Dancers Using Technology

Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast

 

 

By Erin Carlisle Norton

I started Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast in June 2015. As an avid podcast listener for nearly 10 years now, I have found podcasts to be the easiest, best, and most interesting way to pass the time while working out, commuting, or in the kitchen. With comedians and public radio especially pumping out great podcast content these days, favorites over the years that have given me a love for the interview format have been Marc Maron’s WTF and NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. In 2007, having just taken the step to branch out on my own and start a dance company, I searched for a dance podcast on iTunes and came across Eva Yaa Asantewaa’s “Body and Soul Podcast." These interviews with NYC-based performers, choreographers, advocates, and experts were exactly what I needed at that time: I instantly felt more connected to what was happening in the worldwide dance scene and felt part of a timeless, hardworking, and affirmative dance community.

Dance community. Time and time again I come back to how important this has been in my personal and professional dance life. From close friends in my pre-professional high school training program in Pittsburgh; to years of taking dance classes and working toward seemingly impossible goals while pursuing BFA, CMA, and MFA degrees in the Midwest; to forming my own dance company and working with dancers and board members in Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, and NYC; to teaching in communities across the world as a guest artist and teacher. The gratifying conversations, support systems, brainstorm teams, artistic acumen, mentoring insights – these relationships and experiences are what have made my career in dance seem possible, worthwhile, and meaningful.  

I began the podcast to expand two communities – my own, especially as a newcomer to the NYC dance scene, and that of dance-minded individuals across the country. The goal of the podcast is to provide the dance community at large with an opportunity to hear from its contributing artists through personalized interviews. While guests are generally based in the NYC area, I look to interview dance-related artists wherever I travel or when artists visit the area. Each interview is done in person, one-on-one, and I am both interviewer and editor. As a newbie to the audio recording and editing world, I am currently transitioning from using USB headsets in the interviews to a (donated!) hefty set-up that includes a mixer, headphones, and microphones, each setup running through my MacBook Pro and recorded with the free-editing software program Audacity.  

The types of artists one can expect to hear from include choreographers, performers, scholars, teachers, studio owners, artistic collaborators, and other administrative figures and leaders from the field. I see the podcast also as library of knowledge and a dance archive, a place to house the research, creative endeavors, and intriguing dialogue surrounding impactful minds of the dance field. Discussions span dance training and personal life; I try to reveal artists’ lesser-known stories along the way to finding personal success. I’ve heard how Tracie Stanfield approaches teaching 60 local and international dance students in a professional technique class; how being the daughter of two Holocaust survivors has profoundly effected the life and work of Carolyn Dorfman; and perspectives from Alexandra Beller on what it’s been like to be the one behind the “baby modern dancer” viral video.  Each podcast I record is so different, yet without fail, there is always a moment, a story, or a way of looking at life and the world that resonate deeply in me. I am privileged to share these stories and conversations through the Movers & Shapers dance podcast.

PODCAST INFO:

THE MOVING ARCHITECTS presents MOVERS & SHAPERS: A DANCE PODCAST

with Host Erin Carlisle Norton

Release Dates:  Every Other Tuesday

Download Available: 

iTunes / tunes.apple.com/us/podcast/movers-shapers-dance-podcast

Stitcher / stitcher.com/podcast/movers-shapers-a-dance-podcast

Smartphone / Any Podcast App

Website / themovingarchitects.org/podcasts

Twitter / @ShapersPodcast

Facebook / facebook.com/moversandshaperspodcast

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Erin Carlisle Norton, Artistic Director of The Moving Architects, has a BFA in Dance from The Ohio State University, a Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis (CMA) from Columbia College Chicago, Pilates Certification, and received an MFA in Dance at The Ohio State University. The Moving Architects (TMA) is a dance company founded in Chicago in 2007 and relocated to NJ/NYC in 2013, creating and performing short and evening length works that make connections between bodies in motion, location and space, as well as historical and physical experience. Her choreography has been presented throughout NYC, the Midwest, and East Coast, notably at Links Hall (Chicago); Wilson College (PA); and Triskelion Arts (NYC), as a Gallery Artist with Pentacle DanceWorks at Ailey Citigroup Theater (NYC), Green Street Studios (Boston), and Dixon Place (NYC); and in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with the US Embassy/Department of State in March 2011, and throughout Morocco and Guatemala in 2012. Erin has taught at dance studios and universities throughout the Midwest and East Coast, and as a graduate student was recipient of the Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Grant, Visual/Performing Arts International Grant, The Presutti Memorial Grant, and the Marriana Russell Technology Grant. TMA has also received notable funding from The Illinois Arts Council, The MacArthur Foundation, Essex County Local Arts Grant, The Driehaus Foundation, and Cliff Dweller’s Art Foundation. Erin recently received a 2014 Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and resides in the NJ/NYC area with her husband and two-year-old son. Erin continues to research new projects in both community and international settings and to explore the use of digital technologies as creative and conceptual tools. 

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Audio Interview: Bill T. Jones

I am always on the lookout for podcasts and radio pieces related to dance.

Recently, choreographer Bill T. Jones was featured on the public radio program To The Best of Our Knowledge. This 15 minute piece is articulate, thoughtful, and accessible. It is so good, I have already listened to it twice! The interview explores where Jones is at in his career, now in his 60s, with making art and his process. I loved it. 

You can hear the interview here.

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SoundCloud/Interviews/Archives/Memories

 

Today I am excited to be putting together a few ideas that have been swimming in my mind – around podcasts, interviews, and college dance departments. Please join me - brainstorming ideas that can be used in college dance courses.

SoundCloud is a website that is used to listen to music, share music, and also share/listen to interviews. My alma mater – the University of Utah – recently posted a 10 minute interview with Abby Fiat.

I believe there is great potential to use sites like SoundCloud to capture conversations and musings with dance artists. I myself have been listening to an interview I did as well with Abby Fiat a few months ago. (I am transcribing it for an upcoming piece on my blog Life as a Modern Dancer.) I studied with Abby 18 years ago, but listening to her voice now – recorded – quickly transports me back to studying with her and having a connection. I have been quite surprised in the power of the recorded voice.

Here is what I am proposing. As a component of a course during the final year of undergraduate studies, could each student interview a professor who has been pivotal in his/her training? What questions can we ask? How can we capture ideas and inspiration that we can listen to in years to come?

College students can easily use Voice Memo on a smart phone or tablet to record the interview. The interview can then be uploaded and “archived” on a site like SoundCloud.

One of my other areas of interest is about college departments/alumni relations. Does a college department have an obligation to its graduates, especially during those first few years leaving the nest? Could these archived interviews be a “continuation” of the program? I venture to say, since so many concepts and corrections in dance are lifelong recurring ideas, recording these interviews can support lifelong learning for a dancer.

Please become a part of this conversation and leave a comment below. 

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Interviewing and Archiving Project: Part Two

As I wrote about in the spring, I interviewed two of my beloved dance professors from the modern dance department at the University of Utah as they were transitioning into retirement, Abby Fiat and Donna Fiat. I have several hours audiorecorded through Voice Memo on my iPhone and iPad.

Months have passed, and now is the right time to listen, transcribe, edit with Abby and Donna, and then share with you (the interviews). 

Today I listened to 30 minutes of the first interview with Abby. My post today is to highlight the power and importance of audiofiles of dancers. Yes, maybe this is an odd sounding comment about a performing art. I too believe in archives of photos and videos, absolutely! But the simple power of hearing a person's voice, inflections, and passion is priceless. If you are a lover of public radio, you know what I mean.

So, today, I encourage you to interview a student, a mentor, a colleague. Save it for another day. Listening to Abby today transported me months back to our interview, and also transported me back years and years to the time when I studied with her. I am still learning from her and get inspired from her words.

I think that audio interviews and podcasts can be explored more widely within the field of dance. The quality of a voice memo even on your phone is of good quality. Try it out!

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Bill T. Jones and Susan Rethorst in My Living Room

This month, I have been thinking a lot about podcasts and "hearing" from choreographers. Can we use technology to think more about our dancemaking as professionals and also about teaching university level composition classes? Can technology brings artists and ideas across the miles to continue to feed us, inspire us, and ask good questions? Today I was excited to find out about a videotaped conversation between two famous modern dance choreographers (via the Dance/USA email today).

With the rare gift of time today, I sat down and watched a 45 minute conversation between Bill T. Jones and Susan Rethorst. Lois Welk, Director of Dance/USA Philadelphia, facilitated the conversation. This video can be viewed through The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage website. Thank you, Pew Center, for this gift.

Dancers, I hope that you can find 45 minutes to watch this conversation. I encourage you to have pen and paper on hand too - to catch some phrases. Jones and Rethorst have a dialogue on a variety of topics: "practice," audiences, collaboration, technology vs. live performance experiences, and more.

I must admit I was sitting and listening to it while doing another task. I think that tomorrow I will give undivided focus to it again. I will watch, listen, and notetake. Look for another post about the video this week, with questions and phrases from the conversation.