Episodes
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2023 Bessie Outstanding Creator/Choreographer for The Jazz Continuum, 2021 Bessie Outstanding Performer award winner, and New York Times lauded Best Dance & Breakout Star LaTasha Barnes is an internationally awarded and critically-acclaimed dance artist, choreographer, educator, and tradition-bearer of Black American Social Dance from Richmond, VA. She is globally celebrated for her musicality, athleticism, and joyful presence throughout the cultural traditions she bears: House Dance, Hip-Hop, Waacking, Authentic Jazz, and Lindy Hop, among them. Barnes’ expansive artistic, competitive, and performative skills have made her a frequent collaborator to Dorrance Dance, Singapore-based Timbre Arts Group, Ephrat Asherie Dance, and many more.Barnes’ leadership and business skills have placed her in positions of service as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival®, Vice President of Marketing & Outreach for the International Lindy Hop Championship®, Board Member of the Black Lindy Hoppers Fund, the Frankie Manning Foundation, and a contributing member to the NEFER Global Movement Collective.
Expanding the scope of impact for the communities she serves, Barnes completed her self-designed Masters in Ethnochoreology, Black Studies and Performance Studies thru New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study (2019). Her thesis and continued applied research are working to bridge the gap between communities of practice and academic cultural dance research, performance, preservation and pedagogy. In support of this dialogue, Barnes was honored to be a contributing author to the award winning text Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century - Univ. FL Press (2021). Ensuring future artists and dance scholars maintain authentic cultural context as they move through the world bearing forth Black dance traditions. To further support this effort Barnes joined the esteemed faculty of Arizona State University School of Music, Dance & Theater as Asst. Prof of Dance in Fall 2021.From the analysis of here research and in deeper concert with the mission to strengthen Black artists reverence for and expression with Jazz, Barnes is honored to be the visionary creator and Artistic Director of the multi-award winning intergenerational and intercommunal cultural arts project and stage experience The Jazz Continuum, commissioned and presented by Guggenheim Works & Process and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2021.
Additionally she is deeply honored to be a part of the Brain Trust that developed the ground-breaking stage production Swing Out, bringing the passion and power of Lindy Hop and its community to the concert stage. The New York Times said of her collaboration with Caleb Teicher in Swing Out, “Barnes is especially extraordinary for the way the past and the present can pass through her...”
Across all her efforts, Barnes' eternal purpose is to inspire fellow artists and arts enthusiasts to champion artivism through cultivating an authentic sense of self and intention in their creative expressions and daily lives. -
Tom Weksler is a dancer, choreographer and director of the company Wonderground Movement Arts with his partner Roser Tutusaus. Tom is also the founder of ‘Movement Archery’, a workshop concept that presents a unique approach to Movement, philosophy and dance. Since 2014 he has been teaching this approach internationally in dance schools, circus schools, universities, professional companies, martial arts gyms and more. Tom’s teaching is globally acclaimed and he is considered one of the pioneers of the modern ‘Movement Culture’.
Movement Archery:
movementarchery.com
Wonderground Company:
wondergroundcompany.com
GoFundMe for Matthew Stillman:
https://gofund.me/69b59d67
Primal Derma:
primalderma.com/btm
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Abigail Rose Clarke is an author, somatic educator, writer, and artist. She has an inordinate amount of love for octopuses, the moon, and her extensive collection of anatomy books. She is the creator of The Somatic Tarot and The Body Oracle decks, and the author of Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World (world release date: January 9, 2024, with North Atlantic Books and Penguin RandomHouse).
She has developed what she calls The Embodied Life Method, which centers on the relationship between body and culture, and how we can use the inherent wisdom of our bodies to be in direct conversation with our creativity and our aliveness. When we do that, we dismantle oppressive systems and build a future that is lush and generative and deeply relational.
Abigail does not teach that embodiment always feels good, because it doesn’t. Her work prioritizes exploration over assumed results, because the body is always adaptable and always adapting. Our creative efforts should do the same, and they can, when we are in relationship with our own bodies.
In a world of such rapid change, Abigail teaches embodiment as a practice and a responsibility. As the world changes so dramatically we are tasked with the enormous responsibility of remaining present to the world as it is, which requires we remain present to ourselves as we are. From here, the way forward becomes possible.
You can learn more about Abigail’s work and approach here:
www.abigailroseclarke.com
IG: www.instagram.com/abigail.rose.clarke
Returning Home to Our Bodies is available for pre-order and is out on January 9, 2024
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730766/returning-home-to-ourbodies-by-abigail-rose-clarke/
GoFundMe for Matthew Stillman:
https://gofund.me/69b59d67
Primal Derma:
primalderma.com/btm
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Born in 1995 in Milan (Italy) , Davide Bonetti is a professional acrodancer. At the age of 18, Davide attended FLIC Contemporary Circus School in Turin as an acrobat, where he specialised in handstands. At 22, he got directly into the second year of CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) in France, specialising in acrodance. He then toured between France and Belgium as a performer and since 6 years, he has been giving acrodance workshops in italian dance academies and european festivals such as B12 research or die (Berlin), HJS Summer intensive (Amsterdam), Frei Art Festival (Freiburg).
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Matt Mulligan loves to move, loves to laugh, and loves helping people feel better.He has spent 20 years weaving threads between a professional practice of circus, dance and physical theatre, while coaching people to find for themselves more joyful, authentic physical practices. Matt is also an advocate and consultant for arts access & inclusivity.
Follow Matt on Instagram @mattmulligan
Coaching: www.bodyroots.org
Arts: www.rootandbrancharts.com
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Katharina Dodel – Movement Play & Yoga "Joy and ease“ has become something like a slogan of wampediboo over the years. She started this playful orbit to spread the creative spirit she's felt since childhood. She grew up on the countryside in south Germany, explored many things from playing the violin to climbing trees, from table tennis and athletics to volleyball. Later on as a journalist she kept asking questions. So why not continue asking them to myself? In 2017 she moved to Berlin to deepen her yoga studies and to explore life a bit more. It’s a deep interest that drives her and a playful spirit she's sharing with other people in my Movement Play classes – solving riddles and dissolving blind spots on the physical map to encounter the world with a little more joy and ease.
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Sekou Heru, aka Tony Williams, has been involved in the performing arts since he was very young. His first love was B- boying. In high school, he attended Mercer County School of the Arts and studied modern dance. In 1993, Sekou started studying Capoeira Angola with Mestre Joa Grande at the Capoeira Academy in NYC. He went on to fuse his breaking and modern dance styles with hip hop and house dance. Sekou has worked with Gwen Guthrey, toured with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and can be seen in videos with Aretha Franklin, MC Lyte, Clubland, Pet Shop Boys, Foxy Brown, and Jay Z. Sekou was a featured dancer in the movie Marcy X with Damon Wayans, can be seen in the dance scenes on Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour, and seen in Brown Sugar starring Taye Diggs and Sanna Lathan. He has toured in Germany with German rapper Tony Cottura, and has traveled several times to Japan for the annual premier Dance Delight event as a guest judge and featured dancer with the group Dance Fusion, of which he is a founding member. He was a part of the opening act for Cece Peniston’s Japan tour, and also opened for Cool C's Let me clear my throat in his Japan performance. He was featured in Japan’s "woofin" magazine as one of NYC’s top dancers. Sekou toured the USA with Fred Ho and The Afro Asian Ensemble in the Martial Art stage show Voice of the Dragon. In 2005 Sekou choreographed the Dance Dance video for Fall Out Boy that went #1 in the country and won a Best Video Award at the MTV VMAs.
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Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture. She is the author of CLASSROOM WARS: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford University Press, 2015), and FIT NATION: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession (University of Chicago Press, 2023). She is co-producer and host of the acclaimed podcast WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY, from Pineapple Street Studios/Gimlet and the co-host of PAST PRESENT podcast. She is a frequent media guest expert, public speaker, and contributor to outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and the Atlantic.
Natalia is Associate Professor of History at The New School, co-founder of the wellness education program Healthclass 2.0, and a Premiere Leader of the mind-body practice intenSati. Her work has been supported by the Spencer, Whiting, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations. She holds a B.A. from Columbia and a Ph.D. from Stanford and lives with her husband and two children in New York City.
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Adriena is a physiotherapist, a movement teacher, and a passionate student of life born and raised in the Czech Republic. As a former professional athlete representing her country in Ice Hockey for five years, her life always spans around some form of physical practice and discipline that continues to be the guiding force on her path of self-discovery.
After going through burnout as an athlete, Ido Portal deeply influenced her path, following his teachings from 2013 to 2021. Until very recently, Adriena was a teacher at Pohyb je život, a movement community based mainly on Ido's philosophy, for the last six years. Since receiving her bachelor's degree at the University of West Bohemia, her work and interest continue to guide her deeper into understanding and connecting the dots between multiple fields and areas such as manual therapy, trauma release, psychotherapy, and general movement practice.
Currently living on the move she spends most of the year traveling the world, expanding her experience as a student, teacher, and therapist implementing her knowledge into clinical treatments as well as into her teachings. Meanwhile, she continues to lead her community by combining distance learning through online platforms with in-person gatherings according to her travels.
Recently Adriena joined Marcello Palozzo's team in shared pursuit of supporting people to improve the quality of their lives through deep transformative work while continuously nurturing her process of individuation.
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Lewie is a doer of many things. He is most known for doing spinny, shiny, flippy things on the floor where he has pioneered a new form of hard-floor circus tumbling. In 2013 He won a gold medal at what his mum calls "the circus Olympics" or the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris for an aerial straps piece.
Lewie is recognised as one of the foremost contemporary circus artists in the world and has been working professionally in multiple aspects of the circus and performing industry for over 15 years. He has worked as an acrobat, choreographer, director, trainer and tour manager both nationally and internationally with the Australian companies Circa and Gravity and Other Myths before co-founding a new circus company in Tasmania called Rooke. He is now (unsuccessfully) trying to retire from performing and concentrate on passing on his physical knowledge both online and in-person while being the best Dad he can be to his new daughter.
The things he most enjoys doing now all involve other people; forming human towers and throwing bodies around a stage, manipulating and diving through hoops, parenting and trying to choke out fools using Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Unfortunately, as he is a blue belt, he is usually the fool being choked.
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Tamara “Cuchira” Levinson was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to the United States of America at age five. She represented the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics team at the 1992 Olympic Games just ten years later. Growing up an athlete gave her great discipline though her nature has always been raw, wild and free! Once her athletic career came to an end at 18 years of age, she made her way to New York City to explore who she was beyond the athlete.
She found her-SELF through dance, freeing all parts of her that had been put on hold up thill then. First by way of underground clubs that attracted the most eccentric of beings, later through professional dance theatre, Broadway and the NYC underground scene. Her love of free movement, individualism and eMOTIONal exploration eventually led her to a successful and ongoing 20+ year professional dance, aerial arts and choreography career that spanned from New York City, to Hollywood and throughout the world. She eventually finds herself touring with Madonna on three world tours, along with handfuls of other huge pop icons. This gave Tamara unique experiences few ever get a chance to have, seeing the world and performing in front of hundreds and thousands of screaming fans worldwide!
Her next big artistic venture came by way of her roots through a well-known avant-garde aerial group called ‘De La Guarda’. She co-choreographed and performed in the shows “Villa Villa” and Fuerzabruta. Think rave meets aerial theatre, but Tamara is curious about all forms of physical expression so she made her way across the movement world and got to work with many iconic people such as the legendary Twyla Tharp on Broadway's “The Times Are A CHANGIN’” and choreographed some scenes in the movie “The Greatest Showman” with Hugh Jackman. Gaining such production and creation knowledge throughout her time being in the thick of Broadway and Hollywood, Tamara naturally transitioned into directing many of her own pieces of work on stage and film.
With a bag full of movement expertise, Tamara’s underlying success always came from the fact that she moves through RAW E-MOTION that everyone can CONNECT to, so it only be natural that her work organically led into guiding others to their own freedom through the body's wisdom. She began teaching workshops and masterclasses about tapping into the language of the body. Once we understand BodyTalk we can begin having real conversations with ourselves and there is where true healing can begin. MovMEANT took off and a whole new inspired world opened up for Tamara. She has now been teaching MovMEANT for almost three decades all over the world and this has changed her life and of those who have incorporated the practice into their lifestyle.
What does MovMEANT practically look like? Think ecstatic dance à la the most breakthrough therapy session you’ve ever had! Or an Ayahuasca ceremony where dance is the “drug” that transcends the here and now. The mover returns anew, cleansed, with vast knowledge of their inner world. This kind of clarity heals and transforms. That is the power of MovMEANT! Tamara continues to grow in the infinite space of somatic healing and the work continues to evolve to find more and more of an audience everyday.
From Olympian, to professional dancer, choreographer, artist, director, healer… Tamara is fascinated by the infinite world of E-motions and how they speak to us. She does retreats and workshops all over the world. If you’re interested to learn more go to MovMEANT.com. You can also find her on Instagram @cuchira
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David Kam is a London-based movement specialist, yoga teacher and speaker exploring mindful mo(ve)ments in playful situations. His degrees in architecture and dance have shaped his interest in discovering what it means to feel at home in our bodies, and at peace with our actions. For David, it’s never from achieving the best technique, but the reclaiming of function and freedom of expression. Perhaps making some new friends along the way. It’s about self dare and collective care.
David activates communities around the world, holding brave spaces for others to embody the wonder in wellbeing by queering the practices of movement. He works regularly with charities like besea.n and WECREATESPACE to advocate for joyful activism and culturally sensitive wellbeing amongst underprivileged communities. David is also founder of kindredpacket, a grassroots organisation raising joy, care and connection amongst East and South East Asian communities in London and beyond.
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On this special episode, Kyle shares an in person conversation while in Berlin with Joseph Bartz to discuss the economics of movement.
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From a young age, I was very interested in all kinds of sports. From soccer to, over different kind of martial arts I found my way to skateboarding and through my teenager's wish of becoming strong and buff, into the world of strength training.
One thing I really never did, was to commit to anything for very long through, I jumped from practice to practice until I found physical development by way of strength work.
So some years went by and along the way I decided to become a trainer, as this was the thing I was very passionate about. With this realization, I started to look at things differently. Even more than before, I was interested in understanding in the why behind what I was learning and doing.
Eventually 18. Birthday came around, and I actually became a licensed pt and started to work in a gym, while I finished school. Pretty soon after, I got a little bored with what I was doing in the gym and decided that I want to do more with my body. For a couple of years my focus was solely on getting stronger back then. So I opened my eyes and stumbled upon a fellow coach in the gym who was teaching a parkour class.
I joined. A couple of weeks later, a friend of mine showed me a video of this weirdo from Berlin... his name was Ido Portal and very soon I found myself at an international workshop in Zurich.
This was 2014 or 15, and I dove in deeply and met all those beautiful souls, teachers, friends along the way, who really shaped the person I am today.
Some years into the future, I opened my own movement school in Hamburg. -
Marcello is known for his studies of movement in a relationship with the environment. His interest and investigations of different artistic and scientific dimensions brought him far and wide. Notably, he helped shape the face of Parkour in Europe, got his Master of Science degree in strength and conditioning at St. Mary university in London, and was part of Ido Portal’s team for three years.
Currently his body of work continues to develop integrating in a coherent philosophy movement dexterity, dance, urban practices, the science of strength & conditioning and athletic principles. Through his teachings Marcello wishes to improve other people’s quality of life, allowing them to find their individuation and identity through deep transformative work.
Recently he started releasing a lot of free practical materials to help everyone fuel their movement journey under his vision and school of practice. So here follow ten protocols that can get you busy for months:
1. Climbing – wall riddles
2. Climbing – advanced hanging & brachiation
3. Lightness skills
4-5-6. Physical Preparedness – elastics, strength, ranges.
7. Elasticity – kips
8. Acrobatics - ground
9. Balancing – single pole
10. Movement in Water -
Bruno Caverna is a pioneer in creating authentic multidisciplinary practices sustained by an embodied movement philosophy drawn from over 35 years of studying movement devottedly. Bruno’s background amalgamates various disciplines from Capoeira through Acrobatics, Contemporary Dance, Contact-improvisation, Qi-Gong, Russian Systema, Watsu, Buteyko Method, Oxygen Advantage all the way to Freediving. Bruno began teaching in 1995 as a capoeira project leader at a psychiatric hospital. The highly demanding context ignited his auto-didactic nature to flourish whilst the teaching processes were becoming over the years more and more consolidated as self-exploratory in its essence. This first highly transformative teaching experience became his pedagogical ground for all his others artistic, pedagogical and psychosocial projects, regardless the context. Being constantly confronted with adversities was vital to related to people in most humane manners. This ever-evolving impulse would manifest inas much as horizons would organically expand beyond the conventional body-mind frameworks. In the past 27 years Bruno has been teaching people from all walks of life over 33 countries worldwide. In 2012 Bruno created Play-Fight and Liquid Body, body-mind practices that coalesced out of professional and personal maturity to assume and pursue an original path while at the same time honoring his vast background and teachers. In 2016 Bruno gave another decisive step by founding Formless Arts, a cross-disciplinary hub that foments a community of self-responsible movers from eclectic backgrounds. The current Formless Arts team is committed to explore movement from a larger dimension that includes a vasgt array of interests such as in ontological philosophy, somatics, neuroscience, various forms of psychotherapies, somatics as well as studies in human biomechanics, biotensegrity, science or water flow, just to mention a few.
You can subscribe to host of Behind the Movement Kyle Fincham's Movesletter by clicking here.
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Born in Romania, Cluj-Napoca. I started my physical education at the age of 5, as a swimmer. Along the years I practiced various sports, focusing mainly on capoeira. My interest in arts was cultivated while studying music during my first 10 years of education.
I studied medicine for 4 years. Afterwards I quit and decided to take education in my own hands. In present I am studying with Fighting Monkey, applying the principles and philosophy in my practice and in the way I move in the world.
My plans for the future are to spread the love for movement and educate people towards a more artistic engagement with life and their practice.
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Lucía Toker is a dancer and acrobat dedicated to movement and pedagogical research.
She has been developing her teaching for more than 15 years. Her work concept is to constantly update and search for essencial technical tools and methodological strategies to facilitate the connection and development of the movement practice for people with all levels of experience.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Lucía works regularly giving classes in professional dance programs, workshops and seminars throughout argentina and europe. her training started from a really young age and crossed through different disciplines and techniques, such as gymnastics, floor acrobatics, tango, flamenco, contemporary dance, improvisation, rehabilitation techniques, physical therapies, physical training and theoretical studies related to the human body. she participated in the residency bows & arrows 2018, in Italy, invited by Tom Weksler, with whom she thereafter performed a mentorship program. as a performer, she worked several years dedicated to scenic creation but in the last few years, she decided to dedicated exclusively to research and teaching.
Some of her latest works are “Collision”, developed in the artistic residency Circo Futuro, together with the group “OM” in Fortaleza, Brazil, July 2019. “lo que queda” and “mar arriba”, both solo pieces, developed in co-production with Paz Ladrón de Guevara, were performed in different festivals and theatres in Buenos Aires.
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Jesse Danger loves jumping into things so much he's been doing nothing but for the past decade. He leads the team at The Movement Creative to help people turn their city into a playground and find a group of friends that love to explore. He credits novel movement experiences as being the core of his education. He sees movement as a way to explore the world physically while connecting socially. Those novel movement moments have led to most of the conversations that have helped him grow.
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Born in Wild East. Based in North West.
Soul coordinates 22°25'00.0"N 12°00'00.0"W
She got married somewhere in Switzerland with a man who can carry on his shoulders more than 100kg. She can cook a whole dinner for 17 persons and she can have 3 espressos in a row. A collector of: animal bones - especially golden dragons - complex fragrances, aromatic herbs, stones and rocks.
She has knowledge in: how to grow a plant from a single leaf, hip hop music from 1992 to 2010, inner and outer order, anthropology of culture.
Believes in the logic of the universe. Likes to walk slowly, terribly slowly since it reminds her that time doesn’t exist and that presence is to be somewhere.
Performer, dancer, teacher, also known as the “polish hammer”. Rooted herself with FM practice, and in SEAD, graduating with a double diploma in choreography and performance. Since 2006, she has been following the Fighting Monkey path. This gave an axis to her teaching and life. As a pedagogue, she is motivated by an urge for movement as a consequence of being alive and by an endless and necessary will to share.
Her teaching reaches people from various grounds - dancers, actors, circus and sports people - everyone willing to “try”.
Natalia is currently busy with FM, TCM, stillness&motherhood, collaboration with Voetvolk- Lisbeth Gruwez.
Natalia would not mind being a bird or an ocean –but she is the happiest when she can be herself. If she would be asked to close with a quote she would say:
“All I ask is that you step with me into the boundlessness, where constancy, quietude and peace, infinite emptiness reign.”
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