act/re/act

Converstation with Chris Aiken

Welcome to the new season of act/re/act, a podcast exploring improvisation through conversations with remarkable artists.
In this first episode I have the pleasure of talking with Chris Aiken, a wonderful dancer who has extensive experience in improvisational performance, contact improvisation, and improv pedagogy. He is truly an expert in weaving together the intellect and the visceral. I loved this conversation and I hope you do as well! 
Here is Chris' bio:
Chris Aiken is a leading international teacher and performer of dance improvisation and contact improvisation.  Over the past four decades his work has evolved through ongoing investigations of performance, composition, ecology, movement technique, the perception, and design. Chris has performed and collaborated with many renowned dance artists including Steve Paxton, Kirstie Simson, Nancy Stark Smith, Peter Bingham, Andrew Harwood, Patrick Scully, and Angie Hauser, among many others.  He has received numerous awards for his artistic work, including fellowships from the Guggenheim, the Bush and the Jerome foundations as well as commissions from the Walker Art Center, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Bates Dance Festival and the National Performers Network.
Find Chris on the web here: https://www.smith.edu/academics/faculty/chris-aiken
You can find my website here: https://www.danielburkholder.com/
Enjoy this conversation and stay tuned for many more this season!
Take care, be well, and live spontaneously! 
 
Photo: Male dancer balancing on one hand with legs perpendicular to body, beige floor and background and wearing grey pants and long sleeve shirt. 

Conversation with Kata Kovacs

Join me for the final podcast of this season, where I featured 8 artists who approach improvisation in their own unique ways - from dance to music to theater to performance. It has been an exciting season with lots of new connections made, and fascinating perspectives explored. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have!
In this episode I talk with Kata Kovacs, a Berlin-based sound artist and interdisciplinary artist who has presented work internationally. Her work ranges from performing in bands, to sound installations, to improvisational performance work. It was wonderful to get to know Kata and learn about her work, which is intellectually rigorous, but also deeply embodied. I'm sure you'll enjoy our conversation as well!
Find more about Kata on the webs here: http://katakovacs.org/
Find me here: https://www.danielburkholder.com/
Until I return with more episodes (in the fall) - take care, be well, and live spontaneously! 
 
Photo by Frank Nagel

Conversation with Susan Murphy

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!

Conversation with Jessie Montgomery & Eleonore Oppenheim

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!

Conversation with Sharna Fabiano

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:
www.sharnafabiano.com
www.florabowley.com
www.barbarakellerman.com
 
To find out more about me and my work: https://www.danielburkholder.com/
 

Conversation with Maria Gillespie

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/
 

Conversation with Aysha Upchurch

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/
 

Conversation with Nicole Bindler

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