The Background Dancer

As a dancer, have you ever wondered about the significance of the clothes on your back?  For most, the selection of brands and gear is a deliberate choice, a conscious decision shaping their dance journey. A notable name in this arena is SMK Dancewear, a label bearing the imprint of its founder and designer, Sandra Meynier Kang. The brand's ethos revolves around eco-friendly textiles, zero waste production, and a vegan, locally made product range.

Sandra Meynier Kang, is a French native who has followed a unique path in both the fashion world and rhythmic gymnastics. Her journey intertwines her passions for rhythmic gymnastics, design and ethical fashion based on eco-friendly and upcycled textiles and accessories. She graduated in 2008 from Atelier Chardon Savard, a French fashion design school based in Paris, and in 2010 she moved to Seoul as a fashion commercial agent to work for a few designer brands before creating her dancewear brand in 2017.

Kickstarting a brand new season and month of Dance Fashion, this episode delves into dancewear industry, unraveling its trials and triumphs. From collaborations and fashion expos to navigating the establishment of a dancewear brand in an unfamiliar country. Ready to discover the designer within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• Sandra Meynier Kang
• SMK Dancewear
• Culture & Creativity cover
• Pointe Magazine cover

Soundtracks:

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. The Sunshine - DayFox
4. Rio Fresh - DayFox
   
   

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Have you ever suffered a catastrophic injury? How does one recover and regain peak condition following damage to the anatomy? Amidst the many inherent challenges within the dance sphere — a beacon of hope shines at the NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital through the presence of the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. Beyond their exceptional array of services encompassing physical therapy and injury prevention programs, they also provide comprehensive educational offerings, both online and in person.  A noteworthy accomplishment is the full accreditation, secured in 2020, of the Harkness Center’s Postgraduate Performing Arts Physical Therapy Fellowship Program by the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE).

At the nexus of this endeavor is Dr. Donald Rose, a distinguished sports medicine physician and orthopedic surgeon. He stands as the founding director of the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. Dr. Rose's realm of expertise encompasses the management of injuries unique to dancers, and he diligently conducts research aimed at refining dance injury treatments. His impactful contributions extend further, as he serves as an orthopedic consultant to esteemed dance companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and the now-defunct Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Continuing a brand new season and month of Dance Science, this episode delves into the intricate underpinnings of both sports and dance medicine, as well as the challenges inherent in ensuring the enduring health and career trajectories of dancers. Ready to discover the caretaker within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• Donald Rose
• Harkness Center for Dance Injuries
• Harkness Healthy Dancer Initiative
• RYC Orthopedics
• NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital
• The Mecca of Dance Medicine (Magazine Feature)

Soundtracks:

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Smooth Waters - Sergei Pavkin
4. Water Fluid - ItsWatR

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Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
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What exactly is Dance Science? What are the main foundations that constitute its rich and detailed history? Given dance's unique position at the intersection of arts and sports, it was inevitable that this field would eventually enter the mainstream. One pioneering institution that played a crucial role in this transformation was the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, with one individual standing out as a driving force behind this revolution – Professor Emma Redding.

Professor Emma Redding is a distinguished practitioner, educator, and researcher in contemporary dance and performance science. Prior to her role as Director of the VCA, she served as Professor in Performance Science and Head of Dance Science at Trinity Laban. Her contributions include co-authoring the first-ever Master's degree in Dance Science and being a key figure in establishing dance science as a recognized field of study in Higher Education. She has also assumed leadership roles as a founding partner of the UK's National Institute for Dance Medicine and Science and as a Past President of IADMS.

Kickstarting a brand new season and month of Dance Science, this episode delves into its foundations, significance in the performing arts, and how it could become an integral part of every dancer's education. Ready to discover the scientist within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• Emma Redding
• VCA Dance
• Trinity Laban 
• IADMS
• Healthy Conservatoires

Soundtracks:

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Happy (Dub) - Igor Pumphonia
4. Stingray - Lisofv

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
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Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
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• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
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What does it take to stand out as a podcaster anyways? Is the craze for this new medium truly justified for the world of dance? Like in every other sector, the field of dance-related podcasts is now beyond saturated. Yet, that didn’t discourage me from starting a show, completing a full season and then embarking on a whole new one right after! It starts with your message and the value it brings to listeners who are looking to learn something from you which they cannot do elsewhere - which I did through one of the first podcasts I ever listened to, The Dance Podcast.

Lauren Ritchie is the host and one of the earliest pioneers of dance podcasting, starting as far back as 2016. After a highly competitive career as a dancer, having trained in ballet, jazz, tap and lyrical styles, she transitioned into a coach, educator, writer and adjudicator for part two of her glittering career. Recognizing the lack of mental skills training in dance, Lauren created programs dedicated to educating and empowering dancers’ mental health as well as fitness to optimize their training, subsequently transforming her experiences into 5 seasons totaling 160 episodes on her podcast.

Continuing a brand new season and month of Dance Media, this episode explores the role of podcasts as performing arts media and what it takes to excel as a dance podcaster. Ready to discover the podcaster within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• The Dance Podcast
• Lauren Ritchie
• Best dance podcasts in 2024
• The Benefits Of Dance Education Podcasts For Entrepreneurs
• Why podcasting is crucial for dance

Soundtracks: 

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Double Overhead - ItsWatR
4. Embrace - ItsWatR

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community

Is journalism dead? What is the most trusted form of media today? While there isn’t a definitive answer, one company comes admirably close. Dance Media Publications is a multi-varied media platform that covers dance like no other and has been consistently delivering engaging content to the most dancers, dance professionals and dance lovers globally. Among its many satellite publications, the Dance Edit podcast stands out as a prominent voice for daily news and updates revolving around the world of dance.

Margaret Fuhrer was formerly the Editor in Chief and Producer of the Dance Edit Podcast. A journalism graduate from NYU, her writing has been published on esteemed platforms such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and The Brooklyn Rail. Margaret has also worked on other Dance Media outlets such as the Dance Spirit, Pointe and the Dance Magazine, the latter in which she now devotes her work to as Features Editor. Best of all, she is the author of the book American Dance: The Complete Illustrated History, published in 2014.

Kickstarting a brand new season and month of Dance Media, this episode uncovers the secrets of pursuing a career in journalism and ambition to work for the best media companies in the arts. Ready to discover the journalist within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• Margaret Fuhrer
• Dance Media
• The Dance Edit podcast
• The Dance Magazine
• Ambiguity of modern day journalism
• Power of words

Soundtracks: 

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Double Overhead - ItsWatR
4. Embrace - ItsWatR

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community

What does it mean to be a leader in the arts? Have you ever dreamt of heading an international platform which boasts both historical and current prestige? As far as dance goes dance, very few are like The Jacob's Pillow. Established on a treasured 220-acre national landmark, it is one of the oldest running dance festivals and home to the USA's most influential dance icons, including the man who started it all, Ted Shawn.

In 2016, Pamela Tatge was announced as the new Director of The Pillow after serving as the Director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, overseeing robust programming and acclaimed artistic initiatives for dance, music, theatre and the visual arts, including the Breaking Ground Dance Series. Pamela was named one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today” by Dance Magazine in 2017 and is the recipient of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ 2010 William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and Sustained Achievement in Programming.

Continuing a brand new season and month of Dance Management, this episode tells a story of leadership, helming the 2 in 1 director role and how to establish a working culture at a renowned cultural heritage center. Ready to discover the manager within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• Jacob's Pillow
• Pamela Tatge
• Pillow Lab Residencies
• The FIRE
• Be a leader, be present
• When executives burnout

Soundtracks: 

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Gypsy Swing - Serge Quadrado
4. Retro Hip Hop - Nver Avetyan

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
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What does it take to stage a dance festival? Have you ever wanted to initiate an international platform with long-term sustainability? Despite the overwhelming number of contemporary dance festivals around today, very few have peaked at the level of a Deltebre Dansa, ImPulsTanz or Jacob's Pillow. However, B12 has managed to achieve such status in an even shorter time, which makes their story doubly more remarkable. And the secret to all of this? A stellar management team of course!

Johannes Wieland and Evangelos Poulinas are co-founders and the brains behind this project, with both having had successful performing and choreographic careers prior to transitioning into critical management roles. Johannes was once artistic director for the Staatsheater Kassel in Germany while Evangelos on the other hand, co-directed the One Small Step festival in Greece.

Kickstarting a brand new season and month of Dance Management, this episode tells a story of the many challenges in establishing an international dance platform, building a competent team and the unique experiences of co-directing as project leaders. Ready to discover the manager within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

• b12 Festival
• b12 Spring
• b12 Fall
• Johannes Wieland 
• Evangelos Poulinas
• How to organize and plan a dance event?

Soundtracks: 

1. Birds - Tyler Twombly 
2. Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
3. Something Elated - Broke for free

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community

Are you compromising your art for more exposure, followers and following on social media? What do artists really need? Simply, we need to be discovered by people who are interested in what we have to share. Just think about it. Instagram is not a search engine like Google or YouTube where you can easily type, for example – ‘dancers’ – choose style of dancing, and you get a list of 100 000 dancers around the world with which you can filter out and identify exactly what you want. In the end, you’re just left hoping your work is ‘’engaging” enough for a much larger audience than Instagram takes you for. 

Welcome to a brand new mini series covering our proposed launch of an up and coming digital space, suite of professional tools and dedicated ecosystem for the arts and culture - Artunio. Throughout the next four episodes, join me and Timotej Vrab as we look into the core issues of mainstream social media and how Artunio presents itself not only as an alternative, but a collective movement hoping to change the landscape once and for all.

It's time to take back your creativity, artistic freedom and control of career choices by changing the way your art is produced, shared and valued!

If you resonate, connect with me by

• Visiting Artunio 
• Why is it important? 
• How does it work? 
• Wish to try?

Soundtrack: Waterbeat - DJ Lengua | Scotch - KVZE

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community

Is the overall environment on social media just absurd? Is it appropriate to place art next to irrelevant content such as pets, pranks and political correctness? But that herein lies the problem we face when squaring up to mass content on platforms that treat us not as the content itself, but the product in which to profit off from. The reality is, we cannot expect social media to change. We need to assume accountability and build a new one that is designed for art and artists with conditions that are beneficial for the whole community. Listen, isn’t it always better to build your own house than to live under the restrictions of someone else's?

Welcome to a brand new mini series covering our proposed launch of an up and coming digital space, suite of professional tools and dedicated ecosystem for the arts and culture - Artunio. Throughout the next four episodes, join me and Timotej Vrab as we look into the core issues of mainstream social media and how Artunio presents itself not only as an alternative, but a collective movement hoping to change the landscape once and for all.

It's time to take back your creativity, artistic freedom and control of career choices by changing the way your art is produced, shared and valued!

If you resonate, connect with me by

• Visiting Artunio 
• Why is it important? 
• How does it work? 
• Wish to try?

Soundtrack: Waterbeat - DJ Lengua | Harmitzvah - Coolzey

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community

Does social media actually downgrade your creativity? What are the obvious disadvantages of constantly churning out content for such platforms? A lot has changed from their humble beginnings and who knows how much more is changing as we speak. Even photographers who once upon a time came flocking over to Instagram, are now finding themselves leaving along with their dreams. Still think this doesn't concern you? Think again.

Welcome to a brand new mini series covering our proposed launch of an up and coming digital space, suite of professional tools and dedicated ecosystem for the arts and culture - Artunio. Throughout the next four episodes, join me and Timotej Vrab as we look into the core issues of mainstream social media and how Artunio presents itself not only as an alternative, but a collective movement hoping to change the landscape once and for all.

It's time to take back your creativity, artistic freedom and control of career choices by changing the way your art is produced, shared and valued!

If you resonate, connect with me by

• Visiting Artunio 
• Why is it important? 
• How does it work? 
• Wish to try?

Soundtrack: Waterbeat - DJ Lengua | Weeknds - Dayfox

Support the show

Like our offers? 

• S2 Summer SALE!
• Check out our new Dance Masterclass YouTube review
• Sign up for Dance Masterclass
• Choreographing Your Dance Career by Janaea Rose Lyn
• Try Nord VPN

Like what we do? Help us grow by

• Visiting The Background Dancer
• YouTube Channel
• Rate and review here 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Answer a survey 
• Sign up here to receive future updates 
• Leave a thought on Facebook and Instagram
• Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself as a member of our community