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 

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 

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