Dance Behind The Screen; Process, Production, Social Media

On this episode your co-host Martheya interviews Jill Homan Randall. Jill strongly identifies as a “modern dancer” – an umbrella for all that she does including performing, teaching, arts administration, volunteer work, mentoring, dance writing, and arts advocacy. Jill is a Professional Modern Dancer, Blogger, Teaching Artist, Writer, Arts Administrator, and Artistic Director at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, California. As a performer, she has danced extensively with Nina Haft & Company, Paufve Dance, and Dana Lawton. Jill has served on the board of Dancers’ Group and the California Dance Education Association. She has served on committees for the Alameda County Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, Teaching Artists Organized, Service-Learning Program at Cal State East Bay, Paufve Dance and Now Next Dance. Jill recently joined the Advisory Committee of Kristin Damrow & Company and also became Chair of the Berkeley Cultural Trust in July 2018. In 2013, she received the Herbst Foundation Awa

On this episode your co-host Azaria interview Dr. Lela Aisha Jones. Lela Aisha Jones is a movement performance artist and an interdisciplinary collaborator. Her work intimately intertwines personal and collective lived experiences of diasporic blackness as archived in and excavated from the body through dance. She is a proud native of Tallahassee, FL and feels quite fortunate to live and create in Philadelphia, PA. Lela is a 2015 Leeway Foundation Transformation Awardee, a 2016 Pew Fellow in the Arts, and a 2017 New York Dance and Performance Award | Bessie Nominee.​ As an organizer, Lela is invested in cultivating a society with more nurtured, insightful, and harmonized human beings and she continues to bring people together in support of eachothers’ development through initiatives such as Dancing for Justice Philadelphia and The Requisite Movers Philadelphia. Furthermore, Lela is currently a Project Co-Director for Modupúe | Ibaye: The Philadelphia Yoruba Performance Project and is the Associate Artistic Di

On this episode your co-hosts Martheya and Reyna interview Jordan Fuchs. Fuchs is a choreographer, performer and a Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. His choreography for stage and screen is grounded in improvisational practice, specifically the bias towards disorientation, sensation and process of contact improvisation, a movement form he has been practicing for more than 25 years. He utilizes the aesthetic values of improvisation to find the instability of each performance moment and the possibility of transformation through sensation. A Fulbright Specialist, he has received commissions from venues including, Danspace Project in NYC, and his work has been presented nationally and internationally. Fuchs  is the founder of the annual Texas Dance Improvisation Festival. On this episode, we talk about starting an improvisation festival for dance, leveraging resources you have, how to create dance culture as a space for exchange, strategies for staying connected to the dance world, using Facebook gr

On this episode your co-hosts Martheya and Azaria interview Shaté L. Edwards. Shaté is a curriculum specialist, choreographer, and writer. After graduating with honors from Spelman College, she performed extensively throughout the U.S. and China. Her work has been commissioned by performance companies throughout the country, and she has choreographed and produced dozens of productions including industrials, concerts, musicals, and more. Shaté recently served as assistant choreographer for Tony award winning Dallas Theater Center's and ATT Performing Art Center's production of Hairspray: The Broadway Musical.  Critics have called her “a talent to watch” and her movement has been described as “alone worth the price of admission.” Shaté is also a master instructor who’s taught thousands of students throughout the U.S. and abroad. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University and spent several years serving as a dance professor. She is the author of The Freelance Dancer’s Roadmap as

On this episode your co-host Martheya interviews Kyle Abraham’s Abraham In Motion, Dancer and Rehearsal Director Tamisha Guy. Tamisha Guy a native of Trinidad and Tobago, began her formal dance training at Ballet Tech, the New York City Public School for Dance under the direction of Eliot Feld. Later she attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and SUNY Purchase College as a double major in dance and arts management. She has completed summer programs with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Springboard Danse Montreal, and Nathan Trice and performed works by William Forsythe, Pam Tanowitz, Loni Landon, Mark Morris, and Martha Graham etc. In 2013 Guy graduated with honors from SUNY Purchase College and joined the Martha Graham Company shortly after. In 2016 Guy was selected as one of Dance Magazine' Top 25 to Watch and she also received the 2016 Princess Grace Award. Tamisha joined A.I.M in 2014. On this episode, we talk about auditions, using social media as a platform to offer encouragement, podcast recommend

On this episode your co-host Azaria interviews dance teacher, choreographer, ethnographer, and filmmaker with a focus on dances of the African diaspora, Dr. Ojeya Cruz Banks. Her research combining African and Pacific lineages is inspired by her identity as a Pacific Islander (Guåhan/Guam) and African American. In 2012, she was selected for the Professional Choreographer’s Lab at the Jacob’s Pillow School of Dance. Dr Cruz Banks was also the keynote speaker and choreographer for the award-winning 2012 BlakDance festival in Australia. Her short dance film titled Tåno/Land premiered at the 2016 Pacific Arts Festival and her choreographic project called Africa in Aotearoa nominated for best dance performance in the 2017 Dunedin Fringe Festival. Recently, her collaboration with acclaimed movement artist Lela Aisha Jones was featured in the short dance film Original Spaces that was curated at the Gibney center in New York city. In 2019, she joined the faculty of Dance at Denison University as an Associate Professo

On this episode your co-host YeaJean interviews dance artist, scholar, and educator, Ray Eliot Schwartz, based in Puebla, Mexico. Ray Eliot Schwartz received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and his MFA from University of Texas-Austin. He is the co-founder of Performática: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporánea y Artes del Movimiento and a consultant and teaching artist for ArcDanz International Dance Workshop. He has been a guest artist for diverse populations in the U.S., South East Asia, South America, and Mexico. He has served on the faculty of the American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, MELT, the ZMP Summer Dance Intensive, the Colorado College Summer Dance Festival and SFADI, among others. His somatic studies include certifications in Body-Mind Centering® and the Feldenkrais Method®. He is a research associate at the Center for Mind Body Movement. He is a published scholar who writes about the interface of somatic movement education and contemporary dance practice, and he served a

On this episode your co-hosts Azaria and Reyna interview Georgia based musician and composer David Dingess. David Dingess began sound composition and recording at the age of 15. He began releasing his work to the public during his sophomore year of college, and shortly after began to receive collaboration requests from the Georgia College departments of Theatre and Dance. Since then, David has composed for plays, dance recitals, film and social media posts for companies like Bareminerals and Tory Burch. David was a KCACTF national finalist and received honorable mention for composition and studied under Tony award-winning sound designer Rob Kaplowitz. He was also awarded Best Music at NYC Webfest 2015 for his music in R&J: The Web Series. He holds a Bachelor’s of Music Education from Georgia College, and hopes to begin a masters program at his alma mater in the coming months. On this episode, we talk about negotiating the dancer/musician relationship, stealing from the past-self, pros and cons of globaliz

On this episode your host Martheya interviews Dat Nguyen the founder of MotionVivid. Dat Nguyen a native from Vietnam, is a choreographer, photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist previously based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received his BFA degree in Dance at Sam Houston State University and his MFA degree in Modern Dance with a Screendance Certificate at the University of Utah. As a choreographer, Dat employs collage as a way to tell his story and heighten the somatic experience/understanding of his complexed identity. As a visual artist, Dat loves exploring different media/technologies and their often intangible relationship with dance. This allows him to expand his artistic landscapes and invigorate his approaches to performances. He founded MotionVivid™ in 2014 as a dance/multimedia company to further his research and broaden his artistic practice to local communities that he is serving. On this episode, we talk about how to stay “woke” in present times (the influence of spectacle on death, politics, a

On this episode your co-hosts YeaJean and Martheya interview Greta Schoenberg the founder of the San Francisco Dance Film Festival (SFDFF). A Northern California native, Greta danced with the Norwegian National Ballet and in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and San Francisco. Her short dance films have screened in festivals across the US and abroad, including in the UK, Hong Kong, Mexico and Brazil. She founded the SFDFF in 2010, which was recognized with a GOLDIE Award (Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery) by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2014 and an Izzie (Isadora Duncan Dance Award) in 2015, and is now launching its tenth anniversary season. SFDFF is an international platform for the presentation and development of dance-based films. Its purpose is to celebrate the best dance films from around the world and to support choreographers and filmmakers in the creation of new dance works created for the screen. On this episode, we talk about developing a career in dance post graduation, starting the San Francisco Dan

On this episode your co-hosts Azaria and Reyna interview Dr. Christopher Collins, assistant professor in the department of communication at Missouri State University. He is also the director of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, a two-week interdisciplinary residential arts experience for high school students. He received his doctorate in Performance Studies from Southern Illinois University. He recently served as the Keynote Speaker and coordinator for the Patti Pace Performance Festival at LSU. His work has been honored at both national and international stages such as the Conférence Universitaire De Suisse Occidentale (CUSO) at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. The Tabernacle Theatre in London, the Errol Hill Theater at the University of the West Indies, and the Muson Center in Lagos, Nigeria. His most recent work focuses on environmental performance, materiality, and the relationship between human and non-human animals. On this episode, we talk about how objects around us influence who we are and what

On this episode your co-hosts YeaJean and Martheya interview internationally recognized composer, performer, and educator Michael Wall of soundFORMovement. He composes and performs original music, teaches sound design for dance and performance with Ableton Live, and offers a comprehensive online library of music for dance students, teachers, and choreographers. soundFORMovement shares music made for dance educators, performers, improvisers, choreographers, students. On this episode, we talk about what it is like to create music for dance, music licensing, the impact of social media on sharing music, and how to couch your innovation in the preexisting culture. https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/7-michaelwall-soundformovement

Xin Ying joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2011 and performs lead roles in Cave of the Heart, Chronicle, Diversion of Angels, Clytemnestra, Woodland and I used to love you, among others. In 2008 she received the China Dance Lotus Award. She was the director of the Dance Department at Sichuan College of Arts & Culture and a guest teacher at the Graham School, the Beijing Dance Academy and Nanjing University of Arts. She was awarded a full scholarship to the Graham School, and was a member of Graham 2. On this episode we talk about what it is like to be a principal dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company, connecting with human emotions, how to handle post show feedback via social media, and negotiating negative comments in the digital space. https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/6-xinying-martha-graham-dance-company

On this episode your co-host Azaria interviews NYC based dancer, teacher, choreographer, and photographer, Chris Coates-Mitchell. See his dance photography in Broadway World, Vogue, or on his instagram. He has toured Europe and the U.S. with Jeff Amsden's "A Few Good Men.....Dancing" and danced for many Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, DNA, and Steps on Broadway. Chris has also performed on 2 cruise ships with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. He's spent the past 10 years as a choreographer and teacher for The Joffrey Summer Jazz and Contemporary Intensive in NYC, Joffrey South, and Joffrey Southwest. On this episode we talk about tips for transitioning into the professional dance world, creating social media personas/branding, making money with dance photography, and how dancers are getting jobs based off of social media following. https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/5-chriscoatesmitchell

On this episode your co-hosts YeaJean and Martheya interview Abigail Wood Meczywor the Director of Marketing and Communications for Jacob’s Pillow. Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival, currently in the midst of its transition to becoming a year-round center for dance. On this episode we talk about investing time in creating quality content, the value of storytelling- showing the art making process through a personal lens, and the importance of consistency in the digital space. https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/4-abigailwoodmeczywor-jacob-s-pillow

On this episode your co-host Martheya interviews “Dance Visionary” (Austin Chronicle) Charles Santos. Charles Santos has had a distinguished career, first as a dancer for over ten years in Austin, Texas then in arts administration and production in both Austin and New York City. In 2001 he was recruited to Dallas to take over as Executive Director of TITAS Presents. TITAS the Texas International Theatrical Arts Society is a vital leader in the North Texas cultural landscape, fostering and facilitating creative partnerships that build a stronger and more collaborative community. TITAS is thriving in the Dallas Arts District and continues to be an important catalyst for innovation in the global dance community. On this episode we talk about how social media influences the curatorial process for presenting organizations, how different generations engage with social media, hate mail and constructive criticism, supporting local arts communities, and companies to follow on social media. *TITAS Presents Spoilers for

On this episode your co-hosts YeaJean and Martheya interview “Insightful & Irreverent” (LA Weekly) Jamie Benson. Choreographer, Comedian, Speaker, and Marketing Consultant: Jamie Benson has been featured in the New York & LA Times, the Dance Enthusiast, Dance Spirit Magazine, Broadway World, and Dance Magazine just to name a few. Jamie Benson has revolutionized how creative industries advocate for worthy causes both as a speaker & marketing consultant for companies like Paul Taylor Dance Company, Pilobolus and CDI. On this episode we talk about curating social media content, creating relationships in the digital space, running our own media agency, and strategies for crowdsourcing ideas for dance making. https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/2-jamiebenson

kNOwBOX dance welcomes you to the first episode of Dance Behind the Screen Podcast featuring your co-hosts: YeaJean Choi, Martheya Nygaard, Azaria Hogans, and Reyna Mondragon. On this episode learn about who we are, why we started this podcast, and what you can expect from future episodes. To learn more about kNOwBOX dance visit http://www.knowboxdance.com/ or follow us on social media @knowboxdance https://www.knowboxdance.com/post/1-teamdbs  

Social media has influenced our way of life. Every other Wednesday, join kNOwBOX dance, a social media based dance company, as they interview those with dance careers questioning the influence of social media in dance process, production, and publicity. Whether you are a dance artist, educator, scholar, or are curious about the impact of social media on dance, this is the podcast for you.