act/re/act – Details, episodes & analysis

Join me for the final episode of this season, and my conversation with Baakari Wilder. 

Baakari is one of the most dynamic tap dancers of his generation and is known for his musicality and subtly, as well as his ability to explore complex rhythms. It was a pleasure to finish this season of act/re/act with this thoughtful and insightful conversation. 

Baakari's bio:

Baakari Wilder is internationally known for starring in the Broadway musical Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk. He received a Bessie Award for his performance, and later assumed the lead role for a year. He received the Pola Nirenska Award for achievement in dance, and the “Hoofer Award” by the American Tap Dance Foundation. Baakari's dancing has delighted audiences around the world in places such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, France, Africa, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and Russia. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre from the University of Maryland at College Park. He shares his knowledge of tap dancing through his role as assistant artistic director of the Washington D.C. based companies Capitol Tap and District Tap.

Find out more about Baakari here: https://www.baakariwilder.com/

And, here: https://www.capitoltap.com/

Find Daniel's website here: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

Stay tuned for more episodes coming this fall!

Until then, take care, be well, and live spontaneously. 

Join me for this fascinating conversation with Elena Day about physical theater, clowning, the Jacques Lecoq method, teaching, performing, and, of course, improvisation. Elena offers a unique perspective on how one uses or employs improvisation in pedagogy, the creative method, and performance in a context previously unexplored on this podcast - circus. 

Here's a bit about Elena:

Elena Day is a physical theater teacher and director. Currently the Protrack Director and Head of Physical Theater at The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) in Brattleboro, VT, Elena explores how play, presence, mask technique, and creativity intertwine as she supports the next generation of circus artists to reach their highest performance potential. A graduate of L'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Elena has performed with Cirque du Soleil & Cirque Mechanics, directed and movement-directed award-winning shows, and taught physical theater, including clowning and Lecoq technique, to people of all ages and backgrounds. She studied Lecoq-based pedagogy with Giovanni Fusetti. Other influential teachers include Ronlin Foreman, Gardi Hutter, Joy Zinoman, Shri Ekan, Nir-gun-ava-thi Ananda, Dody DiSanto, Beth Davis, Chris Bayes, Avner Eisenberg, & Philippe Gaulier. To increase your play quotient, check out www.elenaday.com.

ou can find out more about Elena Day at the following links:

Personal Website: https://www.elenaday.com/

New England Center for Circus Arts: https://necenterforcircusarts.org/

You can find my website here: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

Enjoy this conversation, please subscribe, and stay tuned for many more this season!

Take care, be well, and live spontaneously! 

Join me for another episode of act/re/act where I talk with Susan Murphy about her amazing career that includes working with aerial dance pioneer Terry Sendgraff, Action Theater creator Ruth Zaporah, Authentic Movement creator Mary Whitehouse, and even worked with Willem de Kooning.  We talk about all her adventures in a wonderfully delightful conversation. Susan offers a wonderful example of a truly creative life. Enjoy! 

Here's a link to find Susan out in the world: https://themarshstudio.com/

And, if you're interested in finding a bit more about me: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

**Please subscribe on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or YouTube. Thanks!

In this episode of ac/re/act, for the first time, we have two guests at the same time - musician and composers Jessie Montgomery & Eleonore Oppenheim. They are both fabulous artists in their own rights, but also make up the duet, 'big dog little dog' - which uses improvisation at the heart of its creative and performance processes. 

This was such an amazing opportunity to get to know these two artists, hear about how they make music, and reflect on the creative process. 

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! 

Links to find these artist out in the world:

Jessie Montgomery: https://www.jessiemontgomery.com/

Eleonore Oppenheim: http://eleonoreoppenheim.com/

big dog little dog: https://bigdoglittledog.bandcamp.com/releases

And, if you're interested in finding a bit more about me: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

**Please subscribe on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or YouTube. Thanks!

Welcome to another fabulous episode of act/re/act. I was so thrilled to talk with this episode's guest, Sharna Fabiano, who I've known for years but never had the chance to get to know well. In this conversation we talk about her improvisational roots in Tango and how those skills transfer to her current work as a coach, consultant, painter, and author. It was so wonderful to hear about tango, which I don't have any experience with, as well as how improvisation manifests itself in so many ways in Sharna's life.

A bit more about Sharna: Sharna Fabiano is an Argentine tango dancer-turned-professional development coach, and author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork. After teaching and performing dance for nearly twenty years, she now designs experiential team development programs for organizations and coaches individuals through a wide range of career challenges. Her improvisational practice currently takes shape most often in her home painting studio in Long Beach, CA.

Some links from Sharna:

Join me for this engaging conversation with my friend and colleague Maria Gillespie. She and I have known each other for over 7 years, ever since I joined the faculty here at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. We have also performed improvisationaly together on multiple occasions, so it was wonderful to dig into her thoughts about improvisation, performance and pedagogy. Enjoy! 

Here's a bit more about Maria: Maria Gillespie is a choreographer, performer, dance and somatic educator. She is a CLMA Laban Bartenieff Movement Analyst and directs MG/The Collaboratory and Hyperlocal MKE, dedicated to interdisciplinary collaboration and improvised performance practice. She developed the community teaching project Parts of the Whole, sharing kinesthetic learning and expressive experiences with youth impacted by the carceral system to strengthen communities. She works with long time collaborators, Nguyễn Nguyên and Kevin Williamson, currently developing a new work, to get there from here. Regionally, Gillespie has collaborated with Present Music, Nirmal Raja, Portia Cobb, Sonja Thomsen, Glenn Williams, Nathaniel Stern, Joelle Worm, Christal Wagner, Tim Russell, and Mike Rea. Gillespie founded and directed LA-based Oni Dance (2003-2015) and was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch". Her work has been presented nationally and internationally at venues including The Ford Amphitheatre, The Getty Museum, REDCAT, UCLA, Cal Arts, The Fowler Museum, Highways Performance Space, Joyce SoHo and CounterPULSE. Gillespie has performed and taught in Beijing, Guangzhou, Tokyo, and Mexico City.  She has taught at UCLA Department of World Arts & Cultures, Cal Arts, Loyola Marymount University, University of Iowa, Dance New Amsterdam (NY), Beijing Modern Dance Festival and was a choreographic and teaching resident in Mexico City with Apoc Apoc. Choreographic commissions include Loyola Marymount University, Scripps College, Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach, Utah Valley University, University of Florida, and Santa Monica College dance departments. In 2019, received the 2019 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She teaches dance at UW-Milwaukee.  

To find out more about Hyperlocal MKE: hyperlocalmke.com 

To find out more about Parts of the Whole: partsofthewhole.org 

To find out more about Daniel Burkholder: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

In this episode, I have the pleasure of having a conversation with Aysha Upchurch - an artist, educator, and activist. Hear how Hip Hop has informed and influenced how she approaches the world, as well as her insights about higher education, improvisation, activism, and how they all bump up against one another. It was such an illuminating conversation, I'm sure you'll love it!

A bit about Aysha: Aysha Upchurch, the Dancing Diplomat, is an artist and educator who creates, facilitates, and designs for radical change. She has shared her experience about artfully designing equitable and culturally relevant classrooms, the importance of dance and movement in education, and embracing Hip Hop as a powerful literacy as a consultant and speaker and most recently at TedxUConn.  She is a Lecturer and Artist-in-Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she is pioneering courses and initiatives on Hip Hop pedagogy and embodied learning.  Whether on stage or in a classroom, as a US State Department cultural envoy or professor, Aysha is making moves and demonstrating how to be D.O.P.E. - dismantling oppression and pushing education.

To find out more about Aysha: https://www.ayshaupchurch.com/

To get some D.O.P.E.: https://dopeisaverb.com/

To find out a bit more about Daniel: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

Join me for this wonderful conversation with dance-maker, somatic practitioner, writer, and activist Nicole Bindler. Our conversation is quite wide-ranging, and I'm sure you'll find it as insightful and delightful as I did!

Correction: The correct title for the Sandberg Instituut's program that Nicole references is "Ecologies of Transformation".

For more info about me check out: https://www.danielburkholder.com/

For more info about Nicole: Nicole Bindler is a dance-maker, Body-Mind Centering® practitioner, writer, and activist. She has been presented at festivals, conferences, and intensives throughout the U.S., Canada, Argentina, and Europe, and in Tokyo, Beirut, Bethlehem, Mexico City, and Quito. Recent projects include teaching about consent culture and disability justice in contact improvisation; somatic research on the embryology of the genitalia from a non-binary perspective; collaborations with Diyar Theatre in Bethlehem, Palestine; teaching experimental classes such as Embodying Neuroqueer/Neuroqueering Embodiment and Polyvagal Theory and Protest through freeskewl; and presentations at the Future of CI Conference and the BMCA Online Somatic Symposium about rebuilding in-person dance and somatics communities in ways that tangibly address the inequities laid bare by the pandemic. In the coming year––goddess and pandemic-willing––she will present her work at Asociacion Cultural Guandul in Quito, The Body IQ Festival in Berlin, Somatic Kin in Bern, the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, and through Contact Improvisation Warsaw. https://www.nicolebindler.com/

photo by Kenzi Green

Join me to start a new season of act/re/act with this amazing conversation with Ruth Zaporah. Active in improvisational performance since the 1960s, Ruth shares her wealth of knowledge about improv, Zen Buddhism, and navigating the world as an improvisational artist. The creator of Action Theater, Ruth has a unique lens as an expert performance and a highly regarded teacher. Check out this conversation as I'm sure you'll find much to learn within.

In this, the final episode of the second season of act/re/act, Cass Tunick returns, but this time to interview Daniel - a bit of a role reversal.

We touch on an array of subjects including dance improvisation, performance, the Feldenkrais Method, freedom, making choices, how to relate to music when improvising, and a story about my grandfather who was a bricklayer.

Find out more about Cass here: http://www.cassieterman.com

Find out more about me here: http://www.danielburkholdertheplayground.org

Find out more about the podcast here: https://actreact.podbean.com

Enjoy!

PS. if you have any ideas of people whom I may want to interview for the third season of act/re/act podcast, please send suggestions to daniel@danielburkholder.com Thanks!