Conversations on Dance

This week we talk with American Ballet Theatre's newest soloist dancer, Gabe Stone Shayer. Gabe was born in Philadelphia, where he began his dance training. At 14, he began training full time at the Rock School for Dance Education, before going on to move to Russia to continue his studies at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. Shayer is the first African-American male to graduate from the Bolsho...

Today, we welcome our first conductor to the podcast, Ming Luke. Ming holds a Master of Fine Arts in Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. With a background in ballet himself, Ming has conducted for ballet performances around the world. He is currently serving as Music Director fo...

Our guest today is Janie Taylor, a former principal ballerina with the New York City Ballet, present day dancer with LA Dance Project, repetiteur for the works of Benjamin Millepied, costume designer, and creator of the art newspaper Quarter Marks. At the New York City Ballet, Janie amassed a broad rep that showcased the full depth and range of her talents in ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome R...

Today we check in with listener favorite, Alastair Macaulay. We last spoke with Alastair in 2018 as he was preparing to step down from his post as chief dance critic at the New York Times. We catch up on what he has been working on over the past couple of years, including his research for his book on Merce Cunningham. He tells us about his virtual series for New York City Center that has been exce...

It's our 200th episode of Conversations on Dance! To celebrate, Rebecca and Michael get together to chat about the beginnings of COD, some favorite memories, and catch up on what they have been up to recently. If you would like to give to the Miami City Ballet dancer relief fund, you can do so here: https://tickets.miamicityballet.org/donate/q/dsf Thank you as always to our amazing sponsor, Yumiko...

Today we chat with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's newly appointed Artistic Director, Susan Jaffe. Susan was a Principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre for 22 years, appearing prominently in the international dance scene and frequently dancing with Mikhail Baryshnikov. She retired from the stage in 2002 at age 40 and went on to serve as an adviser to the chairman of the board of American Ballet T...

Today we are joined by Megan LeCrone, soloist with the New York City Ballet. Megan was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and at age 14, began studying with Melissa Hayden and Duncan Noble at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Megan entered the School of American Ballet full-time in the fall of 2001, and in November 2001 she became an apprentice with New York City Ballet.  She joined the Co...

This week we welcome Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director, Peter Boal, back to the podcast. We first spoke with Peter in March of 2017, for a fantastic conversation surrounding his career and directorship. (Tune into episode 36 with Peter ). Today, we catch up with Peter to hear about his experience leading PNB through the COVID-19 pandemic, how the dancers are safely and creatively returnin...

Today, on the Conversations on Dance podcast, we are sharing our chat with American Ballet Theatre Soloist, Calvin Royal III, that was recorded as a part of the 2020 Vail Dance Festival: Digital Edition. Through August 15th, you can watch our Zoom chat with Calvin on the Vail Dance Festival Facebook page or on their YouTube Channel. While you are there, we encourage you to explore the incredible 8...

Today, on the Conversations on Dance podcast, we are sharing our chat with American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancers, Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside, that was recorded as a part of the 2020 Vail Dance Festival: Digital Edition. Through August 15th, you can watch our Zoom chat with James and Bella on the Vail Dance Festival Facebook page or on their YouTube Channel. While you are there, we e...

Today we are joined by choreographer, Trey McIntyre. Yesterday, on August 4th, 2020, Trey announced the reimagining of his Trey McIntyre Project, as a way to adapt dance to the COVID era. He has dubbed this new project, FLTPK (flatpack) which is an online subscription service that gives viewers access to one-of-a-kind, original dance works by some of the greatest dance makers on the planet. Access...

Today we chat with Vail Dance Festival Artistic Director Damian Woetzel to get a preview of what is in store for their eight night digital festival, July 31 – August 7, 2020. Damian tells us what it was like to have to decide to cancel the in person festival and move to a digital format, how they have chosen what the audience will get to see, offers us some previews of different pieces, and...

While all performing arts organizations are shifting their content to a digital format, so are we. Today's episode is meant to act like a pre-performance talk for the Lake Tahoe Dance Festival, which is presented by the Lake Tahoe Dance Collective. We chat with Artistic Director Christin Hanna about their digital festival which will be shown on their website this Wednesday – Friday, July 22-...

Today we are joined by Lloyd Knight, Principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Born in England and raised in Miami, Lloyd trained at Miami Conservatory of Ballet and New World School of the Arts. He joined Martha Graham Dance Company in 2005 and performs the major male roles of the Graham repertory including in  Appalachian Spring ,  Embattled Garden ,  Night Journey  and many others....

Today we speak with Austin Hartel, Oklahoma International Dance Festival Artistic Director. Austin was a soloist and co-choreographer with Pilobolus Dance Theater, making appearances worldwide and on television. After his dance career, he joined the faculty of University of Oklahoma's School of Dance where he has coordinated the Modern Dance Program for nearly 20 years. This year was meant to welc...

Today we check in with Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico. We last spoke with Eduardo in November 2019 in episode 160 about his career and his directorship at Ballet Hispánico. If you want to listen to that episode, you can find the link in the description of this episode. Today we chat with Eduardo about what it has been like for him leading his organization through the...

This week we are joined by our friend, Damien Johnson, faculty member of the Washington School of Ballet. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Damien started dancing at 13, eventually going on to study at The Rock School and The School of American Ballet. As a professional dancer, Damien has been a member of American Repertory Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, New Chamber Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and...

This week, friend of the pod Patricia Delgado, makes another appearance on Conversations on Dance, to discuss Zoom ballet class. Patricia is a former Principal Dancer with Miami City Ballet and is now a faculty member of the Juilliard Dance Division. Join us for a chat about what it's like to teach dance digitally, troubleshooting some of the technical glitches with Zoom, and what tricks we have d...

Today we are joined by Phil Chan, a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface. Phil is a graduate of Carleton College and an alumnus of the Ailey School and is now an arts administrator and educator. Phil was the founding General Manager of the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, and was the General Manager for Armitage Gone! Dance and Youth America Grand Prix. He served multiple years on the National E...

This week we are continuing our conversation about teaching ballet classes online during the COVID-19 pandemic. We talk with Gavin Larsen, a former principal dancer with Oregon Ballet Theatre, now living in Asheville, NC, where she teaches and writes about dance. After training at the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, she danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alberta B...

This week we talk with Nancy Richer, founder of Richer Movement. Nancy Richer was born and raised in New York City and danced with The Royal Danish Ballet, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The Los Angeles Ballet, and Twyla Tharp Dance. By founding Richer Movement, she developed her movement method based on the warm ups and cross training she did during her career as a professional ballerina. Nancy was...

This week, we are joined by Mikko Nissinen, Boston Ballet Artistic Director. Born in Helsinki, Mikko began his dance training at age ten with The Finnish National Ballet School, and launched his professional dance career at age 15 with The Finnish National Ballet.  He went on to continue his dance training at The Kirov Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia. He danced professionally for 19 y...

This week on the pod, Rebecca and Michael fill out a Balanchine masterwork tournament bracket to crown the ultimate Balanchine ballet. In March, two students at Indiana University sent us an email: they were missing March Madness and decided to create a bracket for Balanchine Masterworks as a fun activity for the dance department. They were kind enough to share their bracket with us. So today, we...

This week we are joined by our friend, Tricia Albertson, Principal dancer with Miami City Ballet. Raised in Santa Cruz, CA, she began her ballet training at The Studio School of Classical Ballet. She attended summer programs at San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet (SAB) before joining SAB for the year-round program in 1995. In 1997 she joined Miami City Ballet as a corps m...

This week we are joined by Mira Nadon, New York City Ballet Corps de Ballet dancer. Mira began her ballet training at the age of six at the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair, California. She attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), in 2014 and 2015, before entering SAB full-time for the 2015 winter term. In November 2017, Ms. Nadon became an apprentice with NYCB and...