Send us a text

What you'll hear:

• Alllll about how Creatrix 2.0 went
• 1st piece of advice:  get a great house.  The biggest changes I made from Creatrix 1.0 to Creatrix 2.0 2:00
• 2nd piece of advice:  How to handle the financial risk and being ok if it didn't sell 4:30
• 3rd piece of advice:  HAVE EXCELLENT SUPPORT! 5:50
• Episode 82:  Creating Creatrix and the gremlins I met along the way 6:21
• What to look for when you're looking for an excellent support person 8:05
• Me gushing over the attendees and all my favorite parts of the retreat 8:40
• The chant we used (easy simple) 15:10
• Lexa Walsh:  artist and chef
• Genese Gee-Schmidtk
• Satya Belly Dance 
• Kelly Jean Yoga
• Max Cooper Photography
• Kim Melohn
• Last advice:  bring bugspray to the beach!!!  17:00

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

The episode that no one asked for but I recorded anyway.  What you'll hear:

• If you want to be on the waitlist for the fall cycle of The Audacity Project, you can do that here!  Exact dates TBD.  1:30
• Anger is an expensive emotion, but no we can't just not experience it.  3:45
• The NPR article I reference is here:  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/12/1236973762/anger-management-types-purpose-cause 
  • defining the two kinds of anger:  core and defensive 4:38
• "I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief" 6:30
• Learn from my fails:  what happened after I suppressed my anger for 19 years 9:20
• Why suppressing anger is a side effect of perfectionism 10:15
• How can you tell the difference between kindness or people pleasing/codependency/perfectionist?  The answer is resentment.  13:00
• The Karpman's Triangle 14:00
• Actionable advice!  16:30
  • Name and claim your emotions
  • Let people have their own experiences/feelings/consequences
  • Fantasy role-play with your anger.  What does your anger want you to do?  What does it want you to say?  Fantasize your pants off about it.  It's ok if fantasies are harmful when they stay in your brain and help your brain achieve a sense of satisfaction and validation.  
  • Take any other actual, unharmful action necessary to care for yourself.

Please don't suffer in silence.  

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

You'll find a link to a public google document below, as Jess gave me LOADS of supporting information for anyone who is curious!  Because of the character limit for shownotes this is my creative solution.  You'll find Jess' resources at the bottom, happy diving!

I was thrilled to sit down with my new friend artist activist Dr. Jess Allen to discuss the intersection of art and activism.  Here's what you'll hear:

• Is art activism?  (TL;DR: No) 3:00
• Jess responds to a critic who insists that art and activism cannot go together 11:50
• Defining durational work and Jess' walking art practice (did y'all know that was a thing?  cause I didn't) 21:15
• View the webpage for "Drop in the Ocean" the piece we discuss most here:  https://awyrol.co.uk/drop-in-the-ocean 28:50
• Adrian Howells wikipedia page:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Howells
• Advice from Jess for artists looking to use their art for activism 30:50
• What is emancipated pedagogy?  As defined by Jacques Rancière (1991) The Ignorant Schoolmaster. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 35:00
• The only model that most of us are exposed to in learning is hierarchical- so what would it look like practically to be in a learning environment that was non-hierarchical?  41:00
• Art activism and accessibility 47:00
• An adorable story about weeping over some chilis in a plastic bag 1:01
• View Jess' complete resources here!  (They would not fit into the character allowance on Buzzsprout, this link will take you to a public google document that you can view freely) 

Please do yourselves a great favor and peruse more of Jess' work here on her portfolio:  Portfolio

You can also follow Jess here on IG

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

What you'll hear:

• A request for requests!  My list is getting pretty thin, don't be shy to reach out and let me know if there's something you'd like to hear about on this podcast. 1:00
• A 30 minute chunk of The Monstrous Feminine is being staged as part of "The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories" thanks to dancer/visionary Georgia Shrubbe.  You can buy tickets here!  https://www.eventcreate.com/e/yellowwallpaper
• Why creating is sometimes an extremely lonely and isolated experience 3:30
• The advice I've given 100s of times and am now being forced to follow myself 4:40
• What your job is during creation, phase 1 6:50
• How phase 1 is going for me (spoiler, it's SO MUCH FUN)
• Advice for anyone else in the creative trenches 9:50
  • Acknowledge what stage of creation you're in:
    • embryonic
    • Phase 1 (collecting material)
    • Phase 2 (editing and feedback)
    • Desert of Suck (can happen at any time, is not permanent
• TL;DR:  Just do your job.  

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

This episode is by request, from my woman Rebecca, who asked, "When you're creating a larger piece of work (i.e. something longer than the standard 3-5 minutes), at what point do you ask others for feedback? At a rough draft phase or more of a pre-final phase? And if you're creating something that requires original music, at what point do you reach out to someone for that?"

Let's talk about it!  What you'll hear:

• Woo Corner's coming atcha next week!  Join in here (not selling things, just sharing functional woo):  https://rachelstricklandcreative.ck.page/
• Are you going to be in Charleston on June 20?  Come see The Monstrous Feminine and The Yellow Wallpaper!  https://www.eventcreate.com/e/yellowwallpaper  2:30
• Creating outside of your prescribed or familiar structure, and the lessons of the length of a pop song 3:30
• When should you reach out for feedback?  5:50
• CAN WE PLEASE LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WANTING VALIDATION AND WANTING FEEDBACK 6:49
• The absolute worst way to ask for feedback (do NOT do this to me) 10:00
• One tell-tale sign that what you're craving is actually validation 12:15
• Maestro's podcast on the consequences of outsourcing your thinking 13:35  https://themovementmaestro.com/motm-656-the-consequence-of-outsourcing/
• Questions that can be helpful to ask for feedback, just some thoughts to get you started 14:05
• Creating with original music, and how to navigate that with the musician (ie:  when to pursue the music) 15:00
• Midas is King (creating completely without music, music was created by Max Cooper to fit the film) https://www.rachelstricklandcreative.com/midasisking
• Two pieces I made in collaboration with Jym Daly (created in tandem):
  • Lion Skin (hoop solo) https://www.rachelstricklandcreative.com/lion-skin
  • Archetype (aerial loops duo) created with Anastasia Sauvage https://www.rachelstricklandcreative.com/archetype
• CliffsNotes for getting actually useful feedback when you're ready 20: 49
• Liz Lehrman's Critical Response Process for feedback (for the nerds) https://lizlerman.com/critical-response-process/ 22:31

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

What you'll hear:

• Me yammering on about vacuuming up leaves from the yard, and the shedding habits of live oak trees 
• Announcing my artist-in-residence-ness at ARC Take 2 Studios to show in a double billing on June 20th at Queen Street Playhouse 2:12
• A caretaking update on my dear ole dad's hip replacement surgery 4:00
• The Charleston Artists Salon took place this past Sunday, and it was dynamite.  If you want to start one in your area I talked about the process I used to create it here in Episode 100, around the 7 minute mark until the 12 minute mark. 5:00
• If you're local to Charleston and want to learn about future Charleston Artists Salons, please go here and sign up so I can let you know about it!  
• Product vs. Process based work, wtf is the difference 6:45
• How I realized we needed to talk about this, a lot of my students don't want to set choreography 13:35
• I think the answer lies in WHY we feel resistant to setting choreography (taking this route as it's often a "problem" I hear about)  16:45
• Is the resistance gremlin territory, or is it genuinely counter to your zone of genius?  
• One way to know if you're in gremlin territory or not is to see if your process of creating is counter intuitive to your objectives 18:30

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

This episode is by request:  "I was wondering if you’d like to make a podcast episode on living in the South. I’m so excited to return to the swamps but with the political climate I am nervous on how to navigate day to day life and not let the bastards grind me down so to speak." -Brandi

• Episode 91:  Love song to summer and why I live in the south 2:00
• What do I mean by The American South 2:45
• My response to "but the south is racist/misogynist" 4:11
• My adjustment period when I moved back here in 2018 9:30
• A summary of advice for my friend who wrote in 21:00

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

What you'll hear:

• There are two places left for Creatrix 2025:  May 13-18 and I would LOVE to see you there! 1:00
• A whole slew of updates about me and my life lol.
• The difference between perfectionism (in the way that I use it) and high standards of excellence.  Spoiler:  if it stops you from doing stuff, it's bad.  7:20
• Invisible Women by Caroline Perez 
• The original article (also by Caroline Perez) that inspired this podcast 9:20
• Episode 96:  Insidious Perfectionism and What to do about it, a past episode from August 2024 with some actionable ideas for you 12:40
• What follows is many minutes of diatribe where I agree with Caroline Perez and just urge you to not blame yourself for your rational responses to the world around you.
• Facilitating a sense of safety and GRACE in ourselves and in our communities can help us move OUT of this suppressive psychological landscape of needing to be correct all the time.  19:00
• What if the point isn't to be correct, but to be fully alive?  And what if being correct is not the way to feel that?  20:10
• ps. The Irish Aerial Dance Festival is open for bookings!  21:18

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

A two-pronged episode based on complimentary requests.  You could summarize this episode by asking the question:  why is it so hard to freakin be happy when you have good shit happening in your life?

What you'll hear:

• Part I:
• I just landed a contract I have spent the last two years dreaming about and I don't know how to process/deal with it. It feels like 'in the future' got here so quickly that I haven't caught up with myself yet and i keep swinging between "this isn't happening' 'they must have confused me with someone else" and "*confused static noises* -Helen
• What happens after your dreams come true? And why doesn't it feel BETTER?  1:45
• Storytime about my dreams coming true and how it sent me into a spiral 2:55
• Atlantic Center for the Arts Artist in Residency program
• How I ended up recording a 20 minute screaming rant while trying to "rehearse" Keep your eyes peeled on the Patreon if you'd like to see this rant, it was actually really good looking back on it now.  6:15
• "Pressure doesn't make good work, it makes good panic attacks."
• For the first time ever, I'm making Teeth public.  This is what I ended up making on that residency:  https://youtu.be/3LVHOqEUIn4  Content warning:  early loss.  8:46
• The Ego Gap:  why it can feel less than wonderful when you finally get what you want 10:55
• Part II
• A friend confided in me that she's avoiding doing her work even though when she actually does it, it makes her happy.  Why do we procrastinate on doing things we actually want to do?  12:30
• The Neverending Story:  sacred text  Auryn really called it.  13:51
• The real reason we procrastinate 15:30
• Brene Brown's quote about shame:    “If you put shame in a petri dish and cover it with judgment, silence, and secrecy, you’ve created the perfect environment for shame to grow until it makes its way into every corner and crevice of your life. If, on the other hand, you put shame in a petri dish and douse it with empathy, shame loses its power and begins to wither. Empathy creates a hostile environment for shame—an environment it can’t survive in, because shame needs you to believe you’re alone and it’s just you.”  Brené Brown, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
• My take on why it's so hard for humans to be happy 20:00
• 
  

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon

Send us a text

Today buffet episode brought to you by the late spring that has FINALLY arrived!

What you'll hear:

• Question from a listener:  I was wondering if I could request a topic... I have been recently feeling a bit down due to a break-up with my aerial duo partner/best friend. I know this situation is probably pretty common but I am finding it hard to move on even though I know it is probably for the best.
• TLDR:  I have no idea.  I'm so sorry.  1:45
• Storytime from my own life about friend break ups 2:00
• Sometimes the end isn't the end (sometimes it is) 3:50
• Healing isn't attaining something, it's being free of something 6:00
• Question from a listener:  Podcast idea: how to navigate a show when your director gives you no constructive feedback, no direction, and has bad taste.  Asking for a friend.  6:32
• Mount Stupid on the Dunning Kruger Curve:  7:50
• Not every project is going to be awesome, which is a side effect of being a professional 9:15
• It is a role of director to solve problems in the pursuit of the vision 10:30
• Question from a listener:  Yesterday I had a chat with a student of mine who is over 60 about how /where she could perform, I know she is not the only one who found aerial later than what is normally considered for gigs and shows. So I thought I’d suggest the topic of alternative route la to performing for those “aged out” or other circumstances. 12:30
• My turn to ask for something...does anyone know a physical performer in their 60's who had found access to stages? 13:08
• Any questions you have about the intersection of art and activism, please do send them my way so I can ask an upcoming guest, Dr. Jess Allen!  14:20
• Long luxurious Patreon update!

Don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel
Sign up here for monthly blasts and functional woo
Find me on Instagram
Support this podcast on Patreon