Beyond the Barre

Margaret Mullin

Beyond the Barre shares insights and stories of the real people behind this incredible art form. This show is for anyone with a love of dance.

  1. 09/30/2020

    31 - Darius Barnes

    On this week's episode, our guest is acclaimed Broadway performer Darius Barnes, former dancer with the New York City Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem! In addition to performing in Mean Girls on Broadway, Darius has appeared in the 2019 Broadway revival of Kiss Me Kate, made his Broadway & Principal debut in the Tony Award-winning musical, Memphis, and has been seen in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, to name a few. Darius is an accomplished choreographer—currently assistant choreographer on the Michael Jackson Musical developmental labs--and alumnus of the New York Choreographic Institute. In 2010, he was invited to choreograph a piece for the New York City Ballet. On top of his impressive resume of experience within the classical ballet community, and his credits in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, Darius has also branched out into working as a producer. We are so thrilled to have him on the show today to discuss his journey from Baltimore School of the Arts, to SAB, NYCB, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, DTH, Broadway, and beyond! For more information, as well as any links, see the blog post for this episode: http://www.margaretmullin.com/episodes/episode-31-darius-barnes Follow Beyond The Barre: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebarrepodcast/ Darius Barnes: http://www.dariusbarnes.com/ https://www.instagram.com/dblexicon/ Host: Margaret Mullin http://www.margaretmullin.com/ https://www.instagram.com/margaretmullin/  Producer: Sarena Fishman Jimenez http://www.sarenafishman.com/  http://instagram.com/sarenafishman Music: William Lin-Yee https://soundcloud.com/williamlinyee

    1h 59m
  2. 08/19/2020

    28 - DeMarcus Akeem Suggs on Arts Advocacy

    On this week’s episode our guest is dance artist, educator and administrator DeMarcus Akeem Suggs! DeMarcus Akeem Suggs is a graduate of Belhaven University’s dance program (BFA), and his professional experience includes performing with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC), Dayton Ballet, Neos Dance Theatre, Verb Ballets, as well as collaborating with various project-based choreographers. He has held positions as Program Director at The Victory Project (Dayton, OH); Coordinator of Education & Engagement at Victoria Theatre Association (Dayton, OH); as well as Director of Education & Outreach for Neos Dance Theatre. DeMarcus has also served on review panels for Ohio Arts Council and Dance/USA where he was a 2018 Institute for Leadership Training cohort fellow. His current work includes serving as Grants Consultant for Alternate ROOTS and Residency Assistant for The National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron (NCCAkron) where he is simultaneously pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Arts Administration. — For more information, as well as any links, see the blog post for this episode: http://www.margaretmullin.com/episodes/episode-28-demarcus-akeem-suggs Follow Beyond The Barre: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebarrepodcast/ Host: Margaret Mullin http://www.margaretmullin.com/ https://www.instagram.com/margaretmullin/ Producer: Sarena Fishman Jimenez http://www.sarenafishman.com/ http://instagram.com/sarenafishman Music: William Lin-Yee https://soundcloud.com/williamlinyee

    1h 42m
  3. 07/23/2020

    25 - Wendy Whelan

    For our 25th episode (recorded May 26th, 2020), we are thrilled to have as our guest Wendy Whelan: former principal dancer and current associate artistic director of the New York City Ballet, widely considered one of the world’s leading dancers of her generation. During her 30 years at the New York City Ballet—23 of them as a principal dancer—Wendy danced virtually all the major roles in the company’s repertoire and also developed a reputation for being a choreographer’s muse, creating many original roles with the foremost dancemakers of our time. A documentary, entitled Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, was released across the country in 2017, and is now available on iTunes and Amazon. The film recently won the Chita Rivera Award for Best Dance Documentary. Join us for this conversation to hear Margaret and Wendy talk about: The formative years Wendy spent in treatment for severe scoliosis and how that experience transformed her attitude toward challenges What it was like joining NYCB shortly after Balanchine’s death How Wendy’s mother, a college basketball coach, instilled in her an interest in and appreciation for sports psychology and how psychotherapy helped her in her career at NYCB Two unexpected qualities Wendy believes dancers can tap into in order to become better artists Words of wisdom from Wendy (can we make that a thing if it isn’t already??) on working in the studio with choreographers on new creations and how bringing authenticity and a spirit of play to the process helped build her reputation as being a muse for choreographers like Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky The connection between the mind and the body being in conversation when it comes to growth, change, and injury Exploring the parallels between two times of heavy transition for NYCB: when Wendy first joined the company after Balanchine’s death, and last year when she assumed the position of NYCB’s associate artistic director We couldn’t have made it to 25 episodes with you all—so thanks for listening and supporting the show, and here’s to many more episodes to come! - - - For more information, as well as any links, see the blog post for this episode: https://www.margaretmullin.com/episodes/episode-25-wendy-whelan Follow Beyond The Barre: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebarrepodcast/ Wendy Whelan: https://www.instagram.com/wendyw/ https://www.wendywhelan.org/about/ https://www.nycballet.com/ Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (documentary film): https://www.restlesscreaturefilm.com/ Host: Margaret Mullin http://www.margaretmullin.com/ https://www.instagram.com/margaretmullin/ Producer: Sarena Fishman Jimenez http://www.sarenafishman.com/ http://instagram.com/sarenafishman Music: William Lin-Yee https://soundcloud.com/williamlinyee

    1h 4m

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Beyond the Barre shares insights and stories of the real people behind this incredible art form. This show is for anyone with a love of dance.