MOVERS SHAKERS MAKERS

Our ballet horror movie mash up podcast, continues with BLACK SWAN (2010) and US (2019).

In this final instalment of Ballet Macabre we're looking at Duality. To start off, host Emma Lister and guests Amber Hunt and Rose Martin give their insights as professional dancers on what is likely the best known film in this mini genre, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Though the film won its star Natalie Portman an acting Oscar for her role as the dancer trying to master the dual roles of the white and black swan, how accurate is her portrayal? Do all top level ballerinas have disordered eating? Are all directors sexual predators? And what’s up with the 32 fouettés in this movie? (If you don’t know what those are, don’t worry, we’ll explain!)

The final film in our mini series is Jordan Peele’s Us, the most recent film we’re covering. With a story that highlights the privilege a portion of society enjoys at the expense of others, we ponder whether ballet is truly elitist. We also acknowledge the proximity to wealth and glamour being a ballet dancer provides while not necessarily paying above minimum wage. And finish off the mini series by asking a big question: must we split ourselves in two to be a great dancer?

Bonus reel:
Scary Movie 5

References:
Black Swan 32 fouettés
BBC Panorama doc

Sam Kench on Body Horror

Angela Trimbur Dance

This one is hot off the presses! Just as I was about to release the final episode in our mini series, Lucile Hadžihalilović 's award winning INNOCENCE (2004) was made available to stream. I had trouble tracking it down in my early research, and when I finally watched it I knew I had to include it. Its oblique plot follows a year at a mysterious all girls school where ballet is one of the few subjects taught. Though not an outright horror movie, it deals with so many themes from our mini series so far: the Chosen One, Pain and several puzzle pieces from our upcoming final instalment. Not only that, but I knew one of its stars...

Dancer Léa Bridarolli was just 11 when she was chosen to play 'Alice' in Hadžihalilović’s haunting coming of age film. She has many memories from filming, including the audition scene that underpins her character's tragic arc, a scene she was able to play by drawing on an early experience as a young dancer. She and Emma also discuss why ballet dancers (mostly women) so often portray children or young teenagers on stage, and why horror movies have a fixation with scary kids!

References
Mark Kermode's Scary Kids blog post

BONUS REEL
Cabin in the Woods

BALLET MACABRE continues with SUSPIRIA (1977) and AUDITION (1999) as Emma Lister, long time film lover, podcast host and ballet dancer guides us down the dark hallway that is the use of ballet in horror movies. In this, the second episode in our mini series, we have the theme of pain linking our film pairing:

Guests Richard Bermange and Nandita Shankardass join to give their insights on the original Suspiria directed by Dario Argento, which for all its baroque beauty, rocking Goblin score and undeniable influence on the genre leaves something to be desired in terms of accurate portrayals of ballet classes!

Next we explore the theme of pain, both mental and physical, in Takashi Miike's Audition, another influential horror film that arguably opened the door to the extreme depictions of gore and sadism in the 'torture porn' genre. But for our interviewees, more terrifying still is the eponymous audition scene...

Bonus Reel: RED SPARROW (2018)

References:
The Turning - Room of Mirrors

We start our mini series with THE RED SHOES (1948) and SUSPIRIA (2018) as Emma Lister, long time film lover, podcast host and ballet dancer guides us down the dark hallway that is the use of ballet in horror movies.

Guests Zoe Ashe-Browne and Diarmaid O'Meara join to give their insights as professional dancers and amateur cineasts on perhaps the foundational ballet horror film: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Red Shoes. They marvel at Moira Shearer's technique, discuss the feasibility of the film's stage calls and ponder the selective marathon that is the path to a professional dance career.

Fast forward 70 years and dance and horror has gone expressionist. Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake (don't worry we're cover the first one later!) is a bat-sh*t crazy mash up of choreographers Mary Wigman, Pina Bausch and Martha Graham's work, with some highly meme-able red string costumes to boot. Overflowing with ideas the film opens a discussion on the ultimate chosen one in The Rite of Spring and instances when the dancer/choreographer relationship can turn vampiric.

Bonus reel: Josephine Decker’s MADELINE'S MADELINE (2018)

Hailed a “stirring voice” by the New York Times, Roopa Mahadevan is a leading second-generation Indian classical and crossover vocalist in the American diaspora known for her collaborative spirit. She leads the crossover ensemble Roopa in Flux, where she works with musicians in jazz, soul/R&B, and various global traditions, directs the innovative choir Navatman Music Collective, and sings for leading Bharathanatyam and modern dancers around the world. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,  MET Museum, Kennedy Millenium Stage and is a soloist on Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning Calling All Dawns.

She and Emma discuss how to find your ‘flow’ in improv, the influence of her gurus and why Bulgarian choir is the perfect match with classical Indian music!

Roopa's website
Roopa's Album, Roopa in Six Yards

The three questions:

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you?
A class by artist and activist Daniel Valdez college

Is there a piece of art that you respect, but don't like necessarily?
"Confessional art"

Give us a recommendation!
Maria Popova's The Marginalia  website/newsletter (formerly known as Brain Pickings)

Gavin Sutherland is a conductor, composer and orchestrator who specials in dance—he’s conducted for Northern Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet,  Norwegian and Finnish National Ballet as well as English National Ballet where he is principal guest conductor. He and Emma discuss his career as a conductor that starting aged 18, his favourite joke to tell an orchestra and why certain music has the power to pull on our heartstrings.

Holst's Jupiter conducted by Susanna Mälkki
www.gavinsutherland.co.uk

The three questions...

What piece of art changed everything?
The Towpath a paint by Christopher Nevinson, has a personal reason as well as artistic for being your pick.

What piece of art do you nor like, but respect?
Not a (Mark) Rothko fan, but I understand its scale and complexity in so few elements of its construction.

Give us a recommendation...
The symphonies of Sir Arnold Bax 

Charlotte Maclet is an award winning violinist who first performed a Mendelssohn concerto at age nine! She has performed as a soloist in her native France and abroad. She led the acclaimed quartet Camerata Alma Viva and is now first violinist for Zaïde Quartet. She and Emma discuss her recent recording with Zaïde, Invisible, which places the music of Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann alongside the more famous men who share a surname, how to lead a quartet as democratically as possible and why she chose life in chamber music over a solo career.

Quatuor Zaïde
Buy their record: Invisible

The 3 Questions:

What piece of art changed everything for you?
The work of Gustav Klimt

What piece of art do you respect rather than like?
The work of Marina Abrahmovitch

Give us a recommendation...
Listen to Glen Gould! And read Haruki Murakami's Absolutely On Music

Andrew Mellor is a journalist and critic. He has written about music, architecture, design, and cultural politics for publications around the world and is a critic for Gramophone and the Financial Times.  He and Emma chat about his new book The Northern Silence, why it might be too late for meaningful access to classical music in Britain--especially in education and why Helsinki airport is so quiet?!

Andrew's blog
Buy The Northern Silence

The 3 Questions:

What piece of art changed everything for you?
Glynbourne Opera's  Theodora by Handel

What piece of art do you respect rather than like?
English Song

Give us a recommendation...
The films of Joachim Trier

In this, the last episode of our miniseries, Emma Lister and Amy Drew are joined by choreographer Morgann Runacre-Temple  and dancer/teacher Senri Kou to discuss how being pregnant and having a child fits (or doesn’t fit) into the dance sector. We talk morning sickness during a show of Sleeping Beauty, the physical and hormonal changes of pregnancy, the decision to go back to performing vs the decision to stop, how you're perceived in the dance world as a parent and the trials of finding childcare  ...we're getting it all out on the table! We also have a mini survey we conducted on UK and international ballet companies to help us decipher what the 'norms' are in the sector.

REFERENCES
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/arts/dance/21agui.html  

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/childbearingforwomenbornindifferentyearsenglandandwales/2020  

https://pipacampaign.org/research/balancing-act-survey?referrer=/research  

https://www.dancedataproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Connecting-the-Dots-Update.pdf  

This week hosts Emma Lister, Amy Drew and Matthew Paluch continue their discussion of the phenomenon of “cancel culture” in the ballet and dance world. Please do listen to Part I first if you haven't! Where does the term 'cancel culture' come from, what are the mechanisms at work? How does it apply to ballet? What about calls to reclaim it as 'accountability culture'? We are talking about  the Rosie Kay debacle, Liam Scarlett and the recent pressure to ostracise Russian dancers who don't denounce Putin.

Wish us luck… 

This episode is in two, more digestible parts, both are out now. 

REFERENCES

·       https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/madness-of-crowds-9781472959959/

·      https://www.insider.com/cancel-culture-meaning-history-origin-phrase-used-negatively-2020-7

·      https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/12/22/cancel-culture-what-views-are-britons-afraid-expre

·      https://screenrant.com/gone-with-wind-movie-problematic-slavery-racism-reason/

·      https://www.dancemagazine.com/nutcracker-racist/

·      https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/expertise/cancel-culture-and-the-ballet

·      https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-ballet-to-make-important-changes-to-the-nutcracker-after-anti-racism-review-3445761

·      Ratmanksy Instagram post

·      https://www.dancemagazine.com/liam-scarlett-cancel-culture/

·      Paris Opera Report

·      https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/feb/26/ballet-goes-on-as-uk-audience-backs-russian-dancers

This week, in part I, host Emma Lister and Matthew Paluch discuss the phenomenon of 'cancel culture' in the ballet and dance world. Where does this term come from and what are the mechanisms at work? How does it apply to ballet? What about calls to reclaim it as 'accountability culture'? We will be discussing the recent instances of 'cancelling' The Nutcracker and the removal of ballet from auditions at a UK dance institute.

Wish us luck…

This episode is in two, more digestible parts, both are out now. 

REFERENCES

·       https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/madness-of-crowds-9781472959959/

·      https://www.insider.com/cancel-culture-meaning-history-origin-phrase-used-negatively-2020-7

·      https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/12/22/cancel-culture-what-views-are-britons-afraid-expre

·      https://screenrant.com/gone-with-wind-movie-problematic-slavery-racism-reason/

·      https://www.dancemagazine.com/nutcracker-racist/

·      https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/expertise/cancel-culture-and-the-ballet

·      https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-ballet-to-make-important-changes-to-the-nutcracker-after-anti-racism-review-3445761

·      Ratmanksy Instagram post

·      https://www.dancemagazine.com/liam-scarlett-cancel-culture/

·      Paris Opera Report

·      https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/feb/26/ballet-goes-on-as-uk-audience-backs-russian-dancers

Welcome to our new mini series! We’re talking about things that historically have been taboo to discuss in ballet.

In episode one, host Emma Lister is joined by series co-host Amy Drew,  they dissect what’s taboo about menstrual cycles in the context of ballet and get great advice and information from Dr Nicky Keay, Dr Stephanie Potreck and Julianne Rice-Oxley. We're talking heavy periods, missing periods, nutrition, cycle tracking, perimenopause and hormonal birth control.

Even if you’re not a dancer who has periods, we know you have a friend, partner, coworker, sibling, parent or dance teacher who does. This is essential listening to start reframing how we talk, train and feel about menstrual cycle—from day one to menopause.


REFERENCES

Dr Nicky Keay's book - Hormones, Health and Human Potential

Jennis.com- Jessica Ennis app

Athletes monitoring

Period Power

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/menstrual-cycle-injury-risk/

Patriarchy pad picture

Lighting designer Jessica Hung Han Yun won a Knight of Illumination Award for Equus at Stratford East when she was just 24.  She’s since worked at the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Rambert2, The Royal Court, and she has also designed lights for the revered theatre company Complicité and director Nicholas Hytner. Her upcoming work on RSC's My Neighbour Totoro can be seen at the Barbican from Oct 2022.

She and host Emma Lister talk about creativity under pressure, how lighting is like editing, why she struggles with Shakespeare and trying to live up to the beloved animated classic My Neighbour Totoro.

www.jessicahhy.com

The 3 Questions...

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you? 

Artist Rei Naito and architect Ryue Nishizawa’s, Teshima Art Museum

Was there a piece of art that you think has value but don’t necessarily like?

Shakespeare

What/who should we check out that we may not know about?... 

Christopher Bauder’s work for Dark Matter  and ABBA Voyage 

Anders  Duckworth is a British/Swedish choreographer. With training in both design and dance, their work blurs movement, fashion and visual arts. Constantly seeking new collaborations, they have choreographed for short film, installations, and theatrical pieces.  Anders was selected as a Work Place Artist at The Place in London until 2026.

In this interview, Anders and Emma talk about their new piece, Mapping Gender, how to rehearse in an 18th century dress, working with an olfactory artist and why it's impossible for a map to be unbiased.

Mapping Gender  premieres at London's The Place on 28 September, 2022, and will tour to Cambridge Junctions and Worthing Theatres and Museum.

www.andersduckworth.com

Jerry Brotton's A History of the World in Twelve Maps

The dress from the V&A collection.


The 3 Questions...

Piece that changed everything?
Hussein Chalayan ready to wear, fall, 2000

Piece that you don’t like but think has value?
'Whaam!', Roy Lichtenstein (1963)

Who/what should we know about that we may not?
Maresa von Stockert, Alethia Antonia, Elinor Lewis (and her company Plue).

Nicholas Thayer is a London-born, Netherlands-based composer, producer and inter-disciplinary artist.  His electronic and new classical work has been composed for dance pieces, gallery installations and site specific work.

He and Emma discuss Entropy, a lockdown collaboration for Ballet Zurich that has finally been performed live on stage and the album it lead to: Tetramer, out now. They also talk about  adolescent musical tastes, how Glenn Gould revolutionised the recording studio and that time Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee sent Nicholas an email...

 The 3 Questions...

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you? 

'Appetite for Destruction', Guns‘n Roses, 

Was there a piece of art that you think has value but don’t necessarily like?

N/A! If he thinks a piece of art has value, he must therefore like it.

What/who should we check out that we may not know about?... 

The documentary film Sisters with Transistors

Thoughts and lectures of Brian Eno

The work of Ryoji Ikeda

Yann Seabra is a stage designer whose work has been sought after by companies such as The Royal Opera House, San Francisco Ballet, Circa, Ballet Black and Protein Dance company.

He and Emma discuss the tutu he designed with 5000 Swarovski crystals on it for Cira Robinson, why he loves a 70s silhouette, his long time collaboration with choreographer Arthur Pita and his new work for Mthuthuzeli November's piece Wailers at Northern Ballet.

www.yannseabra.com

The 3 Questions...

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you? 

Alternative Miss World 

Was there a piece of art that you think has value but don’t necessarily like? 

Tate Modern: Surrealism Beyond Borders

What/who should we check out that we may not know about?... 

Dmitri Papapganos and  Katrin Brach 

Alesandra Seutin is an award-winning multidisciplinary performance artist and choreographer who works internationally between Senegal, Belgium and the UK. She leads two international touring dance performance companies: Vocab Dance which she founded 2007 and she is also Co-Artistic Director of the famed École des Sables. Alesandra is an artistic advisor at Sadler’s Wells, where she is also Guest Artistic Director of National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) for the second year running. In 2022 she worked with the young dancers of the current NYDC cohort to create a new show Quartier Paradis. 

In this episode host Emma Lister and she discuss the vital ways movement can be influenced by voice, new dance hierarchies, how French magical realist film, Night of Kings, part inspired her piece for NYDC…and the relevancy of Eurovision Song Contest! 

The 3 Questions...

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you? 

Dakar Biennale 

Was there a piece of art that you think has value but don’t necessarily like?

Eurotrash pop music

What/who should we check out that we may not know about?... 

 Dushime music maker/actor

Amapiano

Last week’s episode circled around the taboo of motherhood in the dance world, the lack of a full time company in Ireland and the question of why there is comparatively so many women making dance work in Ireland. We’ll be following up and expanding on all these topics in this week’s episode. 

In this series we’ll be interviewing Irish women making dance in a virtual roundtable with MOSHMA host Emma Lister and her regular cohost Zoë Ashe-Browne, winner of the Constance Markievicz Award, 2021.

Ep 3 - Roundtable part 2, Liz Roche, Liv O'Donoghue, Sibéal Davitt

This mini series has been made possible by support from the Arts Council Ireland on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

REFERENCES

Dance Data Project statistics
NYTimes profile of DDP found Elizabeth Yntema

What do you think of when you think of Ireland? The Emerald Isle, Guinness, Oscar Wilde and Riverdance? What about women making dance? Because this tiny island turns out loads of them--just over 80% of recent dance bursary awardees were for women making work. In a time when the dance world is confronting the predominance of men in roles of leadership, what is Ireland getting right? Is it ahead of the curve?

But where are these makers to go? Ireland does not have one permanent dance company...lots to discuss here!

Over three episodes we’ll be interviewing Irish women making dance in a virtual roundtable with host Emma Lister and her regular cohost Zoë Ashe-Browne, winner of the Constance Markievicz Award, 2021.

Roundtable part 1: Marguerite Donlon, Sarah Reynolds, Roisin Whelan

This mini series has been made possible by support from the Arts Council Ireland on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

REFERENCES

Dance Data Project Statistics

Gender pay gap in Ireland in the Irish Times
and also here in RTE

Ahead of our first roundtable discussion with six women making dance in Ireland, Emma Lister and cohost Zoë Ashe-Browne give a (tiny) bit of Irish history and pose the driving question of this new mini series: In a time when the conversation in dance often turns to the predominance of men in roles of leadership, why are there so many women choreographing  in Ireland?

Zoë Ashe-Browne  is the winner of the Markievicz Award 2021.

This mini series has been made possible by support from the Arts Council Ireland on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

REFERENCES
Dance Data Project census 2021

Lecture on Constance Markievicz by Prof Paseta