Celebrate Dance!: A Podcast Round-up


By Miyako Singer and Samra Khawaja
Three female ballerinas jumping onstage in white outfits as they perform.
The Royal Danish Ballet performing at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, whose archives are part of the Dance Heritage Coalition, created in response to the Images of American Dance study. Photo by Maxwell Citizen Kepler.
Put on your dancing shoes and turn up the music (…or podcast in this case.) NEA grantee Dance/USA is hosting its annual national conference in Austin, Texas this week from June 8-11. In honor of the conference, we’re bringing to you a list of some of our Art Works podcasts featuring interviews with dance artists. Listen to conversations with choreographers, dancers, activists, and directors as they discuss how they got started in the field, their artistic philosophies, and how they think about the unifying power of dance. You can follow the Dance/USA conference conversation on social media with the hashtag #DUSAconf. Robert Battle, Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Listen to the complete interview with Robert Battle here.
Image that reads: “In a way, I learned more about my history through [dance] than I could ever learn from a textbook or anything else because the dance says so much.”
Joan Myers Brown, 2012 National Medal of Arts recipient and Founder of Philadanco! Listen to the complete interview with Joan Myers Brown here. 
Image that reads: “People enjoy beautiful bodies moving and they enjoy the music. I think it all comes together when you travel with dancers.”
Merce Cunningham, Choreographer and 1990 National Medal of Arts recipient. Listen to Elizabeth Streb, Suzanne Carbonneau, and Trevor Carlson talk about Merce Cunningham’s legacy here. 
Image that reads: “It seems enough that dancing is a spiritual exercise in physical form, and that what is seen, is what it is.”
Parker Esse, Choreographer. Listen to the complete interview with Parker Esse here. 
Image that reads: “Once the music starts playing for me, my mind starts to dream and I start to picture how it all should lay out, and how I want to tell a story from the moment the music starts, to the moment the music ends.”
Liz Lerman, Choreographer and Dancer. Listen to part 1 of the interview with Liz Lerman here and part 2 here.
Image that reads: “When you spend time with people trying to see if art can make a difference in their life, it's interesting to hear all the reasons why it can and why it can't. Acceptance isn't the only way to make it work.”
Kevin Locke, Lakota flute-player, Hoop-dancer, and 1990 National Heritage Fellow. Listen to the complete interview with Kevin Locke here.
Image that reads: “The disconnect between ourselves and nature…we reverse that, we connect through music, and through dance.”
Kevin McKenzie, Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre. Listen to the complete interview with Kevin McKenzie here.
Image that reads: “The arts are an integral part of what it means to be a civilized society. The performing arts, the visual arts, and literature are the key to thinking in a language that is free to invent.”
Meredith Monk, Composer, Choreographer, Performer. Listen to the complete interview with Meredith Monk here.
Image that reads: “Let yourself be afraid. Because if you're not, then you're just doing something you already know. What's the point of doing it if you already know it?”
Rachel Moore, Author of The Artist’s Compass and President and CEO of The Music Center in Los Angeles. Listen to the complete interview with Rachel Moore here.
Image that reads: “At root, performers are profound problem solvers. What you do on stage you have to figure it out, nobody’s going to help you when you’re on stage.”
Carla Perlo, Founder and Artistic Director of Dance Place. Listen to the complete interview with Carla Perlo here.
Image that reads: “I think we’re going to see art continue to not only be great art for art’s sake, but we’re going to see the power of how it can build community.”

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