11 episodes
ReVisioning the Arts Julia Brandenberger
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- Arts
ReVisioning the Arts is an anti-elitist arts podcast focused on inclusivity and egalitarianism. The show has two primary focuses: offering strength and encouragement to struggling artists and dreaming up new world models that would support as many people as possible in making their art.
Join me as I interview working artists who are creating cultures of inclusivity and asking questions around justice in the arts.
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Reshaping Our Demons with Katy Pyle
Katy Pyle of the Ballez Company joins us to talk about the origins of the company and their journey in starting this alternative queer ballet troupe.
Katy speaks to how the evils and wrongdoings that we experience, and the way that they stick with us, can lead us to an expression of our own values and desires.
This is a conversation for anyone who has struggled with abusive systems and has, or longs to have, a community surround them in working towards a healing alternative.
Katy Pyle is a genderqueer lesbian dancer, choreographer and teacher. Pyle has been dancing professionally in New York City since 2002 for John Jasperse, Jennifer Monson, Faye Driscoll, Ivy Baldwin, Xavier Le Roy, and Young Jean Lee, among others. Pyle founded Ballez in 2011 to push classical ballet towards an inclusive future by centering the experiences of queer, lesbian, trans, and gender non-conforming people within the creation of large-scale story ballets, open classes, and public conversations. Major story ballets: “The Firebird, a Ballez,” Danspace Project, 2013, “Sleeping Beauty & the Beast,” La Mama, 2016 and "Giselle of Loneliness," The Joyce, 2021. Pyle has brought Ballez to Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Yale, Movement Research, CounterPULSE, Bowdoin, Whitman, Beloit, Slippery Rock University, Rutgers, Berea and Swarthmore. Pyle currently teaches undergraduates at Eugene Lang College and Marymount Manhattan, and professional dancers at Gibney Dance. ballez.org
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/roguetheology
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0 -
Supply, Demand and Complicity in Unjust Labor with Millicent Johnnie
Millicent Johnnie comes on the podcast to bring insights and perspectives into justice in the arts, including artists' own complicity in injustice. We talk about the practice of land acknowledgement and complications around its current manifestation. Millicent shares her perspectives from being in indegenous communities and what bringing those practices to her art has meant.
We finish the episode with a hugely important discussion of the philanthropic system and how it is still rooted in practices of genocide and exploitation. These are the cultural models of funding in the arts.
Millicent Johnnie is a dancer, choreographer, director, activist and educator. She is a two time United States Artists nominee in dance, Chief Executive Officer at Millicent Johnnie Films L.L.C. and Chief Visionary Producer of 319 Productions.
Millicent’s website is currently under construction, however you can find out more about her work through her youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt16fxxDjoopKOTN0mnUuqw
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/roguetheology
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0 -
"Dare to be Ordinary"
Inspired by a recent episode of "This Jungian Life", this episode of ReVisioning the Arts delves into the concept of normalcy. As artists, we are socialized to strive to be exceptional. We learn that in order to stand out from other applicants our work and our ideas have to be unique, original and above all, highly impressive.
Deb, one of the hosts of This Jungian Life, tells the story of how one of her best teachers told their students:
"Dare to be ordinary."
When I heard that phrase it struck me because it speaks directly to the wound that I, and so many others in my position, carry - i.e. the need to stand out and be seen as exceptional in order to just survive.
In this episode I go into reflections on this quote and how it is helping me to balance my life and outlook.
Sourced from "This Jungian Life: Episode 174: Time & Truth about its Use"
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0 -
The Cost of Ambition with Mira Treatman
This is a conversation about ambition in "career artists" and the cost of ambition. You'll absolutely want to listen to if you struggle with feelings of inadequacy.
We go into deep talk about productivity and the toll it can have on our mental health and how we can define ourselves as artists with regards to our rate of productivity. We go into the dangers of relying on the feedback we get in terms of recognition.
Mira tells us about the damage of equating self-worth with productivity. She’s so honest and generous with her inner life and inner world- the shifts that has happened, what she used to want vs what she wants now.
She talks about her relationship with the “American exceptionalism and bootstrap mentality", and she's overall a huge badass. I think you'll love her.
Mira:
Mira Treatman is an artist and writer born, raised, and rooted in the city of Philadelphia. Prior to 2020, she spent ten years in arts management working primarily with non-profit dance companies. She is currently pursuing an MS in Community and Trauma Counseling at Thomas Jefferson University. As an artist, she has been fortunate to receive support from Earthdance E|MEREGE, BodyMeld, Arts Letters & Numbers, Gibney Dance Center LANDING, Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and The Knight Foundation/National Center for Choreography/Akron. Mira's career highlights have included working the box office rush during Nutcracker, producing the 2020 Rocky Awards, teaching at 954 Dance Movement Collective, mentoring some stellar college interns over the years, and making work with collaborators Irina Varina, Susanna Payne-Passmore, and The Foxy Doxies. https://www.miratreatman.com/
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0
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STOP Paying for Auditions
It's an industry norm that companies ask dancers to pay to be considered for employment.
In this episode I talk about the most common forms of this that I've encountered: asking dancers to pay for a summer intensive in order to be considered or asking for an audition fee at the audition.
I argue that any form of a dancer paying to be considered for employment is an exploitation of that person's desire to belong and find their place. There is no other industry that I'm aware of in which an employer asks a candidate to pay to be considered for employment- so why do we let this practice persist in dance?
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0 -
Why Switching Careers Isn't "Giving Up" On Your Art
Busting the myth of the "successful art career".
Most of us have been conditioned with this story: When I am making a significant portion of my income from art, when I can show on my tax return that x percentage of my job revenue is from my artwork, then I am truly an artist. Anything less is just "hobbyist". Many artists are turning away from that story, as it is damaging, elitist and not realistic. It is also largely due to the way Capitalism shapes how artists must operate on the market.
Julia Brandenberger: www.roguetheology.com
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revisioningthearts/
julia@roguetheology.com
Music:
"Theme for Julia," by Mira Treatman, licensed under CC BY 2.0