In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Magda Kaczmarska, a dancer, researcher, and creative aging teaching artist based in New York City. Magda describes how her path as an immigrant with a background in dance and the sciences shaped her interest in and commitment to community based dance in the field of creative aging. She revisits how exposure to Dance for PD®, a program by Mark Morris Dance Group for people with Parkinson’s led her to eventually leave her research career in pursuit of...
Jan 19, 2022•41 min•Ep. 58
Rachel describes how she had always wanted to teach special education, but her path led her on a professional dance track first. She eventually switched careers to public education through the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. To her surprise, her principal (no “s”) requested she teach movement and dance across multiple school sites instead of general education serve as a classroom teacher, so she became a dance educator to students with severe disabilities. That experience restructured ho...
Aug 12, 2021•39 min•Ep. 57
Advocating for Inclusive Dance in the Public Schools In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews New York-based dance educator and advocate Sandi Stratton-Gonzalez. Sandi shares her dance beginnings and describes how she always identified as a teacher, even as she pursued performance opportunities, which directly led to her career as a dance educator in the public schools. She ended up working for 20 years at the first fully inclusive public school in the country, where there was also a robus...
Aug 02, 2021•38 min•Ep. 56
In this episode he describes how he reluctantly came to dance after learning about it from another wheelchair user, and how he found integrated dance to be radically different than the dances of his culture. Kadar reflects on the therapeutic and social benefits of dance, and how performing boosted his confidence as both a person with a disability and as an immigrant. He shares more about his involvement with an all-wheelchair group that improvises about the environment and accessibility, as well...
Jun 09, 2021•21 min•Ep. 55
You can see Perch on Tuesday the 8th of June 2021. This performance is donation based and you can register here . Perch is part of the X Dance Festival 2021. You can find out more about Amy Voris and Katye Coe and about their impressive work in the field of dance and Somatics....
Jun 07, 2021•34 min•Ep. 54
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Tali Wertheim and Hai Cohen, artistic directors of Vertigo Power of Balance, an Israeli based inclusive dance company. Hai describes how he came to dance almost by accident, meeting Tali in a workshop led by Adam Benjamin that culminated in a performance. Tali shares how she and Hai felt that contact improvisation and inclusive dance needed to continue in Israel. They fervently studied Adam Benjamin’s exercises, and within a year Vertigo Power of Ba...
Jun 04, 2021•41 min•Ep. 53
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Georgie Goater, a dance artist and pedagogue based in Helsinki, Finland where she moved from Aotearoa (New Zealand). Georgie describes her early attraction to dance as a place of nonverbal communication where she discovered through improvisation that there is no right or wrong. She reflects on her introduction to integrated dance through Touch Compass Dance Company in New Zealand. Later, her path led her to Helsinki, Finland, where she concentrated ...
Jun 03, 2021•31 min•Ep. 52
Today my episode is with a dance student Ida Mokki who talks about her journey to the dance world and her dreams after graduating in December from Live Vocational College. Ida is teaching with her fellow student two of the Daily Dances that are happening for the first seven mornings (6-12.6.) during the X Dance Festival at 11-11.30am EEST. Check out this awesome promo for the Daily Dances here. This episode is mostly in Finnish. "Olen 25-vuotias ja opiskelen Ammattiopisto Livessä viimeistä vuott...
Jun 02, 2021•22 min•Ep. 51
In this episode I spoke with Kati Raatikainen, choreographer, performance artist, dance and yoga teacher, and a thinker that likes to write. We spoke about Kati's interests and her latest work Kvartetto that will be performed at the X Dance Festival on the Wednesday the 9th and Thursday the 10th of June, Thursdays performance is also being live streamed. You can get your tickets to Kvartetto here: https://tinyurl.com/kvartettoXDF-2021tickets Here are links to things that Kati was mentioning on t...
Jun 01, 2021•32 min•Ep. 50
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Kat Rampackova, a choreographer, performer, and dance activist based in Barcelona, Spain. Kat shares her journey finding herself as a freelance dance artist after studying theater, contemporary dance, and improvisation across Europe. She is the co-founder of Priestor Súčasného Tanca (PST), a place for developing contemporary dance in her native city Košice in Slovakia. Kat describes PST’s emphasis on access, not elitism, and how that led her into th...
May 31, 2021•34 min•Ep. 49
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Finnish artist/theater director Teemu Mäki and Finnish dance artist Maija Nurmio about their collaborative work Éliane, which is based on the French composer Éliane Radigue's composition L'Île Re-Sonante. Teemu describes why he was drawn to Radique’s experimental music and how a collaboration sprung up between himself and Maija. Maija shares how Radique’s music had a physical effect on her, how they negotiated creating a work that included choreogra...
May 28, 2021•38 min•Ep. 48
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews her collaborators from the Discussing Disability in Dance Book Project: dancer/writer Emmaly Wiederholt, and visual artist Liz Brent-Maldonado. The project has been a four-year process interviewing 25 professional dancers around the world who identify as having a disability. Together, Silva, Emmaly, and Liz discuss the impetus for the project, what themes they've seen emerge, how they've grown in their understanding of disability while working on it...
Mar 01, 2021•34 min•Ep. 47
Turning Setbacks into Comebacks In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Zazel-Chavah O’Garra, founder and artistic director of ZCO/DANCE PROJECT, a physically integrated dance company in New York City. Zazel shares the story of her benign brain tumor that left her partially paralyzed and how she began her dance company after performing at the Brain Tumor Foundation’s Awareness Day. She also discusses what her company is doing to stay active through the pandemic, how she works to prepare s...
Nov 19, 2020•37 min•Ep. 46
Interview with Karen Daly; Being Seen as A Dancer In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Karen Daly, a dancer in Eugene, OR with DanceAbility International. Karen shares the story of her entrance into dance in her 40s and some highlights from her career working with DanceAbility. She also discusses the process of creating performances through DanceAbility’s framework, and how the principles of sensation, relationship, time and design serve to augment the performers’ ability to communicat...
Nov 18, 2019•34 min•Ep. 45
Interview with Roman Baca; Dancing the Veteran Experience In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Roman Baca, who is an Iraq War veteran, the director of EXIT12 Dance Company, and an MFA candidate in Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. He describes his upcoming MFA final performance, which seeks to choreographically share the experiences of five veterans on the lawn at Trinity Laban. He also shares his transition back to civilian life after serving in the Marine Corps, ...
Oct 10, 2019•34 min•Ep. 44
There’s No Such Thing As “We Can’t Do Something” In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Karenne Koo, a dance artist in Tucson, AZ, committed to developing and practicing multidisciplinary approaches to encourage and stimulate the art of inclusive dance as an instrument for building community. Here, she discusses her involvement with the Mettler-based dance community and the breadth of her outreach work – from working with survivors of trafficking and abuse, to children with severe medica...
Sep 08, 2019•29 min•Ep. 43
Interview with Michaela Knox: Expanding the Dance Community In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Michaela Knox, a DanceAbility instructor who recently initiated an inclusive dance program in Maine. Michaela looks back on her early desire to work with people who don’t identify as dancers. She discusses her time working with schoolchildren through the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, and how she eventually felt like she couldn’t effectively teach or integrate students who might be...
Aug 19, 2019•38 min•Ep. 42
A Philosophy of Inclusion In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Olivia O’Hare and Veronica DeWitt, her colleagues at Body Shift in Austin, TX. They each share their entry points into improvisational dance and DanceAbility in particular, as well as discuss the strengths of DanceAbility, its philosophy of inclusion, and how Body Shift was built on that foundation. They also share how they’ve applied the methodology to other areas of their practice like theater and fitness. https://www.bod...
Jun 29, 2019•30 min•Ep. 41
“It Comes Down to Loving Movement” Text by Emmaly Wiederholt In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Ginger Lane, a Chicago based dancer, teacher and choreographer. Ginger shares how the themes of dance and disability activism have come together in her career, specifically through her involvement with Access Living and MOMENTA Dance Company. She discusses the struggle that physically integrated dance faces in being seen as a legitimate art form, the slow progress in the US as compared to ...
Jun 10, 2019•34 min•Ep. 40
Interview with Sally Davison; The Language of the Body is the Oldest Language. In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Sally Davison, a dancer, choreographer, and master DanceAbility teacher in the UK and Finland. Sally discusses the strength of DanceAbility as valuing participant-led knowledge and making inclusion possible. She asserts that DanceAbility is not just about disability, but about the beauty of giving space to others and moving beyond one’s own patterns to listen to someone e...
Apr 29, 2019•46 min•Ep. 39
Access is Good for Everybody Text by Emmaly Wiederholt In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Aaron Wheeler-Kay, creative director of Echo Theater Company in Portland, Oregon. Aaron, a master DanceAbility teacher, shares how he applied DanceAbility to create an accessible circus arts space, as well as leverage his privilege to feature and support other voices. After teaching DanceAbility to his staff, he describes the shift in culture at the company and how creating an accessible space i...
Apr 09, 2019•38 min•Ep. 38
Dance Applied to Real Life In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Margot Greenlee, a choreographer, theater director and artist educator based in Washington DC. Here, Margot discusses her involvement with Jacob’s Pillow’s Curriculum in Motion® and her own project, BodyWise Dance, which provide dance classes and workshops for individuals and groups in healthcare, education and corporate settings that offer movement as a way of learning and processing information. She details one program o...
Apr 01, 2019•37 min•Ep. 37
Experiencing the Democracy of Dance In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Connie Vandarakis, a master DanceAbility teacher in Philadelphia. Connie shares her unusual entrance to dance, her experience in academia, how chronic hip pain and a hip replacement led her to DanceAbility, and why she deeply believes in the curriculum of DanceAbility. Her drive to serve in the arts felt answered by DanceAbility’s mission and vision. She describes how the use of improvisation calls for everyone to...
Nov 28, 2018•34 min•Ep. 36
Interview with Jana Meszaros; Promoting Freedom and Equality In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Jana Meszaros, a DanceAbility instructor in Eugene, OR. Jana describes her small-town upbringing, how she discovered DanceAbility through contact improvisation, and her road to becoming a Master Teacher. She shares her belief in DanceAbility as a tool for creating experiences where disabled and non-disabled dancers can dance together, as well as her preference for the term ‘facilitator’ ra...
Nov 18, 2018•36 min•Ep. 35
Exploring Her Own Access and Excellence PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN TEXT BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews India Harville, a dance artist and teacher in the Bay Area. India shares her journey to inclusive dance through yoga, body work, and her ongoing experience with temporary paralysis. She also describes her recent one-woman show, Enough, which explored a recovery process for her recurring feelings of not feeling black enough, disabled enough, or able-bodied en...
Nov 01, 2018•37 min•Ep. 34
Maylis was visiting me here in the US after dancing and studying with Axis Dance Co in their annual summer intensive. While we were finishing our lunch we chatted about her work and future plans. Maylis shared her visions for her next choreographies and where she is currently with her own work. Thank you Maylis for being so open and willing to share. MAYLIS ARRABIT I took my first class / dance class in 2011 with AXIS in Oakland, California. It's there that everything has changed! In 2012, after...
Oct 27, 2018•30 min•Ep. 33
Choreography for An Arm and A Half PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN; PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM ISOM AND TEXT BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Julie Crothers, a freelance dancer and emerging choreographer in the Bay Area. After dancing with AXIS Dance Company for three years, Julie began exploring her own choreographic voice. She describes the impetus of her piece Secondhand, which explores alternate uses of her collection of prosthetic arms. Julie shares stories and perspec...
Oct 14, 2018•36 min•Ep. 32
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Gretchen Pick, executive director of Young Dance in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region. Young Dance offers youth classes and performance opportunities, and started to include dance classes for children and adults with disabilities in 2010 after realizing nothing else was being offered locally. Gretchen shares her belief in recognizing the uniqueness of individual bodies and supporting that expression, her passion for teaching, and how she’d like to expa...
Sep 27, 2018•34 min•Ep. 31
Rethinking Assistive Technologies PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Merry Lynn Morris, assistant director of dance at the University of South Florida. One aspect of Merry Lynn’s work has involved inventing new assistive technologies for disability dance, including a rolling dance chair with remote control, height change and omni directionality. In this podcast, she discusses the relationship between freedom and control, how her father’s disability shaped h...
Sep 06, 2018•52 min•Ep. 30
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Dwayne Scheuneman of REVolutions Dance in Tampa, Florida, whose background in wheelchair sports led him to co-founding Tampa’s first integrated dance company. Dwayne discusses his passion for education and the difficulty starting classes for children with disabilities from scratch, his relationship dancing with AXIS Dance Company and how it has informed the development of REVolutions Dance, and his international work in Russia and China teaching com...
Aug 07, 2018•37 min•Ep. 29
