CGDC Podcast Channel

Today on the pod we are hearing from 3 strong powerful women who are leading the way! Ayanna Sealey speaks with us to help elevate our mental training, and Stephanie Graham and Amy Wright are here to respond to some unanswered questions from our live QandA.

Ayanna Sealey is a mental performance, wellness coach, and  neuro emotional technique practitioner. Her company is called ‘Magic Makers’ where she helps her clients get out of their own way, figure out what their full potential is, and succeed by using their own ‘magic’. Ayanna was also a former musical theatre gal who performed at the Stratford Festival (South Pacific, Hello Dolly) in The Lion King (Mirvish) and even trained at the prestigious Alvin Ailey School in New York. During this interview with Ayanna we dive into topics like; creating daily practices and rituals, recognizing the purpose in our failures, and moving past our injuries. Ayanna is a complete ray of light, we can’t wait for you to soak up all her wisdom. 

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s get through this together.  

Today on the pod Kyla is being outnumbered by Aussies! Australian based choreographer, performer, and absolute legend, James Maxfield is with us today on Tits and Teeth!

James has an incredible musical theatre and performance resume, and is currently the Creative Producer on The Voice Australia! We chat with James about his journey from theatre to tv, hear a Hugh Jackman story (yes, please), and learn all about what being a Creative Producer on The Voice entails.

James is a self proclaimed musical theatre nerd like us all, and his hard work and dedication to the craft is apparent with his extensive resume. Some of his credits to date include; The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman, the Australian productions of Miss Saigon & Wicked, Sweet Charity (The Production Company)  A Chorus Line (TML Ent.) and My Fair Lady (Opera Australia). He has also danced on the Ke$ha Japan Promo Tour, with Taylor Swift (Aria Awards) X Factor Aus, Australia’s Got Talent, and Australian Idol.

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s get through this together.  

Richard J Hinds is a man that we've have had on our ‘hopefully one day’ list to interview ever since the beginning of Tits and Teeth. It is not ideal how our schedules have finally lined up, but WE WILL TAKE IT!

Ricky Hinds is a brilliant director/choreographer based out of New York and is the Associate Choreographer on the latest revival of Company, which is set to open once Broadway is lit up again. He often spends his time travelling the world, as he is also the Associate Choreographer on every production of Come From Away! Ricky challenges us to always put ourselves out there, and encourages us to be positive influences in our community, especially now.

Ricky’s career is inspirational, and we can’t wait to see where he’ll go next! His other Broadway credits include Newsies! (Assoc. Director), Jekyll And Hyde (Assoc. Dir/Choreo) and Here Lies Love (Off Broadway, West End Assoc. Dir/Chore). Some of Ricky’s personal Director/Choreographer credits include Holiday Inn, Guys And Dolls (Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival) How To Succeed In Business… Evita (Flat Rock Playhouse) and Encore for Disney+ 

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together.

Karla Garcia has a style and groove all her own. You can’t help but stop and take notice when she showcases her amazing choreography. Not to mention she’s incredibly kind, generous, and funny! We can’t wait for you to get to know Karla!

Karla is a New York based performer and choreographer who has spent the last 4 years as a swing in Hamilton on Broadway. We get to chat with Karla about choreographing the brand new musical, ‘Other World', which was set to make its world premiere at Bucks County Playhouse right before COVID sent us into isolation. We talk about how her sense of rhythm and musicality influences her choreography, and we hear some stories about her time with Hamilton. 

Karla is an award winning choreographer for her work on In The Heights (VA Repertory). She made her Broadway debut in Hot Feet, and been on the National Tours of Wicked and The Addams Family. Other Broadway credits for Karla include Hamilton: An American Musical, GiGi and West Side Story. Karla is a regular faculty member at Broadway Dance Center, was a top 7 female finalist on So You Think You Can Dance (Season 5), has a BFA in Dance and a minor in Journalism from NYU and in 2011 was named UNIpro Magazine’s ‘Top 30 Filipinos Under 30”.

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together.

Fellow human beings! The Queen, Kimberley Rampersad, is here on Tits and Teeth! Her incredible words are ready to flow through your ear buds and inspire you to HOLD YOUR SPACE!

Kimberley is a glowing force in this industry, who was recently appointed as the new Associate Artist Direct of the Shaw Festival. We chat with Kimberley about how she ‘schedules her balance’, the stories she wants to tell as a director, and a little bit about Gypsy, scheduled to play at the Shaw Festival, which she is both directing and choreographing. We also got to have a beautiful catch up with Kimberley because we had recorded her interview ‘pre-pandemic’. We needed to hear how Kim is continuing to inspire and lead while staying safely in her home, and in true Kim Rampersad fashion, she hit us with some incredible advice for this moment in time. 

Kimberley proudly hails from Winnipeg Manitoba and has been an asset to theatres all across Canada. Kimberley has been a performer in Holiday Inn, Grand Hotel, Pygmalion, Sweet Charity (Shaw Festival) Crazy For You, Man of La Mancha (Stratford Festival), has Directed The Colour Purple (Neptune Theatre, Citadel/MRTC) Man and Superman, O’Flaherty V.C. (Shaw Festival) How Black Mothers Say I Love You (GCTC), and Choreographed Matilda (RMTC/Citadel/Arts Club) Bittergirl (RMTC) and Seussical (Young Peoples Theatre). What we’re saying is…she does it all, and she does it all at the highest level.       

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together.

On Wednesday April 22nd Jen and Ky were thrilled to host a Q and A live on YouTube with two of our industries elites, Amy Wight and Stephanie Graham. We had a blast and answered your live questions about injury, choreography, and auditioning for both film/tv and musical theatre. We wanted to make sure this valuable content got to you so we needed to put it in PODCAST VERSION! 

Amy Wright is the Casting Director, Choreographer and a Producer of the television series The Next Step, watched around the world. Most recently Amy has choreographed dancers for Private Eyes (Global), Anne With An E (Netflix and CBC) Killjoys (Crave) American Gods (Amazon Prime) and Dare Me (NBC/USA pilot).

Stephanie Graham is one of our countries most sought after Directors and Choreographers. Stephanie won the 2015 Dora Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on The Wild Party (Musical Stage Co.) She is also a twice nominated Merritt Award choreographer for Cinderella and The Addams Family (Neptune Theatre) Other Director credits for Steph include; Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia (Globe Theatre) Anne of Green Gables (Thousand Islands Playhouse) and The Last Five Years (YRG Productions) 

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together

It’s crazy times out there right now friends, so why not take a break from the madness and hear a word from our incredible guest this week who is always working way past 9 to 5! International woman, Lisa Stevens is here to chat with Jen and Ky and take some of those blues away. 

Lisa is a Director/Choreographer who has taken her talents and tenacity from Canada, to The West End, Australia, Broadway and back again. We chat with Lisa about the journey she’s on putting up Dolly Parton’s musical adaptation of 9 to 5 all over the world, how to make yourself essential, and forging your own path. There is so much to learn from this boss woman!

Lisa’s performance career took her across the pond to the West End in London where she was part of Chicago and Bombay Dreams. Bombay Dreams brought her back to North America as the Associate Choreographer on both the Broadway and National Tour productions. Lisa has also choreographed the National Tours of High School Musical in the US, UK, and Australia. Some of Lisa’s regional credits include; The Little Prince (World Premiere Theatre Calgary), Mamma Mia! (Rainbow Stage and The New Theatre), Grease, Spamalot, Mary Poppins, and West Side Story (Drayton Entertainment). You may also recognize Lisa from appearing on Encore (produced by Kristin Bell) on Disney+

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together 

Today on the pod we have a forward thinking chat with the super compassionate, always passionate, David Connolly, who reminds us it’s always better to glitter than be bitter! 

David Connolly is the Associate Artistic Director of Drayton Entertainment, where he has helmed over thirty productions! David leads Drayton's Youth Training Program and is also an adjunct professor to many performing arts colleges across Canada. Having also been the only below knee double amputee performer to ever perform on Broadway, he is also a huge advocate for very-abled-actors within the community. In our discussion with David we talk about his new initiative that began in response to social distancing, Matinee to Z. We also have an important discussion about people with disabilities, that encourages us to broaden our thinking beyond any labels, and David gets us excited about our 'new normal' going forward.

David’s career has been vast and diverse. He was a cast member in the Broadway revival of Shenandoah, and from there become a company member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. David then moved to LA  and spent 7 years working as an Associate Producer and Creative Director at Anita Mann Productions. He brought that knowledge back to Canada to choreograph, cast, and co-direct the CBC smash hit children’s series, The Doodlebops. Some of David’s other director/choreographer credits include; Newsies, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Hairspray, Singin’ In The Rain, Mamma Mia! First Wives Club, The Musical, and Disney’s High School Musical. 

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together. 

As we are all slowly adjusting to this socially distant world, it occurred to us that we needed to take a minute to look after our mental health. The stress and anxiety that is coming with these rapidly changing times can be overwhelming, so today on the pod we reconnect with past Tits and Teeth alum (and creator of The Dance Podcast) Lauren Ritchie to chat about our mental health and mindset during COVID-19. She helps us uncover tools, including using our breath and adjusting our habits to keep us connected to our goals, to come out resilient, grateful and perhaps more connected to our best selves on the other side. These practises are transferable throughout our careers and lives too... aka, there's a lot to take away this week! 

Lauren is a mental skills trainer, dance educator, writer, and unshakable optimist dedicated to helping dancers and performers become their best, and boy did she help us today! From her MEd in Coaching Studies, to a BA in Professional Communications, to multiple yoga certifications and an accredited Art & Science of Coaching Certification, Lauren is incredibly knowledgable and well spoken, and we are so grateful she was able to speak with us again. 

You’ll also hear from one of our industry's strong and mindful leaders, Stephanie Graham, with a message to us all, as well as an original song from the beautiful Jordan Bell to make you smile.

Come hang with us, grab a drink, and let’s all get through this together!