Dancers At Work –– My First Podcasting Experience

June 4, 2019

This past semester's DAW show has left me a bit starstruck. The student work was highly sophisticated, curious, but also intellectually informed. I found myself clapping so hard at the dress rehearsal that my hands started throbbing. Not only did the choreographers display their becoming brilliance, the dancers themselves took on the mature work beautifully. But the juxtapositions strewn across the stage left me asking questions even days after leaving my spot on the mat amongst my fellow audience members (one of the surest signs of quality art at work in my opinion). The technical prowess of the young dancers immersed in daily technique classes contrasted with grotesque, bent shapes and imperfect contortions leaking from the minds of curious liberal arts students forced me to wonder: Where does this trend or fascination with the ugly & misshapen  come from? Has the constant perfection being shoved into our faces throughout our short lives driven us to rebel in movement and form? Or are we simply redefining what qualifies as perfection?

All important and extremely interesting questions to ask, but I could only get so far with my own answers. So I decided I’d bring in a few extra perspectives. What I first imagined would be a few quick interview questions, quickly transformed into an idea for a round-table style podcast (thanks to the advice of a good friend). I sat down with four of the choreographers from the show to discuss their pieces and the nature of the show overall. We cover everything from topics as simple as costumes choices and crafting applications to process and collaboration and even begin to tread into the more messy philosophical stuff like questioning our place in the world.

So here’s what came out of it, I hope you enjoy :