Beyond the Curtain

It is an absolute joy and honour to bring you today’s episode with the divine Frances Rings. Fran is the Associate Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander modern dance company. She has enjoyed a long standing, successful career with Bangarra, starting as a dancer in the company, spreading her wings to become an award winning choreographer and returning in 2019 as Associate Artistic Director.

In this special yarn, Fran generously shares her thoughts and feelings in response to the Black Lives Matter movement across the world and the impact it is having here in Australia. She credits her Indigenous peoples’ ability to mimic and adapt to fit in and cope with ever-changing and ongoing challenges, noting their quiet and strong nature.

We discuss the need to dismantle structures in this country and how Australia has had the opportunity to do this in the past and yet have continuously fallen short due to fear of change. Fran beautifully articulates how a flame has been lit all over the world and what once was acceptable is now inappropriate. If you turn away you are complicit and a part of the problem. She also shares the heartbreaking fear experienced as a mother of Indigenous children in Australia today.

We discuss Fran’s childhood upbringing and introduction to dance, training here and abroad, transition from dancer to choreographer at Bangarra Dance Theatre and the challenges faced as a female Indigenous choreographer.

It was a very moving interview which ended in overwhelming emotion and tears. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

I would like to acknowledge our traditional custodians of our beautiful land and pay respects to our Indigenous brothers, sisters and elders, past and present.

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I am so excited to bring you the beautiful soul that is Samuel Akins!Whilst taking time to pause, reflect, learn and unlearn during this radical time in history, I came across a powerful video on social media that the gorgeous Sam Akins posted. In this video he openly and honestly shares some of the racial discrimination he has experienced in Australia’s Ballet industry.

He is brave and vulnerable and I want to shine a light on his story. He has also encouraged me to share some of my experiences. I am aware that I have been brought up in white privilege, but as a mixed race person of colour I have also experienced discrimination which we discuss in this episode.

Sam is a very talented ballet dancer who moved from Birmingham, Alabama to New York City to study ballet at the young age of 14. Whilst studying he had many performance opportunities and danced with New York City Ballet.

Since graduating, Sam has performed various principal, soloist and company roles with Los Angeles Ballet and Alabama Ballet. Some of these include Cavalier, Tea and Candy Cane in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” and Bluebird, Puss in Boots, and Rose Adagio Suitor in “The Sleeping Beauty.”

Sam recently moved to Australia to continue his ballet career and in this chat he shares some of the adversity he has experienced here.I hope you enjoy this powerful conversation and thank you for listening to Sam’s story.

Sam’s petition for Racial Equality in the Ballet World: http://chng.it/cZSfqckqww

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Today I bring you the powerhouse that is, Tarik Frimpong!

I can’t wait to tell you all about him, but first I need to say this.

It’s been a heavy week in the world with the police murder of George Floyd in America. I found myself overcome with emotion, finding it hard to breathe and concentrate on anything in my life. How could I record a sparkly introduction to a performing arts podcast episode with such weight overwhelming me? So I decided to get on the mic and speak my truth.

Ultimately, this podcast explores humanity - there are many parts to this, good and bad. Racism is not new in our world, it is just being filmed now. I implore anyone reading this to follow Shaun King to educate yourself, join the conversation and take action to create change. It is going to take as many people as possible, and the time is now. Use your voice.

It is also National Reconciliation Week in Australia, and it is important to own and remember what our ancestors have endured and the injustice that still exists here today. I would like to acknowledge our traditional custodians of our beautiful land and pay respects to our indigenous brothers, sisters and elders, past and present.

When I contacted Tarik to share the way I wanted to start his episode, he was right there with me. He is advocating hard. In retrospect, this episode seems like divine timing. Both Tarik and I are mixed race African descendants and we found our chat naturally flow in a direction that explored these themes when we recorded long before the events of this week.

So who is Tarik?Tarik is a trail blazing actor, singer and dancer from Melbourne who is making his mark on the performing arts industry worldwide. He has worked as a commercial dancer for the likes of Justin Bieber and FKA Twigs, performed in musicals such as The Lion King, Aladdin, Bring It On and MADIBA in Australia and on the West End, and made his Disney Motion Picture debut in the role of Angus in Mary Poppins Returns. In this film he starred alongside acting royalty including Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep and Colin Firth. In our chat we discuss his experience on set of Mary Poppins Returns, as well as another Disney Motion Picture he was involved in filming before COVID hit.

We discuss overcoming self-doubt and self-sabotage, as well as Tarik’s life mantra, “If you want something, go get it. Period.” This guy is seriously relentless, he truly lives the advice he gives. He is also super creative which you will get a taste of during our chat. There is plenty to take from this one!

I hope you enjoy the chat, it’s hard not to be inspired by Tarik Frimpong.. . .Please use your voice and take action here: https://www.justiceforbigfloyd.com/#petition#BlackLivesMatter

+ Follow Tarik+ Tarik's website+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus+ Join our Facebook Community+ Find us on Youtube

Today I bring you the powerhouse that is, Tarik Frimpong!

I can't wait to tell you all about him, but first I need to say this.

It's been a heavy week in the world with the police murder of George Floyd in America. I found myself overcome with emotion, finding it hard to breathe and concentrate on anything in my life. How could I record a sparkly introduction to a performing arts podcast episode with such weight overwhelming me? So I decided to get on the mic and speak my truth.

Ultimately, this podcast explores humanity - there are many parts to this, good and bad. Racism is not new in our world, it is just being filmed now. I implore anyone reading this to follow Shaun King to educate yourself, join the conversation and take action to create change. It is going to take as many people as possible, and the time is now. Use your voice.

It is also National Reconciliation Week in Australia, and it is important to own and remember what our ancestors have endured and the injustice that still exists here today. I would like to acknowledge our traditional custodians of our beautiful land and pay respects to our indigenous brothers, sisters and elders, past and present.

When I contacted Tarik to share the way I wanted to start his episode, he was right there with me. He is advocating hard. In retrospect, this episode seems like divine timing. Both Tarik and I are mixed race African descendants and we found our chat naturally flow in a direction that explored these themes when we recorded long before the events of this week.

So who is Tarik?

Tarik is a trail blazing actor, singer and dancer from Melbourne who is making his mark on the performing arts industry worldwide. He has worked as a commercial dancer for the likes of Justin Bieber and FKA Twigs, performed in musicals such as The Lion King, Aladdin, Bring It On and MADIBA in Australia and on the West End, and made his Disney Motion Picture debut in the role of Angus in Mary Poppins Returns. In this film he starred alongside acting royalty including Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep and Colin Firth. In our chat we discuss his experience on set of Mary Poppins Returns, as well as another Disney Motion Picture he was involved in filming before COVID hit.

We discuss overcoming self-doubt and self-sabotage, as well as Tarik's life mantra, "If you want something, go get it. Period." This guy is seriously relentless, he truly lives the advice he gives. He is also super creative which you will get a taste of during our chat. There is plenty to take from this one!

I hope you enjoy the chat, it's hard not to be inspired by Tarik Frimpong.

. . .

Please use your voice and take action here: https://www.justiceforbigfloyd.com/#petition

#BlackLivesMatter

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I’m super pumped to be bringing you this episode with Cat Santos today!

She is an incredible human being who is a true light and leader in the Australian performing arts industry.

In our chat, we explore all the glorious parts that make up Cat ~ dance, gut health, illustrations, mindset and more. There’s a lot to take from this one!

Cat shares the origins of her latest dance project, Home Feed, a collaboration between Cat, Zoee Marsh and Caetlyn Watson. We also discuss a number of her other projects including The I.Am.Her Project and Illustrations by Cat.

We talk about self-doubt and how it’s okay not to feel super positive all the time ~ how it’s your second thought to encourage positivity that is key! We also discuss coping with life in isolation and the importance of not being so hard on yourself.

Hope you enjoy listening to this chat. It is high energy, there’s lots of giggling and it is truly bursting with inspiration!

Welcome to a little insight into Cat’s world.

Witness the magic that is Cat Santos and be inspired to rediscover your own.

+ Follow Cat+ Cat's website+ Visit Illustrations By Cat+ Follow Illustrations By Cat+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus+ Join our Facebook Community+ Find us on Youtube

I'm super pumped to be bringing you this episode with Cat Santos today!

She is an incredible human being who is a true light and leader in the Australian performing arts industry.

In our chat, we explore all the glorious parts that make up Cat ~ dance, gut health, illustrations, mindset and more. There's a lot to take from this one!

Cat shares the origins of her latest dance project, Home Feed, a collaboration between Cat, Zoee Marsh and Caetlyn Watson. We also discuss a number of her other projects including The I.Am.Her Project and Illustrations by Cat.

We talk about self-doubt and how it's okay not to feel super positive all the time ~ how it's your second thought to encourage positivity that is key! We also discuss coping with life in isolation and the importance of not being so hard on yourself.

Hope you enjoy listening to this chat. It is high energy, there's lots of giggling and it is truly bursting with inspiration!

Welcome to a little insight into Cat's world.

Witness the magic that is Cat Santos and be inspired to rediscover your own.

+ Follow Cat

+ Cat's website

+ Visit Illustrations By Cat

+ Follow Illustrations By Cat

+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus

+ Join our Facebook Community

+ Find us on Youtube

So today’s episode features an interview I had with Peter Wallace quite a few months ago now, pre-COVID! I had been saving it for when the Moulin Rouge was coming out to conduct auditions in Melbourne this year, hosted at Peter’s studio. Since all things travel are now out of the question in the foreseeable future, I thought it was time to release the episode.

If you’ve ever dreamt about dancing at the Moulin Rouge in Paris this is the episode for you. Consider it a bit like a Moulin Rouge history lesson! Peter spent 13 years in Paris working as a dancer and dance captain at the Moulin Rouge and Lido, and choreographer at La Nouvelle Eve. He is good friends with Janet Pharaoh (Artistic Director of Bal Du Moulin Rouge) and knows what she is looking for in a prospective dancer.

In this chat we also discuss Peter’s fight with cancer, living abroad and marrying his now husband after 30 years together.Enjoy the chat!

+ Moulin Rouge website+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus+ Join our Facebook Community+ Find us on Youtube

So today's episode features an interview I had with Peter Wallace quite a few months ago now, pre-COVID! I had been saving it for when the Moulin Rouge was coming out to conduct auditions in Melbourne this year, hosted at Peter's studio. Since all things travel are now out of the question in the foreseeable future, I thought it was time to release the episode.

If you've ever dreamt about dancing at the Moulin Rouge in Paris this is the episode for you. Consider it a bit like a Moulin Rouge history lesson! Peter spent 13 years in Paris working as a dancer and dance captain at the Moulin Rouge and Lido, and choreographer at La Nouvelle Eve. He is good friends with Janet Pharaoh (Artistic Director of Bal Du Moulin Rouge) and knows what she is looking for in a prospective dancer.

In this chat we also discuss Peter's fight with cancer, living abroad and marrying his now husband after 30 years together.

Enjoy the chat!

+ Moulin Rouge website

+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus

+ Join our Facebook Community

+ Find us on Youtube

In honour of Mother’s Day this weekend, I have a very special episode for you with the gorgeous Lucy Doherty. Lucy is a talented contemporary dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of One Dance Collective. One Dance Collective is an independent Australian Arts organisation facilitating empowerment and connection through the art of dance and movement.

Lucy began her career dancing across the world as Ariel at various Disney parks, as well as performing at Universal Studios. Her passion for contemporary dance followed her throughout her travels and when she settled back in Australia, her career in this field quickly took flight before she ultimately created her successful company, One Dance Collective.

Lucy has a gift for following her intuition and producing moving dance works that tackle the heavy and difficult parts of life. A big influence in her life and career has been the passing of her beautiful mother a few years ago. We discuss the often unspoken topic of grief and how dance has helped Lucy navigate these difficult emotions. There were tears from both of us and I am grateful to Lucy for her open vulnerability.

I hope you enjoy our chat and find something healing and inspiring for yourself.This episode is dedicated to Lucy’s mother, Jane Doherty.

+ Follow Lucy+ Lucy's website+ Visit One Dance Collective+ Follow One Dance Collective+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus+ Join our Facebook Community+ Find us on Youtube

In honour of Mother's Day this weekend, I have a very special episode for you with the gorgeous Lucy Doherty. Lucy is a talented contemporary dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of One Dance Collective. One Dance Collective is an independent Australian Arts organisation facilitating empowerment and connection through the art of dance and movement.

Lucy began her career dancing across the world as Ariel at various Disney parks, as well as performing at Universal Studios. Her passion for contemporary dance followed her throughout her travels and when she settled back in Australia, her career in this field quickly took flight before she ultimately created her successful company, One Dance Collective.

Lucy has a gift for following her intuition and producing moving dance works that tackle the heavy and difficult parts of life. A big influence in her life and career has been the passing of her beautiful mother a few years ago. We discuss the often unspoken topic of grief and how dance has helped Lucy navigate these difficult emotions. There were tears from both of us and I am grateful to Lucy for her open vulnerability.

I hope you enjoy our chat and find something healing and inspiring for yourself.

This episode is dedicated to Lucy's mother, Jane Doherty.

+ Follow Lucy

+ Lucy's website

+ Visit One Dance Collective

+ Follow One Dance Collective

+ Keep up to date on our insta @beyondthecurtainaus

+ Join our Facebook Community

+ Find us on Youtube