Pod De Deux

A Podcast about contemporary issues and life in the dance community.

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LLAB Ep 6 - The Front of the Room: Getting There and Staying There Pt II w/ Candace Thompson-Zachery & Sophie Myrtil-McCourty

LLAB Ep 6 – The Front of the Room: Getting There and Staying There Pt II w/ Candace Thompson-Zachery & Sophie Myrtil-McCourty

In our previous episode, we explored the stories and experiences of two Black dance leaders, their leadership styles, how they navigate their Blackness in their workplaces, as well as ways that they advocate for their Black dancers. Today, we’re peeling back another layer, getting to know two dance leaders in dance advocacy and dance management. We examine how our culture influences our work, and…

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WILL I STILL BE HERE, AFTER? : Jane Comfort – Dance Now Ep. 5 In this  installment of PDD’s fall/spring series covering the Dance Now 25th anniversary season, Paul Hamilton speaks with Choreographer, Writer, Director, and two-time Bessie winner Jane Comfort, who is being honored on Thursday, December 3rd at 7:00pm during the festival’s evening celebration.

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LLAB Ep 1: White Supremacy in Dance Education Pt I - w/ Morgan Burns, Runako Campbell & Ricardo Hartley

LLAB Ep 1: White Supremacy in Dance Education Pt I – w/ Morgan Burns, Runako Campbell & Ricardo Hartley

In the first episode of this fall PDD series, The LLAB, new Host Antuan Byers talks to a recent grad, Morgan Burns, and college seniors, Runako Campbell and Ricardo Hartley, about their experiences navigating the world of dance education as Black students at predominantly white institutions. Although all three of these guests attended different colleges and conservatories, we quickly…

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WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Sonya Tayeh

WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Sonya Tayeh

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The Pod De Deux Podcast team is back with a not-to-be-missed season finale episode in the “Women Of Broadway” summer series. This week, Emmy nominee Sonya Tayeh joins Michael, Ellyn, and Kevin to discuss what it was like to choreograph, not one, but two musicals slated for Broadway this past season. Tayeh not only choreographed Mouli…

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WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Lizzi Gee

WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Lizzi Gee

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The Pod De Deux Podcast team is back with another episode in the “Women Of Broadway” summer series, this week featuring Lizzi Gee, the choreographer behind this past season’s production of A Christmas Carol.

In this episode, the remarkable Lizzi Gee discusses what it meant to her to travel across the pond to bring A Christmas Carol

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WOMEN OF BROADWAY: CARRIE-ANNE INGROUILLE

WOMEN OF BROADWAY: CARRIE-ANNE INGROUILLE

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The Pod De Deux Podcast team is back with another episode in the “Women Of Broadway” summer series, this week featuring Six The Musical choreographer, Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. In the episode, Carrie-Anne discusses the growth, inspiration, and magic behind the female-driven musical Six. She also offers listeners a…

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WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Lucy Hind

WOMEN OF BROADWAY: Lucy Hind

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The Pod De Deux Podcast team is back with another episode in the “Women Of Broadway” summer series, this week featuring Girl From The North Country choreographer, Lucy Hind.

In the episode, Lucy discusses the development of the Broadway musical ‘Girl From The North Country’ and the effects of halting performances due to…

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In this episode, recorded during the first week of NYC’s COVID quarantine, we spoke to Kyla Barkin and Aaron Selissen about their journey of building a dance company together, their latest project, Accidental Suite (which was scheduled to be presented on March 20th but postponed due to the virus), and the complex topics they explore in their work – including graduate-level mathematics! (You can see a documentary about the mathematics piece here and more dance films from their Titles Project on the Barkin/Selissen vimeo page!) We were particularly inspired to hear how Kyla and Aaron draw their audience members into an experience and create a sense of community that has in turn earned them a dedicated – and growing – base of diverse fans. 

Kyla Barkin was raised in Tempe, AZ and studied with “La Mariquilla” at the Academia de Ballet Flamenco in Granada, Spain, before receiving her B.A. in Dance from UCLA. She has toured and presented work internationally, and she is the recipient of multiple awards.

Aaron Selissen is originally from Green Bay, WI and received his B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Butler University. His choreographic work has been presented across the U.S., and his teaching and performance career has taken him across the US and abroad.

BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT (B/SP) is a New York City-based contemporary dance company that Kyla and Aaron founded in 2009 to present their choreography through live performance and workshops. The company strives to remove barriers and create a shared experience between the creative team and audience members, allowing for a more inclusive and memorable event. 

Kyla and Aaron have also created dance films. Accidental Suite premiered in June as 1 of 5 dance films in B/SP’s Titles Project, and the audience voted to have it expanded and presented live. The extended version was scheduled to premiere at Riverside Church on March 20th, but it has now been indefinitely postponed due to the Coronavirus. Featuring 9 dancers and an original score by Zac Selissen, it is a 75-minute celebration event including 30 minutes of live performance wrapped in a pre and post party. This performance installation evokes chance encounters, near misses, and the magnetic push and pull of relationships from start to finish.

WE’RE DRIVEN BY EMOTIONAL CONTENT: Kyla Barkin & Aaron Selissen In this episode, recorded during the first week of NYC’s COVID quarantine, we spoke to Kyla Barkin and Aaron Selissen about their journey of building a dance company together, their latest project, Accidental Suite (which was scheduled to be presented on March 20th but postponed due to the virus), and the complex topics they explore in their work - including graduate-level mathematics!

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In this episode of Pod De Deux, Michael Mahany speaks with Lady Gaga’s Visual Director and Choreographer, Richy Jackson! (Scroll down for extended video cut!)

Jackson, who grew up in the California Bay Area, tells us all about how he came to find dance, the fateful day when he left Tuskegee University as a pre-law student to move to LA and become a full-time dancer, and dishes on creating, casting, and shooting his most recent collaboration with Gaga — her latest music video, “Stupid Love“! Find Richy on Insta and Twitter @richysquirrel !

Richy Jackson is a world-class Visual Director and Choreographer who has spent the breadth of his 16-year career working in counts of eight alongside the most influential recording artists in the music industry. He is responsible for the widely acclaimed Lady Gaga Super Bowl Halftime Show and a master at inventing her signature dance style. He has served as Lady Gaga’s Visual Director/Choreographer for most of her career, creating the majority of her music videos, live performances, and television appearances. Jackson has also worked with Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Nicki Minaj, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Brandy, to name a few.

In addition to being one of the most sought-after choreographers in the business, Jackson displays superlative talent in stage direction, camera-blocking, and direction in narrative/character development. He has put his directional creativity into performances for some of the most recognized shows on television both domestically and abroad, including American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show With David Letterman, The Academy Awards, The Grammy Awards, the MTV Music Awards, the American Music Awards, the Billboard Awards, the BET Awards, and countless others.

While Jackson has spent thousands of hours developing and perfecting his craft in the rehearsal room, he is also an established television personality – appearing on-camera during multiple seasons of the wildly popular MTV franchise “Making The Band”. In 2011, Jackson was featured as a series regular on two hit shows: “The Dance Scene” (E! Entertainment) and “Born to Dance” (Black Entertainment Television).

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PLEASE LOVE WHAT YOU DO: Richy Jackson In this episode of Pod De Deux, Michael Mahany speaks with Lady Gaga's Visual Director and Choreographer, Richy Jackson!

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In this second week of COVID quarantine in New York City, Michael and Clara had the privilege of connecting with multi-disciplinary art maker Gabri Christa over Zoom. Gabri is a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, scholar and all-around artist with a rich history and intriguing body of work. She told us about the cross-roads culture she experienced growing up in the Dutch Caribbean island nation of Curaçao, where she took yoga with adults and absorbed cultural dance forms before encountering modern dance when she attended university in the Netherlands. Hearing Gabri’s story of choreographing and performing at a young age on the island was an inspiring reminder that the urge to create comes not from formal training but from a well of creativity within. Most recently, Gabri has been touring her multi-media project, Magdalena, which took shape in response to her mother’s dementia, and hosting/curating the second Moving Body-Moving Image festival of dance films at Barnard. The festival theme this year is aging. It will take place completely online on April 4th from 12-6pm – we hope you’ll tune in! https://www.movingbodymovingimage.com/festival

You can see the film Gabri made with Kyle Abraham, QUARANTINE, on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/42853661

Multi-disciplinary and wide-ranging in form, Gabri Christa’s art-making spans film, choreography, performance, curation, writing, and more. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College and a member of Mayor de Blasio’s Cultural Advisory Commission. Gabri has danced and choreographed with companies such as Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, DanzAbierta and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Awards include the Guggenheim for Choreography, and five Jerome Foundation grants. Her choreographies have been presented nationally, internationally and locally at Central Park Summer Stage, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Symphony Space, PS122 and for five seasons at Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts). 

I DID IT AND I ANALYZED IT LATER: Gabri Christa In this second week of COVID quarantine in New York City, Michael and Clara had the privilege of connecting with multi-disciplinary art maker Gabri Christa over Zoom.

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ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN: Megan Williams

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN: Megan Williams

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Jessica and Clara had the privilege of connecting with dance artist Megan Williams about her multi-layered career and many years of adventure in dance. Megan told us about getting started at Juilliard in the 80s and touring with Mark Morris Dance Group for 10 years, a relationship that evolved into an opportunity…

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After a particularly busy fall performance season, Jessica and Clara decided to bring a new co-host onto the Pod de Deux team – and could not have been more thrilled when Michael Mahany jumped on board!! Despite a demanding schedule performing with the recently extended Rock of Ages and serving as New York City Correspondent & Host for Dance Network TV, Michael has already brought remarkable energy, enthusiasm and much-needed social media skills to Pod de Deux. After many years of interviewing dance stars on the Dance Network red carpet and publishing written interviews (like this one with PDD guest Tiffany Mills!), Michael also brings a familiarity with Broadway and commercial dance that will help PDD widen its scope even further. This refreshing new energy is just what we needed for 2020. Welcome, Michael! (Listeners you can follow Michael on instagram at @michaelmahany – and don’t forget @rockofagesmusical and Dance Network at @watchdancetv !)

WELCOME TO POD DE DEUX: Our New Co-host Michael Mahany! After a particularly busy fall performance season, Jessica and Clara decided to bring a new co-host onto the Pod de Deux team - and could not have been more thrilled when Michael Mahany jumped on board!!

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  Clara sat down with award-winning documentary filmmaker Catherine Tambini just days after Catherine’s new film, Perfectly Normal for Me, had its nationwide television premiere on the WORLD Channel. (The film can be streamed on worldchannel.org until November 29th!) Perfectly Normal for Me follows children and teens in a NYC after-school program called Dancing Dreams that is designed to help students with physical disabilities learn dance and express their interest in movement and performance.  Catherine spoke about the universality of dance as well as the experience of making the film and her gratitude for the families who allowed her into their lives during filming. She also shared her own evolving experience with dance, speculated on the linkage between dance and social activism, and gave us a peek into the process of making a documentary film. We hope you will enjoy the interview and head over to worldchannel.org to stream Perfectly Normal for Me by Nov. 29th, 2019! 

Catherine Tambini is an award-winning filmmaker and documentarian. Her past films include Hate Rising, about the 2016 presidential campaign rhetoric and the rise of the Alt Right; The State of Arizona, about Arizona’s struggle with illegal immigration; and Farmingville, about a small town on Long Island in the wake of the hate-based attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers. Catherine also co-produced the Academy Award-nominated Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse about George Balanchine’s iconic ballerina. She has won and been nominated for many additional awards, including an Emmy for The State of Arizona, the Sundance Special Jury Award for Farmingville, the Impact Award for Outstanding Documentary for Hate Rising, and more. In addition to her documentary work, Catherine has assisted in the production design of many well-known Hollywood films, and she has field produced and shot portions of several reality series. She is a Sundance Institute and MacArthur Foundation fellow. She holds a BFA from the University of Oklahoma and a MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

DANCE IS FOR EVERYONE: Catherine Tambini Clara sat down with award-winning documentary filmmaker Catherine Tambini just days after Catherine’s new film, Perfectly Normal for Me, had its nationwide television premiere on the WORLD Channel.

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In this episode, our new co-host Michael joined the mic with Clara to interview choreographer, Tiffany Mills ahead of the world premiere of her new work, Not then, not yet. Tiffany shared how she drew inspiration for this evening-length work from Mary Shelley’s life and writings.  The motif of liminality became a powerful, generative force behind the work to explore movement, emotion, and character in between contrasting states and emotions. Having come from a diverse background of tap, gymnastics, and modern dance, Tiffany revealed how she eventually became interested in choreographing dance from a theatrical and dramaturgical perspective. 

Tiffany Mills Company returns to The Flea Theater this November 13–16 with the world premiere of Not then, not yet, an evening-length work that explores states of transition and transformation. Not then, not yet was created in collaboration with Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón and French vocalist/composer Muriel Louveau. It examines states of transition, drawing inspiration from the liminal space between endings and new beginnings. Weaving movement, an electronic score, and live vocals, the artists map internal landscapes, as well as external ones as they consider the often surreal space one dwells in between past/future, young/old, and even life/death. Chairs are used as objects of comfort, support, options, and obstacles. In addition to Mills, Negron and Louveau, Not then, not yet features dramaturgy by Mills’s longtime collaborator Kay Cummings, lighting design by Chris Hudacs, and costumes by Pei-Chi Su.

Tiffany Mills is choreographer and artistic director of the New York City-based Tiffany Mills Company, which she founded in 2000. Recent New York City seasons include The Flea Theater (Resident Artist, 2018), La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival (2016), and BAM/Kennedy Center’s Professional Development Program, which culminated in a NYC season at BAM Fisher (2013). Mills holds an annual Summer Intensive in New York City (2006–present), has taught at Trisha Brown Studios, Dance New Amsterdam, Gibney Dance Center, Peridance, The Playground, ACDA, as well as at universities and festivals nationally and internationally. Some recent awards and residencies include NYU’s Tisch Summer Dance Festival, CUNY Dance Initiative, The Joyce Theater’s Mellon Anchor Tenant Program, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and LMCC Swing Space.

Please join us, listeners, in welcoming Michael Mahany as a co-host on Pod de Deux! More soon!

IN BETWEEN: TIFFANY MILLS In this episode, our new co-host Michael joined the mic with Clara to interview choreographer, Tiffany Mills ahead of the world premiere of her new work, Not then, not yet.

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Jessica and Clara had the great pleasure of interviewing five 2019 Bessie Award nominees this year thanks to the help of Bessies rep Kamila Slawinski! In order of interview, we spoke to: Caleb Teicher, Molly Poerstel, Shamar Watt, Ni’Ja Whitson and Leslie Cuyjet.

The Bessies are New York City’s premier annual dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, and our interviewees could not have illustrated this more clearly. We were fascinated to dig into the inspiration and processes behind a sampling of the imaginative, diverse, socially important and truly outstanding works that are being recognized this year. We hope you will enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed conversing. For more about each artist, continue scrolling for individual bios! Note that the Bessies awards ceremony will take place on Monday, October 14th, 2019. Jessica and Clara will be there, alongside our five interviewees and of course many more. Come join us and be sure to say ‘hi’!

THE BESSIES: Five 2019 Nominees Jessica and Clara had the great pleasure of interviewing five 2019 Bessie Award nominees this year thanks to the help of Bessies rep Kamila Slawinski!

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Pod de Deux interviewed Leslie Cuyjet as part of a series of interviews with five 2019 NYC Bessie Award nominees. Leslie was nominated for a Bessie for Sustained Achievement with Jane Comfort, Niall Jones, Juliana F. May, Cynthia Oliver, and Will Rawls. We hope to do a full-length interview with her in the future!

Leslie Cuyjet is a dance and collaborative artist based in Brooklyn. She has collaborated, contributed, co-directed, facilitated, designed, and danced with a range of artists, including Kim Brandt, Yanira Castro/acanary torsi, Jane Comfort, David Gordon, Niall Noel Jones, Cynthia Oliver, Juliana F. May, KatieWorkum, Julian Barnett, Stephanie Acosta, Vanessa Walters, NARCISSISTER, Sean Donovan and Sebastián Calderón Bentin, Emily Wexler, David Thomson, Mark Dendy, The A.O. Movement Collective, and Will Rawls, among others. Cuyjet has been presented in New York by La MaMa (La MaMa Moves!Festival/The Current Sessions), Gibney Dance (DoublePlus), Center for Performance Research (Fall Movement), Movement Research (Fall Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church), AUNTS (Realness, Populous), and Danspace Draftworks. Leslie has held residencies at Chez Bushwick, Movement Research, and Center for Performance Research, and Yaddo.

2019 BESSIE NOMINEE: Leslie Cuyjet Pod de Deux interviewed Leslie Cuyjet as part of a series of interviews with five 2019 NYC Bessie Award nominees.

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Pod de Deux interviewed Ni’Ja Whitson as part of a series of interviews with five 2019 NYC Bessie Award nominees. Ni’Ja was nominated for a Bessie for outstanding production and Visual Design of Oba Qween Baba King Baba, which was Co-commissioned by Danspace Project and Abrons Arts Center. We hope to do a full-length interview with them in the future!

Ni’Ja Whitson (CA/NYC) is a Creative Capital and Bessie Award winning, Nonbinary Transinterdisciplinary artist and writer, who has been referred to as “majestic” by The New York Times and recognized by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. Theyare a 2018 MAP Fund recipient, featured choreographer of the 2018 CCA Biennial, 2019 USA Artists Fellowship Nominee, and 2018-2020 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Fellow. Other recent awards include a Jerome/Camargo Fellowship, Watermill Residency, Dance in Process (DiP) Residency, Hedgebrook Fellowship, LMCC Process Space Residency, Bogliasco Fellowship, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange Artist Residency. Whitson is an Assistant Professor of experimental choreography at UC Riverside and founder of The NWA Project. www.nijawhitson.com 

Ni’Ja’s Oba Qween Baba King Baba engages spiritual multiplicity and the role of Queerness in the Divine. The work’s title is based on the Yorùbá word “Oba,” which is a genderless term that has come to be known as a king. An iteration of this work was presented during Dancing Platform Praying Grounds: Blackness, Churches, and Downtown Dance (Platform 2018) curated by Reggie Wilson.

2019 BESSIE NOMINEE: Ni’Ja Whitson Pod de Deux interviewed Ni’Ja Whitson as part of a series of interviews with five 2019 NYC Bessie Award nominees.