peck and Caroline Shaw.  Justin Peck, one of the world’s most sought after and celebrated working ballet choreographers, and fresh off a Tony nomination for his work on the Broadway musical ‘Carousel’, will be premiering his first work at the Vail Dance Festival. Caroline Shaw, composer-i...

This week it's just Rebecca and Michael to celebrate our 100th episode.  We take the time to reflect on the past two years of Conversations on Dance by counting down our top 10 favorite episodes.  We have had so many incredible guests that it was hard to narrow it down, so a few other favorite moments come up.  Thank you to all of our listeners who have made these past two years of podcasting such...

This we we are delighted to welcome Michael Novak,   the Artistic Director Designate of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation. Raised in Rolling Meadows, IL, Michael began studying dance at age ten.   In 2001, he was offered a Presidential Scholarship to attend The University of the Arts in Philadelphia to pursue training in jazz and ballet. The following year, he undertook an apprenticeship at the Pen...

This week on Conversations On Dance, our guest is Houston Ballet Artistic Director and acclaimed choreographer Stanton Welch. Born in Australia to two prominent ballet dancers, Welch expressed an interest in choreography almost immediately after beginning his dance training. Soon after joining the Australian Ballet as a dancer he received his first choreographic commission, and five years later he...

This week we are joined by Ana Sophia Scheller, San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer. The Argentinian-born dancer moved to New York at the age of 13 to study at the School of American Ballet, and later joined NYCB as a corps member in 2004 after a brief time with ABT’s Studio company. In her 13 years with NYCB, she worked her way up to the title of Principal dancing featured roles in all of the c...

Today on Conversations On Dance, we speak with Dwight Rhoden, founding artistic director and resident choreographer of Complexions Dance Company. Despite a late start in dance, Rhoden danced for numerous major companies, including as a principal with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Partnering with acclaimed performer Desmond Richardson, Rhoden co-founded Complexions in 1994, a company often ci...

This week we are joined by Mathilde Froustey, Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet.   Mathilde started dancing at the age of 9 in the South of France before going on to study at the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1999.   In 2002 she joined The Paris Opera Ballet where she would dance numerous Principal roles for over a decade.   In January 2013 she accepted an offer from Helgi Tommasson to joi...

This week we are joined by Katita Waldo, Ballet Master with San Francisco Ballet. Katita trained at San Francisco Ballet School, prior to joining the company in 1988 and becoming a Principal dancer in 1994.   She   performed Principal roles in a diverse repertory of works by acclaimed choreographers including George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Lar Lubovitch, Helgi Tomasson, and Christopher Wheel...

This week on the podcast, we are joined in San Francisco by one of the world’s most in demand choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon. Having trained at Royal Ballet, Wheeldon was taken into the company, but soon transferred to the New York City Ballet, where he rose to the rank of soloist. His choreographic talents were soon recognized and while still in his twenties, he was named resident choreogra...

This week we bring you an episode we recorded at New York City’s Guggenheim museum in January.   We wanted to catch up with New York City Ballet Principal Dancer, Sara Mearns, and Jodi Melnick, contemporary choreographer to hear about their Works and Process at the Guggenheim that they were putting together.   We chatted with the pair quickly between rehearsals, so we could offer our listeners a p...

Welcome to our final bonus episode from San Francisco Ballet’s Unbound festival.   Just as with last episode, today we will be talking with 3 different dancers in the company about what ultimately led them to SFB and about their experience at the Unbound festival.   These episodes were recorded in the first few days of the festival around April 20th.   First up today, we talk with Lauren Strongin....

BONUS: San Francisco Ballet Dancers Ep. 1.  Welcome to our 1st of two bonus episode wrap ups of San Francisco Ballet’s Unbound festival.   In each episode we will be talking with 3 different dancers in the company about what ultimately led them to SFB and about their experience at the Unbound festival.   These episodes were recorded in the first few days of the festival around April 20th.  To star...