Gasps From A Dying Art Form Tristan Bruns/Tapman Productions

Episode Notes
GFADAF EP 17 - Learning To Die Daily; Tap Dance and Bipolar Disorder

Sometimes people say the most reprehensible things, but is what they say really what they mean? When it comes to conversations in text, it can be very difficult to ascertain a person's true intention. There could be a lot going on in their life, including mental illness like bipolar disorder. On tap dance social media groups, there is the occasional controversy sparked by individuals spouting racist, misogynist and violent rhetoric, often for no reason, seemingly only to upset people. These words may be masking a deeper issue, and in this episode of Gasps, host Tristan Bruns attempts to shine some light on why some tap dancers say terrible things online and what we can do about it.

Chapters:

00:00-00:49 Intro and Theme Song 17

00:50-03:56 Paideia and Learning How To Die

03:47-06:30 What are the Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?

06:31-11:45 The Problem with Discerning Intent on Social Media

11:46-15:52 The Story of A.

15:53-20:18 Did I Learn My Lesson?/The Story of D.

20:19-26:23 The Question Everybody Everybody Asks Next

26:24-30:47 A Real Life Example

30:48-33:59 What Can We Do?/Conclusion

34:00-40:00 The Tap Dance Podcast Roundup (YeeHaw!)

Special thanks to Khallid Hill, Bril Barrett, Mrs. A., my wife who is a certified counselor and Dance Movement Therapist, my own therapist, Rodney Walker, and D., and the Gasps Patreon supporters, Junior Laniyan, Lori Williams, Brian Zimmer (whose name I got wrong in the podcast, my apologies!) and Gasps #1 fan, John Nasko.

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago’s historic South Side.
Link to our Patreon here:
https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF
 
Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

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Episode Notes
GFADAF EP16 - The Origin(s) of Whiteness / Books From A Dying Art Form: David Roediger and the “Wages of Whiteness”

Sure, we're all aware of the various harmful stereotypes placed upon non-white people, but what about white stereotypes? Where do they come from and how have they been instrumental in forming "white culture"? "Wages of Whiteness" by David Roediger is a monumental text that shows how, through language, labor competition and blackface minstrelsy (where much of the style of tap dance was developed) white folk created distinctions that separated themselves from non-white people in order to gain a financial and psychological advantage—the repercussions of which we still experience today! If you study the histories of U.S. labor, the formation of racial stereotypes and blackface, this book is referenced all the time. Get in on the ground floor of contemporary scholarship through this introduction to "Wages of Whiteness."

Photo Info: American political cartoon by Thomas Nast titled "The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things", depicting a drunken Irishman sitting on a barrel of gunpowder while lighting a powder keg and swinging a bottle in the air. Published September 2, 1871 in Harper's Weekly (Wikipedia)

Time Codes:

00:00-00:51 Theme Song 16

00:52-13:44 A Brief(ish) Preface

13:45-14:47 Biography of David Roediger

14:48-23:00 The Language of White Supremacy

23:01-35:32 Blackface and the formation of white stereotypes

35:33-39:22 A Marxist Interpretation of Blackface

39:23-51:33 How the Irish Became White

51:34-54:28 Race/Labor Relations After the Civil War

54:29-56:49 Dance as a Unifying Element

56:50-57:33 A Plea to my Fellow Paper-Imitators

57:34-1:02:00 Epilogue: Is This Episodes Anti-White?

1:02:00-1:09:10 The Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

No need to stick around. Nothing else to see here!

A very special thank you to the Gasps' Patreon supporters Junior Laniyan and Lori Williams—Love you guys!

Support this program by subscribing on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network, Producer Bril Barrett

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Episode Notes
GFADAF EP 15 - Belated 4th of July Spectacular!

According to many, the United States' greatest strength is that we are a proud nation of immigrants. So why do so many people demonize immigrants? Every patriot is no doubt familiar with the famous lines "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" but don't seem to understand it. In this episode, host Tristan Bruns breaks down the monumental poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus—the same poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty—which spells out what ostensibly separates the U.S.A. from Europe and why we should be making life easier for immigrants, not harder. If you're a true patriot, then give this episode of Gasps a listen...and then go read a book (of poetry)!

Chapters:

0:00-1:50 Theme 15

1:51-4:46 Reading of "The New Colossus" and why it matters to tap dancers

4:47-7:17 Biography of Emma Lazarus

7:18-9:43 Poem Breakdown: The Colossus of Rhodes

9:44-10:31 The Statue of Liberty Speaks!

10:32-11:45 The Famous Line

11:46-20:24 "The Wretched Refuse" and Poverty/Crime Statistics

20:25-22:42 Solutions

22:43-27:18 Tap Dance Patriots

27:19-33:45 The Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

And that's it! Nothing else to hear here, so don't stick around.

A very special thank you to the Gasps' Patreon supporters Junior Laniyan and Lori Williams—Love you guys!

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

Support Gasps From A Dying Art Form by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/gasps-from-a-dying-art-form

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--Episode Notes
GFADAF EP 14 - Books From A Dying Art Form: "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder

Imagine living in a room no larger than a walk-in closet, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with strangers, it's pitch black, no windows, no ventilation, you might miss a stair step in the inky darkness and tumble to your doom... This would give you an idea what it's like to be a resident of the Five Points neighborhood in New York City before, during and after the Civil War. Yet this is one of the places credited with the formation of the art form we now call tap dance. Is that true? Were Black and Irish residents dancing all "hugemsnug" together in underground hooch joints? Check out this episode of the Gasps podcast to learn those answers...and more!

Special thanks to Jane Goldberg, Rachel Germond and the Changing Times Tap Dance Initiative Grant and to the Illinois Arts Council for supporting this episode as part of the larger project, "What It's Like To Be Human," a long-form work of tap dance based on research for this episode and more to come.

Chapters

0:00-0:54 Theme 14

0:55-1:28 Introduction

1:29-2:25 Tyler Anbinder Author's CV

2:26-5:35 Five Points Referenced in Beverly Fletcher's "Tapworks"

5:36-11:20 Origin of the Five Points Neighborhood

11:21-18:34 Race Riots

18:25-21:04 Origin of "The Irish Were Slaves, Too!"

21:05-22:11 Black Flight from Five Points

22:12-25:28 History Repeated/George Santayana is Rolling in his Grave

25:59-27:12 "Hey, Where's the Tap Dance, Bro?"

27:13-30:08 Description of Almack's/Pete William's Place

30:09-31:05 Modern Day Five Points

31:06-33:17 Were Fletcher and "Tapworks" Correct? Well...Yes and No.

33:18-36:05 Conclusion

36:06-43:02 Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

And that's it! Nothing left to see here. Move along, folks!

Besides Jane, Rachel and the IAC, an extra special thank you to the Gasps' Patreon supporters Junior Laniyan and Lori Williams—Love you guys, and didn't I tell you I would be churning these suckers out quicker after taking some time off? Told'ja so!

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

Support Gasps From A Dying Art Form by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/gasps-from-a-dying-art-form

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GFADAF EP 13 Paulo Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed Tap Dancer
Who wants an episode on the philosophy of education? Too bad, you're getting one anyways!

On this episode, host Tristan Bruns dives into the philosophy of Paulo Freire, the famed Brazilian educator who taught hundreds of illiterate people in Brazil to read in only 45 days (!) and who influenced such scholars as bell hooks and more. Bruns talks about Freire's method of "problem-posing education," and how it can be applied to tap dance on an individual, macro and super-macro scale. Plus, the Tap Dance Podcast Roundup!

Chapters

00:26 Theme Song 13

00:54 Introduction

04:18 Biography of Paolo Freire

06:52 Introduction to Problem-Posing Education

12:06 Implementing Problem-Posing Education in the Tap Dance Classroom

13:33 The Macro Level: Dance Companies

15:24 Real World Example: The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project

21:41 Super-Macro Level: Why Don’t You Know About This? (The Ghost of Karl Marx)

25:52 Oppressive Tactics in Tap Dance Research

27:58 Freire Gets Spicy!/Freire’s “Love Philosophy”

30:20 A Simple Syllogism

32:11 “Wittgensteinian”

34:08 Conclusion

36:53 Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

Thank you to Patreon subscribers Junior Laniyan (nice seeing you at the last Tap Dance Research Network UK online event!) and Lori Williams.

If YOU would like to get the script with notes on sources and copies of the materials used in all episodes, consider supporting Gasps on Patreon—Half of all proceeds go to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy in the Bronzeville neighborhood on beautiful and historic South Side of Chicago.

And special thanks to tap dancer Nicholas Van Young who recently mentioned the podcast at an event in Cleveland. Maybe Young—an expert when it comes to all things audio and electronic—will teach Bruns (it's me, I only pretend like someone else writes these) how to get better sound out of his equipment. Who knows! Thanks, Nick, you're the real deal...And that's no B.S. (Chorus).

Thanks to Cleveland-based tap dancer, Torie Gray, for the heads up. You're an official Gasps correspondent!

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

Bril Barrett is Executive Producer of the MRPN. Tristan Bruns and Tapman Productions, LLC are Producer, Writer and Host of the GFADAF Podcast.

Support Gasps From A Dying Art Form by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/gasps-from-a-dying-art-form

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If you've read the book "Jazz Dance" then you may have been surprised at one part in particular, the epilogue, which begins with an argument against the emasculation of male dancers. (I know!) Most damning of all is a quote attributed to Gene Kelly, where he claims that the dance industry is "dominated by homosexuals." What did Kelly mean by that? Did he even say it at all? What is the original source? All of these questions are answered and more in this episode.

0:00 - 3:24 Theme Song 12 & Introduction to "Jazz Dance"

3:25 - 6:46 The Epilogue and Kelly Quote

6:47 - 7:13 Anecdotal example of prejudice, boys in dance

7:14 - 8:59 Media example, Lara Spencer, Good Morning America

9:00 - 10:30 Why should male dancers have to be brave?

10:31 - 13:52 The article where the quote originated

13:53 - 15:55 What is masculine? & Kelly quote debunked

15:56 - 19:29 Kelly explains his position (and it's cringe)

19:30 - 19:53 Kelly continues (not cringe!)

19:54 - 22:55 Homosexuality and international law, 1960s

22:56 - 25:30 Origins of Kelly's prejudice

25:31 - 28:06 Is "manliness" okay?

28:07 - 29:48 Conclusion: "Jazz Dance" got this one wrong

29:49 - 36:15 Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

THERE IS NOTHING AFTER THIS, SO DON'T WAIT AROUND! THERE'S JUST DEAD AIR FOR, UM, NO REASON!

Special thanks to our Patreon Supporters, Step Creators Junior Laniyan and Lori Williams, and Tap Aficionado Liz Rancourt-Smith. We're getting closer for our goal of new water fountains at the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy, unless something breaks down that is more important. I will keep you informed, but in the meantime, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

Respect the dance!

Support Gasps From A Dying Art Form by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/gasps-from-a-dying-art-form

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.