NightSide News Update - podcast episode cover

NightSide News Update

Nov 01, 202438 min
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

8:05PM: 10 Unsolved, Creepy or Weird Boston Archaeological Discoveries with Heather Hopp-Bruce – Director of Visual Strategy for Globe Opinion

8:15PM: Business etiquette classes boom as people relearn how to act at work with Daniel Post Senning — the great-great-grandson of American etiquette queen Emily Post 
 
8:30PM: Pumpkins can be composted, donated to farms, fed to wildlife – Pumpkins for Pigs has an interactive U.S. map of places that accept donations of uncarved, undecorated pumpkins with Jennifer Seifert – Founder of Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation

8:45PM: Brookline Debuts Murals Featuring Dance Tutorials with Caitlyn Kwan – Dancer/Dance Teacher who created the dance tutorial/combination

Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!

Transcript

Intro / Opening

Speaker 1

It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZY Boston's news video.

Speaker 2

No costum, Nicoll, no not no cost them whatsoever. I wonder who had a worst day last twenty four hours. The New York Yankees of the are Wall Street. Wow, what a beating both of them took ugly, ugly, ugly. We're not going to take a beating tonight because we have some great guests, we have some great topics coming up, and we have four hours to wind our way all the way towards midnight. My name is Dan Ray. Thank you very much Nicole for setting us up as you

do always. We will be here all the way until just about eleven fifty eight. Dan is our producer, So don't get Dan the producer and Dan the talk show host mixed up. You got to call Dan the producer after nine o'clock to talk to Dan the talk show host or the guests, and I hope that you will. We will start off tonight with our nightside news update

for guests this hour, no phone calls. And by the way, right after the nine o'clock news, we will give away another two tickets to Celtic Thunder at the Premier Theater down at Foxwoods. That performance is on November seventh. You can set off on a musical journey with the Irish music sensations Celtic Thunder Live. Complete show info and tickets

are available at Foxwoods dot com. But someone will win two lucky ducts, as we say in the sporting business, in the ticket business, tonight, right after the nine o'clock news. So no dowling beforehand, no dolling before the nine o'clock news, you gotta wait to we announce it. Now. We're going to get to our guests tonight, and first up, we are joined by Heather hop Bruce. She's a member of the Boston Globe staff and she wrote a piece along with some of the other folks. This is a real

opus here ten unsolved, creepy or just weird Boston archaeological discoveries. Heather, I'm still reading this. This is good stuff. Was this time for Halloween because it's perfect for tonight's program, herod Night's side. I know you didn't do it for us specifically, but was it well?

Speaker 3

I have to there's a lot of discussion about it because one of the pieces, these huge old carved stones that are on Millennium Park are right on the bank of the Charles River, and I was really worried that the Charles is going to rise and and and they'd be underwater as they are part of the year. So we published it a little bit earlier just in case that would happen. But you know, it hasn't ranged so much, so people can go see, I'm that nice.

Speaker 2

Well you have you have ten unsolved creepy or just worried Boston archological discoveries Again, I'm was this in the Boston The Globe Sunday magazine or is it to be published coming up?

Speaker 3

We had it in print, It was in the Idea section maybe U twoish three ish weeks ago, okay, and yeah, yeah, but the digital.

Speaker 4

Version is better.

Speaker 2

You know, I thought I had seen it, but I hadn't a chance to read it except now I'm looking at it, and this is fascinating stuff. It looked as a number of writers worked with you. You, of course, I think, are what you have. David Ryan, who's one of your photographers, was involved in some of this. Amy McKinnon, there were a lot of you that were involved in this. You of course were as well. Let's start off with a couple of them. Just to wet people's appetite. Here tell

us about the seventeenth century rotten tooth from Charlestown. Now that's you and Nattie Klein, who worked on this project, tell us about this.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that one was fun because I was speculating, you know, did someone keep it as a trophy? Why do we have this tooth? Maybe there's some dentists love this. But Nadia, who's at the City of Archaeology program and they're so wonderful, wrote and said, to be clear, no one is keeping this tooth. It was probably just thrown in the bathroom and somehow in the toilet and somehow preservedly.

Speaker 2

Who found it? I mean, how is this tooth located?

Speaker 3

They so the archaeology team, they they're amazing. First of all, they're so interesting and fun and cool and wonderful to work with. A lot of the stuff they find in old privies and old toilets. There's this one the tooth was found in a toilet. There's a nineteenth eighteenth century brothel was yeah, seventeenth I was confused it to anyway, this old brothel. They found all sorts of amazing things in the Privy and in Dorchester at an old school

for girls. They found hundreds of doll parts in the privy. There really interesting stuff.

Speaker 2

Okay, so let's hit a couple of the other a brain coral and a butchered whalebone.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that was fun too.

Speaker 2

Hu.

Speaker 3

Those are actually two separate ones, and I grouped them once. A fun thing about this is there's all sorts of speculation about why these things where white people had these things and what they did with them. And the archaeology team speculated that both of these maybe were used as a doorstops, so they were found in different places and from different times. But I'm like, we should have a doorstop section.

Speaker 4

So with those two things.

Speaker 3

The brain coral is huge.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, I'm looking. I'm looking at a picture of it right now. I see the Oh my goodness, this is uh isn't it really creepy? There's really creepy stuff in here. The tavern cat crossed out dog skeleton, so there was a skeleton that they thought was a cat.

Speaker 3

But yeah, there was a skeleton that was found in at the base of stairs in front of this tavern in Charlestown, and it had a hole in the skull, so it had been killed and it was small and kind of a flat face, and we thought for years and years and years and it was a cat and maybe it was put there on purpose the word off witches,

which is a thing apparently. But then somewhat recently, as student was looking at it for their thesis, I believe, and was looking at the teeth and figured it was actually actually a dog and it's this now extinct dog species as some like little pug mini bulldog things. And it was young, and they're not sure why it was killed and why it was buried there.

Speaker 2

Yeah, obviously the history of this, all of these is interesting. I mean, look, I guess as as generations, we leave things behind when we move on to a far better place. I have a habit of when I travel, I'll bring back souvenirs. A rock. Oh I do too, Yes, do you do that?

Speaker 3

It's the best, Yeah, flat rocks.

Speaker 2

And so what I write on where where I took it from and and the date. Uh, And so I can look at it and I have my my assembly of rocks. At some point someone probably is going to find one of those rocks a couple of three hundred years downline, say, how was this rock from filling the blank, I'm not going to die. Where he brought the rocks from? How did this rock which is only found here end up in Boston, Massachusetts?

Speaker 4

Yeah?

Speaker 3

So I always think that in like hundreds and thousands of years from now, like humanity will be gone and in this thick forest, just every every few steps there's going to be a big marble countertop, just.

Speaker 2

The I love it. Well, this was great, this was great, fun to chat with you. Heather hop Grouse Boston's Archaeological Discoveries ten Onsolved, Creepy or just weird Boston Archaeological Discoveries. And this can still be found online.

Speaker 4

I assume in the bust it is online.

Speaker 3

Yeah, you can go to Globe dot com, backslash Opinion

PM: 10 Unsolved, Creepy or Weird Boston Archaeological Discoveries with Heather Hopp-Bruce - Director of Visual Strategy for Globe Opinion8:15PM: Business etiquette classes boom as people relearn how to act at work with Daniel Post Senning - the great-great-grandson of American etiquette queen Emily Post 8:45PM: Brookline Debuts Murals Featuring Dance Tutorials with Caitlyn Kwan - Dancer/Dance Teacher who created the dance tutorial/combination

and it's free right now, so you don't have to subscribe to the Globe. And each of the things has a Google Map, so you get to the end, you click it and it can tell you how to get to the site and in some cases see the thing. It's still there.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's it's it's fascinating. It's really well done. The folks you did, the team here that put together the visuals. It really brings it all to life.

Speaker 3

This is oh thank you.

PM: Pumpkins can be composted, donated to farms, fed to wildlife - Pumpkins for Pigs has an interactive U.S. map of places that accept donations of uncarved, undecorated pumpkins with Jennifer Seifert - Founder of Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation

Speaker 2

Normally I love the hand of the newspaper, the feel of the newspaper in my hands, I should say, but this is one that adds a lot of texture to it, some of the digital aspects of this. So congratulations, thanks so much. Well, thank you. Project.

Speaker 3

Yeah, it's coming up and it's going to be cool. But I can't tell you what it is.

Speaker 2

I understand that's one of the secret, top secret. Let us know, keep us in mind.

Speaker 3

Okay, not a problem, all right, speaking of.

Speaker 2

The Boston Clube, really good stuff. Now, when we get back, right after the break, we're going to be talking about business etiquette classes, believe it or not, from the great grandson of the founder of etiquette. We will explain all of that right after this break. This is Nightside. My name's Dan Ray right here on WBZ ten thirty in the AM dial. Again it is Emily Post's great grandson. We will get our etiquette lesson from someone who should know. We'll be back right after this.

Speaker 1

Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World, Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Speaker 2

Well, business etiquette, I guess, as somebody who's worked in radio and television for a long time, I would hope people who are adults and have positions, whether it's in television, radio, whether it's in a school or a hospital or a retail store, understand how it is, how it's proper to work. However, since the end of last year, Daniel Post Senning, who is the great great grandson of the founder of American etiquette. They call it the American Etiquette Queen, Emily Post. He

is also co president of the Emily Post Institute. He's a pretty busy guy right now, Daniel Post sending welcome to Nightside, Welcome to Boston.

Speaker 5

Well, thank you so much. It's good to be with you.

Speaker 2

So tell us what has prompted this renewed emphasis and this renewed necessity for people to learn how to act properly at work.

Speaker 5

It's a good question, and it's one that we've been

asking ourselves. And while we don't have, you know, a perfect answer, it is certainly true that in the fifteen years that I've been working at the Emily Post Institute, we've never seen as much interest in the particularly the training services that we provide, the instructional and the guidance that we can provide for businesses and organizations and There's no question that we were anticipating a return to interest in these topics as America got back to work after

the pandemic, and there was a little bit of a lag.

I think it took a little longer than we expected, but I do think it's a result of that period coming to an end and people returning to the workplace, and they're being a real acceleration to some trends that had already been in place, trends of more and more distributed and remote workforces, people communicating in very different ways in the work environment, the distribution of communication and information being very different than people had been used to just

ten years ago when when the iPhone was first introduced. So there have been a lot of technical challenges and a lot of social challenges, and as we've gotten back to work, those challenges have have have left us ready to recommit and rethink about how we invest in relationships between people because ultimately it's the oldest cliche and business because it's true.

Speaker 2

Okay, So so the bottom ie give me, give me if you can some examples of the behavior that has to be corrected. I mean, all of us who you know worked in offices and I now work remotely. I think I would go back to work, and I would treat people the same way. We're not talking about, you know, whether you hold your peaky out when you're having when you're sipping your tea or not. I assume that that's

not the sort of etiquette we're talking about. Explain to us what you're able to to provide businesses and through them their their employees.

Speaker 5

I think the lens of human relationships is really the I think the greatest gift that etiquette can give. Ultimately, Emily herself said etiquette is in some rigid set of rules or manners. It's simply how people's lives touch one another. And I think it was that clarity of vision that she brought to the topic that gave her advice such durability and has made it relevant for generations. And the other sort of thing I've got to respond to in the question that you asked is the idea of correction.

And it's certainly true that when the word etiquette pops into someone's mind, it can generate very different feelings. Some people remember experiences they treasure. Some people remember experiences where they felt out of place or excluded, and to really

get the full benefit out of etiquette. I think it's important to talk about using it as a tool for self assessment, self correction, and improvement, not necessarily to judge or assess others, but really to equip us to think about being our best with others and in the business environment.

Speaker 2

Which you're giving me is a lot of language here, and I'm trying to understand how, if I'm an employer, what you can do for me to help more employees represent themselves in my company better. Is there a question of dressing more properly? Is it a question of interactions? Is it what? What? Where? Where? Do we need to be improved upon? Is what I'm surely trying to ask you, Daniel.

Speaker 5

Sure. Major topic areas include communication. Obviously for business that's a big one, but dress and attire does come into play, particularly with an increasingly casual and informal world where people get to make a lot of choices. Thinking clearly about how you represent yourself and your business and being intentional about that as you make those choices in some ways is more important now than ever. It's not just a matter of putting on the uniform, and maybe that uniform

was the suit and tie. Maybe it was an actual uniform. But as some of those structures have relaxed, it's meant to individuals are having to make more and more choices and better and better choices to really to do that well. So dressing attires and other area dining etiquette is still important.

The social ritual of sharing food is one of the most important that we participate in and a lot of relationships are formed in that way, whether it's business deals or just relationships between co workers and colleagues.

Speaker 2

So how long do you think it takes a company? I guess it depends upon the size of the company to avail themselves of your services. Do you folks swoop in from somewhere and walk around? Is this all done remotely over zoom calls? And all of that tell us? What tell us what the procedure is? Who have companies still listening and want to get in touch with you? What should they do?

Speaker 5

Sure, well, it's to use an ald etiquette expression, it's soup to nuts. We have consultation services for individuals, but we also do seminars and presenting. We have trainer programs where we train trainers and we can do that internally for companies. We also train people who are interested in teaching in their own communities or in their own businesses. We also have a very popular new term these days,

micro learning. We have learning platforms and solutions, but I really think there's a premium, particularly when you're teaching etiquette on human interaction and human contact. I think the opportunity to work directly with people, whether it's live, online or in person, or to train trainers that can then go talk to communities in ways that are really relevant to those communities are the best ways to distribute the core

and essential messages. And those messages are both the particular manners, but they're also about that approach that so much of good etiquette training isn't just about defining what those common expectations are, but helping people understand why they're important and why they're worth investing in and recommitting to every day. Another thing that we like to say at the Emily Post Institute is etiqett isn't something you know, it's something you practice and figuring out.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I got to practice throwing to my news guest at the bottom of the hour here, how can folks get in touch with you? At the Emily Post Institute, I'm sure. There's a pretty simple website.

Speaker 5

You can find out anything you want to know at Emily Post dot com.

Speaker 2

Perfect. Perfect, Daniel. I appreciate it very much, and I enjoyed our conversation and we'll perhaps talk again. Daniel Post setting the great great grandson of Emily Post and he is also the co president of the Emily Post Institute. Thank you, Daniel, appreciate it very much.

Speaker 5

Just take good care, good night.

Speaker 2

When we get back, we're going to talk about something maybe a little less I don't know, involved with less etiquette, and that is we're going to be talking with a woman who founded an organization called Pumpkins for Pigs. So probably not etiquette is the top of this next conversation, but I think it will be interesting. We'll be back on Nightside right after the News at the bottom of the hour.

Speaker 1

It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

Speaker 2

Well, it is a Halloween and on many people's front steps or backsteps, now we have a pumpkin. Maybe the pumpkin is carved, maybe the pumpkin is a whole, but at some point those pumpkins are going to be put away for Thanksgiving or Christmas decorations. With us is Jennifer Seaffert. She's the founder of Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation. Jennifer, A pleasure to meet you. I did not realize that there was a Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation. Tell us about it.

Speaker 4

Yes, thank you for having me. We're excited to share this information with your audience. We started in twenty seventeen and I was talking to a farmer one evening when I was picking up my eggs and I said, Hey, I have these pumpkins on my front step. Do you have any suggestions? And he said, bring them by. My animals would love them. And that's what started the whole thing.

Speaker 2

Really, Now is your organization growing?

Speaker 1

Tell us?

Speaker 2

You know, tell us about about I know now where you started, but where are you at this point?

Speaker 4

So we have six hundred locations across North America and so we've grown quite a bit. Yeah, well, we're always looking to grow. Obviously, there are still a lot more farms than animal sanctuaries that could benefit from the service, So please join us.

Speaker 2

Okay, So how much of a presence, how much of a footprint do you have in New England? For example, we're a big radio station that broadcasts really over the air radio terrestrial radio as we call it, into most of the eastern half of the United States. But we have more listeners obviously in New England than we do in further away places. So what sort of a footprint do you have up in this neck of the woods. Well, we.

Speaker 4

Do have locations in throughout New England. We have a few in every state up there. But I do know that we've had a few folks from Connecticut specifically contact us and say, hey, you know there aren't any in my county. What can I do to help? And so we've invited them to talk to folks at their farmers' markets and invite them to join us so that we could offer more options to your listeners.

Speaker 2

Okay, yesterday I was watching television here in Boston. I worked in TV for a long time, and I watched what I'm told was a traditional event at Boston University, which happens to me where I went to law school. And I was kind of stunned to walk watch students from Boston University catapult or throw pumpkins off the roof of a building, perfectly fine pumpkins, just to smash them on the ground. They had a tarp there and all of that, and it just seemed to me to be

really wasteful. And also, you know, really nothing was accomplished, but everybody was standing around and watching these pumpkins thrown off the top of this building and it was probably five or six stories, so of course the pumpkin would would would smash. That bothered me.

Speaker 6

Yesterday, to be really honest with you, because I thought at the time, I thought, well, gee, those pumpkins, as opposed to being used for some sort of you know, entertainment or a student tradition, could.

Speaker 2

Have ended up you know, feeding some farming animals. And it's just funny that that tonight now we're talking with you about this. So so uh, why is it that pumpkins and of course at this time of year there's a proliferation of pumpkins. Why is it that you were able to figure this out? Besides obviously the conversation with the farmer, Why is it that pumpkins are so delicious to animals of all stroits?

Speaker 5

I guess that's right.

Speaker 4

So pumpkins that are grown for us for decoration are primarily a variety that you and I would not eat, and we do not have the gi tract and system to support consumption of that for the most part. And so you know, approximately two billion are produced every year. One point six billion are sold and made it to our homes and then they end up in the landfill. And for the animals it is actually sweet to them

in some regards. It's also a natural dewormer to a certain extent, which is important at this time of year. So there's a lot of benefits to them and as you said, a variety of animals that will eat them.

Speaker 2

Well, it's funny when you think about pumpkins. One of the things that I always think about is, well, pumpkins that end up making pumpkin pie. But I guess it's not every sort of pumpkin that gets made into pumpkin pie. I've just learned something from you, am I reading you properly, that that a certain percentage of these pumpkins I cannot be consumed by humans. And that's not the pumpkin we're talking about. We're talking about the decorative pumpkins that are grown.

But these are different pumpkins than you shouldn't be thinking about taking your pumpkin and making a pumpkin pie out of it, is what I'm trying to just learn that right now. Okay, I never realized that.

Speaker 4

Yeah, so the jack o lanterns that we buy to actually carve and decorate and things like that generally are not welcomed by us. I do know some folks have gone ahead and made pumpkin soup out of it. I'm not quite sure how well that turned out for them, but yeah, there there's a large variety obviously, and some of them just are not preferable for us.

Speaker 2

Okay, So so what can people You must have a website. I assume that people can go now and look up. Give me the website first of all.

Speaker 4

So it's pumpkins four pigs dot org.

Speaker 2

Okay, and that will folks. I assume a list of locations that they can get in contact with and if they want to bring their pumpkin if it's convenient. These these folks who will accept the pumpkins and they they will take them to farms or are you bringing Are you going to give people a list of farms in their area that they can drink, can bring their their their pumpkins too. How does this work physically?

Speaker 4

Yeahstically, yeah, So go to our website Pumpkins the pigs dot org. Click on the button at the top that says donate food and you will be given a search function and you can select however you want to search. You could select by Connecticut and then select the items that you have that you want to donate, and I'll come back with a list that's near you and then you can decide you know which ones are the best

locations for you, and just follow their instructions. They will tell you where to drop it off, when you can drop it off. If you need to call them ahead of time, they'll let you know whether or not you could feed the animals or not if they have any. So there's a lot of information that you can use to make an informed decision about where you would like to take you and maybe your neighbors pumpkins out to be used for feed instead of going to the landfill.

Speaker 2

Sure soound like a great family activity, particularly if you have young children. You can yeah take them to a real farm and make a contribution of pumpkins, which ordinarily would end up in your trash or in a landfill, but they would have some actual, some actual benefit on this. This is a great idea. Any idea how much tonnage of pumpkins every year, you folks keep out of landfields and end up donating them to farms. What's the scope of the project, roughly, if you if you have some.

Speaker 4

Estimate, yes, so last year we estimate that we diverted eight hundred tons from landfills across the country and that prevented three hundred and thirty four tons of CO two from being produced in our landfills.

Speaker 2

Well, so there's there's a variety of benefits here, not just for the for the pigs as well. Interesting, Jennifer, no relation to the football coach of the forty nine is in a few years ago, George Seffort. I'm sure you've been asked that question before.

Speaker 4

Right, I have no no relation.

Speaker 2

Okay, Well, every once in a while I'll ask a guest the question, and it's amazing how many peoples, Oh, yeah, it was my uncle. He's my uncle. Are Yeah, you'd be surprised. Whenever I see a name, I don't ask people you know their last name of Jones or Smith or Bromo when you see your name, like again, Seaffert, the only other seaf that I'd ever heard of was the former coach of the San Francisco forty nine or so. Please don't blame me for asking. You just never know.

I'm someone who firmly believes in the concept of six degrees of separation. I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. Thank you, Jennifer, appreciate it again. Founder of Pumpkins for Pigs. Give us the website one more time, and now'll let you go.

Speaker 4

What's the website Pumpkins four Pigs dot org.

Speaker 2

Perfect, just perfect. I'm gonna check it out myself and I have a maybe I'll be even to participate in and try to help you out here. Okay, thank you, Thanks, thanks Jennifer. When we return, we're going to talk about a little closer to home. I'm going to talk with Caitlin Kwan. She's a dancer and a dance teacher who has created the dance tutorial combination. Brookline debuts murals featuring

dance tutorials. I will explained you'll have to probably follow the bouncing ball on this one, but it's close to home and I think you'll enjoy hearing about it if you are at all artistically inclined. Back on Night's side final segment, then after nine o'clock we will be giving

away a couple of tickets. As I mentioned, you'll have to be caller number ten, but don't start calling until we open up the phone lines to see Celtic Thunder at the Premiere Theater at Foxwoods November seventh, That would be next week. You can set off on a musical journey or be a week from tonight precisely actually with the Irish music sensations. Celtic Thunder Live. Complete show info

and tickets are available at Foxwoods dot com. If you're not fortunate enough to win, we have two pair of tickets left, one for tonight and one for tomorrow night. Back on night Side, right after this, we're going to talk about dance murals. We'll explain.

Speaker 1

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Speaker 2

I want to welcome my next guest, Kaitlin Kwan, on this edition of the night Side News Update. Kitlyn Kwan, Welcome to Nightside.

Speaker 1

How are you hi?

Speaker 7

I'm doing great, Thank you so much for having me here.

Speaker 2

You're very welcome. So you're a dancer and a dance teacher who created the dance tutorial combination. You're you're in the you're in Brookline, Massachusetts, as I understand it.

Speaker 4

Yes, yes, I am okay, and so.

Speaker 7

Go ahead, one of the dance guyraphers for the Leads dance Brookline Dance Murals.

Speaker 2

Right, that's I'm just going to get to that as a matter of fact. So explain to us first. First of all, what the dance murals are. When we think about murals, we normally think about, oh, maybe wall art.

Speaker 5

Or something like that.

Speaker 2

That's not quite what we're talking about here. So why did you explain it? Because I got to tell you, I don't think I could explain it. You could write it here.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 7

So this was a really interesting opportunity because we took I corrahed dance routine and Kit Collins, the mastermind of this, translated that choreography into a dance diagram onto the sidewalk of Brookline and so it's kind of like a bunch of silhouetted footsteps that have numbers on it, and so you can follow follow the dance routine by just stepping

on the numbers. And then there's a bunch of imagery with how your arm should be and instructions on the sidewalk itself telling you how to go about it.

Speaker 2

So this is all on a sidewalk. We're not talking about something that you're looking at on the wall. You have to look down on the sidewalk to do this. And when you do it and you follow the steps, you're learning a specific dance or you're just learning the sense of dance.

Speaker 7

You're learning the specific.

Speaker 2

Dance, okay. And is the dance something that people would know what it is, you know, whether it's the walls or something, or is it just the dance that you've not just the dance? Is it a dance that you have developed. I'm trying to have you explain it to me so I can understand it, because of I don't understand that maybe my audience might not understand it.

Speaker 7

Yeah. So I coregraphed a ballet routine that incorporates elements of grande leegro, which is a lot of big movements like kicks, turns, jumps that are normally performed across the stage or across the big space, with em as the pettit allegro, which are more smaller movements. And so I wanted to incorporate turns, picks and jump into a small routine on an alleyway.

Speaker 2

So you know, I've learned something already. I thought Petit Allegra was like the small little pasta items that you get at a restaurant. No, no, no, no, no, I'm only kidding. So where is this located in Brookline? Is it on just a specific street or as it appear? Are you putting it in a number of locations?

Speaker 3

Yeah?

Speaker 7

For the ones in Brookline, there's two of them. The one I choreographed is on Harvard Street in between Prairie Fire and Michael's Deli, then that alleyway towards the beer garden, and then the second installation of.

Speaker 3

This series is right, it's Smack Dad.

Speaker 7

In Brookline Village where the big clock tower is Okay.

Speaker 2

And is this something that uh is attracting people? When did you? When did you create these these sidewalk murals? I'm going to use that phrase if that's okay with you? When when did you?

Speaker 7

So there was a call for choreographers back in May, and I was fortunate enough to get it. Uh We Kit and I were able to create something by I don't know, maybe like end of July, and then by August she was able to complete the mural on the sidewalk within like two weeks, and then we were able to have this opening grand opening of the mural beginning of September, and it was kind of crazy to see a lot of people just come and stop by and

and try it out. You know. I think our goal for it was to provide some emotional and visual respite for those that kind of passed by the area anyways. And I think it also serves as a way to bring attention.

Speaker 3

To community resources.

Speaker 7

So one of my inspiration and motivations behind the dance was to bring more awareness to the Brookline Senior Center. And my dance was also an homage to the seniors there, as they are the ones that encouraged me to apply for this position too.

Speaker 2

Okay, so now my next question is if this is a sidewalk mural, how has it how has it stood up with you know, rain and and all of that. Sometimes you think about I assume he did not do this in crayon or chalk, that it must be there in a more permanent uses. Yeah, it's kind of.

Speaker 7

The muralist has this like primer and all the different casts for it, and it drives really quickly and it's what stood like rain and I'm sure it's going to withstand snow as well. But it's been holding up very well and I think it's supposed to be there for around three to five years. That's songs of Climate Penis.

Speaker 2

Have you been there? Have you watched people come along and and attempt to follow the steps?

Speaker 7

Yeah, I've seen dads go on it with their girls. I've seen some of my seniors that I teach ballet to host on there as well. My friends and family also tried it out too. A bunch of people with little to as much experience in balad as you can imagine, have tried it out, and I think that was kind of a way to bring just people together, regardless of what your experience in dance is. It was a way

to bring more accessibility to art. And I think the cool thing about public art, and especially with this dance diagram here, is that you can bring life to it by walking on it, by dancing on it, So that kind of brings the more visual aspects into a more uh I guess, whole body experience. I think.

Speaker 2

Okay, So my last question is, uh, is this something that anyone should try? What my concern is that some people might try to imitate some of these dance moves on a sidewalk and end up slipping, falling or whatever. Or is it something that that people should be careful with. You know, obviously you can do it because you're you're you're a dancer. But I'm just wondering is there any danger involved. I just don't want people to get hurt. Tell us what you think. I would say.

Speaker 7

That you know your body the best, and that these moves are just mentioned inspire you to maybe do something new and try something new. Doesn't have to be a turn. You could like modify it to however you want. I know a lot of my seniors, seeing as citizens, have tried done it, have done it before, and they've been able to modify it to their current mobility.

Speaker 2

So it's kind of okay. Well it sounds good. And again you said one is near the clock tower in Brookline Village and the other is between what location was the first location you.

Speaker 7

Mentioned between Prairie Fire and Michael's Deli by Twitter.

Speaker 2

Joy, we know exactly where Michael's Delhi is absolutely kind of across the street from that parking lot, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, sounds great. Well, look, thank you very much for having joined us. It's a difficult thing to explain, but I think it did a very good job at it. Caitlin Kwan, dancer, dance teacher who created the dance tutorial

combination in Brookline. Thanks Caitlin, thank you. You're welcome. When we get back, we're going to talk about what you'll be doing Sunday morning, and that's sleeping in, but it's

not necessarily all it's cracked up. To me, there are a lot of people who not thrilled with the idea of falling back and get an extra hour sleep, and we're going to talk about that with a doctor who is at Brigham and Women's and Harvard Medical School School, doctor Charles Zeisler, right after the nine o'clock news, and we will also raffle off. I shouldn't say raffle off. We'll have the contest called number ten, but don't start calling now. We'll clear the lines and then we will call.

We will invite you to call coming back on Nightside right after the nine

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android