Why Dance Matters

Patrick Makuakane is a dance maker, teacher and hula master and recently received a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships are given to preeminent artists and thinkers and are popularly known as the ‘genius’ awards. Patrick is a passionate and thoughtful advocate for hula, a form of dance inextricably linked with Hawaii’s history and culture. Born in Honolulu, Patrick is now based in San Francisco, where he has built a vibrant community of hula dancers and students. He speaks to us from Hawaii.

Patrick Makuakāne studied hula with several kumu hula (master teachers) and received the title of kumu hula himself in 2003. He has been the director and founder of Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu, a community-centred hula company and cultural organisation, since 1985. He also serves as a spiritual and cultural advisor for the Native Hawaiian Religious Spiritual Group at San Quentin State Prison. His company has performed at venues in New York, San Francisco, Hawaii and New Orleans. He was awarded a Fellowship by the MacArthur Foundation in 2023.

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In 2021, Naomi Smart qualified as a teacher from the Royal Academy of Dance. ‘Never thought dance teaching was an option for me but here I am – Deaf people can do anything.’ What are the particular challenges around ballet and dance teaching for a Deaf teacher? How did Naomi create a way of teaching that works for her and her students, and what advice would she have for teachers trying to make their classes as inclusive and welcoming as possible?

Naomi Smart is an RAD teacher based in London. She is also a writer and Deaf awareness activist, and is researching a PhD about community dance at Kings College London.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Read a transcript of this episode

Follow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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We launch the new season of Why Dance Matters with a vital figure in African contemporary dance. Wesley Ruzibiza discovered dance almost by accident – he was studying financial management at the University of Rwanda when he decided to sample a dance class. It set him on the path to becoming a choreographer and co-Artistic Director of the École des Sables in Senegal, one of the world’s most influential training organisations (their production of Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring is an international sensation). Wesley grew up in turbulent times: Rwandan, he was raised in Kinshasa in Congo; the family was imprisoned for almost a year during the civil war. He recently created a festival around the idea of Tolerance – there’s no one better to ask about dance’s role in troubled times.

Wesley Ruzibiza is a dancer, choreographer and co-Artistic Director of the École des Sables in Senegal. He is also Associate Professor at the CPARC research centres in Bordeaux, National University of Rwanda and Muda Africa School of Dance in Tanzania. His productions have toured all over the world and he co-founded the award-winning Amizero Company, with the University of Rwanda’s Centre for the Arts, and created the international festival EANT in 2012, one of the first professional contemporary platforms in East Africa.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Why Dance Matters celebrates its 50th episode in conversation with one of the world’s great ballerinas. Olga Smirnova’s Giselle with Dutch National Ballet will be broadcast to international cinemas on 21 January. She joined the company after making headlines in 2022 with a courageous, life-changing decision to leave Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a wide-ranging and thoughtful conversation, she discusses stage fright (she never feels it), the challenges of being a ballerina in the age of smartphones, her momentous decision to leave Russia and her profound sense of why dance matters.

As a young girl, Olga Smirnova had no dream of becoming a ballerina. However, she did go to dance classes, and was then accepted into the famous Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg. On completing her training in 2011, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet, starting immediately as a soloist and shining not only in the classics, but also in new and modern works. In 2016, she was promoted to prima ballerina, but when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Olga – strongly opposed to the invasion – decided to leave her homeland, making the transition to Dutch National Ballet.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This festive episode visits the pantomime: that uniquely British blend of song, dance, and silliness. Explaining its appeal is the cherished comic actor, Nina Wadia, who stars in Jack and the Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal. Nina, who grew up in India and Hong Kong, is the perfect guide to anyone who is not steeped in panto. She also discusses a career that includes her trailblazing sketch show, Goodness Gracious Me, the iconic British soap opera, EastEnders, and a terrible car crash that helped her embrace the vagaries of an actor’s life. She has also appeared in many other comedies (Still Open All Hours, All About Me, The Vicar of Dibley) and dramatic roles (Holby City, White Teeth, Skins).

Nina's many awards include the Chairman's Award at the Asian Women Awards in 2004, Best Comedy Performance and Best Onscreen Partnership at the 2009 British Soap Awards, and the Outstanding Achievement in Television Award at the Asian Awards in 2013. She was awarded an OBE in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to entertainment and charity. Jack and the Beanstalk is at York Theatre Royal until 7 January 2024.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Why Dance Matters, we revisit a conversation from October 2022, in tribute to the poet, performer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah, who died earlier this month. As a performance poet he gave words a glorious physical form, his rhythms dancing from line to line. He had also provided a voiceover for Rambert’s dance version of the hit tv series Peaky Blinders. In our conversation, Benjamin was impressively candid about his journey, richly reflective about poetry, and also emotionally generous – unexpectedly moved when speaking about the generations of readers who have been touched and shaped by his work.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Aaron S Watkin seems like a man who knows what he likes: perfect material to direct a leading ballet company, and to judge a leading ballet competition. The new artistic director of English National Ballet was recently a judge for the Royal Academy of Dance’s Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition in London. Canadian-born Aaron danced with many international companies and led the Semperoper Ballett in Dresden for 17 years, and has just taken charge at English National Ballet. What are the sensitive choices he must make as a director – and as a Fonteyn judge?

Born in British Columbia, Canada, Aaron graduated from the National Ballet School of Canada in 1988. He enjoyed a full career in dance including National Ballet of Canada, English National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt and the National Dance Company of Spain. Having been Associate Artistic Director in Madrid and a choreographic assistant to William Forsythe, he became Artistic Director of the Semperoper Ballett, Dresden in 2006. After a 17-year tenure he became Artistic Director of English National Ballet in 2023.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Pam Tanowitz is now an in-demand choreographer – but her career has followed a unique trajectory. For years, she and her company had an under-the-radar following in New York, but only recently did she win wider attention. A work set to TS Eliot’s 4 Quartets led to international tours and commissions for the Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet. Before that happened she worked and worked: at dance, but also unglamorous admin jobs. When we met at the Barbican for the London premiere of her Song of Songs, she talked about giving hope to all the late bloomers.

Pam Tanowitz has delineated her own dance language through decades of research and creation. Now, the world’s most respected companies – Martha Graham Dance Company, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and more – are integrating her poetic universe into their repertories. In 2000 she founded Pam Tanowitz Dance to explore dance-making with a consistent community of dancers. She has been commissioned by Fisher Center at Bard, Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow and others. Four Quartets (2018) was called ‘the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century’ by the New York Times. 

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jakob Wheway Hughes was gold medallist at the Royal Academy of Dance’s Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2023. The Fonteyn took place at His Majesty’s Theatre in London, the opulent home of Phantom of the Opera. Jakob performed a new solo and a bravura classical variation, and seemed strikingly at ease on stage, communicating his dance to the packed audience. It was no surprise that Dame Darcey Bussell, the RAD President, presented him with the gold medal. Jakob,16, who trains at Tring Park School tells us why dance matters to him.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drew McOnie is a British choreographer and theatre director, and one of the busiest people in show business. He danced with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company, but soon wanted to run the show. His work hits a sweet spot between warm and witty, always with a kinetic fizz: whether in the West End, on Broadway or in ballet. His new version of the Nutcracker gives the festive favourite a sweetly queer twist, and next year sees his stage version of the Oscar winning movie The Artist. Drew became a father just a week before this recording – no wonder that we speak about making families in and out of dance.

Drew McOnie is Artistic Director of the McOnie Company and an Associate Artist at the Old Vic and Birmingham Rep theatres. He won an Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreography for In the Heights and was nominated for the same award the following year for Jesus Christ Superstar. His credits as director/choreographer include: On the Town (Olivier Award Nomination for Best Musical Revival), The Wild Party and Strictly Ballroom in the UK and King Kong on Broadway. Ballets include Merlin (Northern Ballet). The McOnie Company’s latest works are Nutcracker (Tuff Nutt Jazz Club), which runs until 6 January 2024, and The Artist, which opens in May 2024.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Follow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.