Dance, Culture + the Next Generation, Karla Hardaway
Release Date: 10/07/2026
Pocoapoco y Casa Abierta, con Evelyn Mendez Maldonado
Dance Behind The Screen
Invitada: Evelyn Méndez, Codirectora ejecutiva de Pocoapoco / Fundadora de Casa Abierta Host: Wilber Mendoza 1. ¿Qué es Poco a Poco? (0:00) Org. cultural en Oaxaca (2016). Residencias de 5 semanas, Sur o no Sur, Mucho a Mucho (niños) y Casa Abierta. 2. Públicos y desafíos (12:10) Modelo orgánico: escuchar necesidades. Retos: comunicación, confianza local, equipo pequeño con pagos justos. Acuerdos de convivencia y comidas como vínculo. 3. Visión a futuro (26:07) Crecer "hacia abajo": sostenible, sin depender de personas específicas. Cocreación sobre planes rígidos. 4. Consejos...
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Dance, Culture + the Next Generation, Karla Hardaway
Dance Behind The Screen
#161: In the Season 8 finale of Dance Behind the Screen, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Karla Hardaway—award-winning dance educator, choreographer, author, advocate, and founder of the Texas Association for Dance and Culture. Karla shares how discovering ballet folklórico in public school helped her connect with her cultural identity and shaped her path as an educator. Together, Martheya and Karla explore the future of dance education, expanding access in public schools, preserving culturally rooted dance forms, and creating stronger pathways for the next generation. Karla also...
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The Future of Ballet with Diana Crowder
Dance Behind The Screen
#160: In this episode of Dance Behind the Screen, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Diana Crowder, founder and artistic director of Pegasus Contemporary Ballet, to explore the future of ballet and what it takes to build a sustainable arts organization. Diana shares her journey from professional ballet dancer to arts leader and entrepreneur, her approach to “think globally, nurture locally,” and why ballet must continue evolving with each generation. They discuss balancing tradition with innovation, cultivating Dallas’s creative community, using technology with intention,...
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Reimagining Public Space, Joshua King
Dance Behind The Screen
#159: In this episode of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Joshua King, mixed-media artist and co-founder and Executive Director of AURORA, to explore how art, technology, and public space can create more accessible and connected cultural experiences. Joshua shares the evolution of AURORA from a one-night light, video, and sound event into an internationally recognized public art organization. He reflects on the importance of taking art beyond traditional venues, meeting audiences where they are, and creating unexpected encounters with art in...
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Oaxaca Cine con Isabel Rojas
Dance Behind The Screen
1. Presentación de Oaxaca Cine e Isabel Rojas 00:00 Introducción del pódcast y presentación de Oaxaca Cine, un proyecto dedicado a la programación, exhibición y formación cinematográfica en Oaxaca desde 2011. Biografía de Isabel Rojas, cofundadora y directora, con su trayectoria en festivales y proyectos culturales. 2. ¿Qué es el cine? 07:40 Isabel responde la pregunta fundamental sobre qué es el cine desde su perspectiva como exhibidora y programadora: un pretexto para el encuentro colectivo, una pausa y un lenguaje que articula imágenes en movimiento con sonido....
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Dancing Our Roots, Elisa De La Rosa
Dance Behind The Screen
#158: In this episode of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Elisa De La Rosa, choreographer, educator, researcher, Associate Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University, and Artistic Director of De La Rosa Dance Company. Elisa shares how her upbringing in the Rio Grande Valley and her Mexican American identity shape her work as an artist and educator. Together, Martheya and Elisa explore cultural memory, belonging, and the body as a living archive—and what happens when the cultures we carry with us are missing from traditional dance...
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Capturing Movement, Memory + Authenticity: Corey Haynes
Dance Behind The Screen
#157: In this episode of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Corey Haynes, Texas-based writer and visual artist working primarily in photography and mixed media, to explore movement, memory, authenticity, and the role photography plays in documenting creative communities. Corey shares her journey from photographing friends and everyday life to finding her artistic home in dance photography. She reflects on how years of collaborating with artists and organizations across North Texas have shaped an approach rooted in trust, curiosity, and capturing...
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Creating Pathways Through Film: Niloo Jalilvand
Dance Behind The Screen
#156: In this episode of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Niloo Jalilvand, filmmaker, educator, multidisciplinary artist, and founder and executive director of Pegasus Media Project, to explore how storytelling, technology, and education can create more accessible pathways into the creative industries. Niloo shares how more than two decades in education—and an after-school film club she started while teaching mathematics at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts—eventually grew into Pegasus Media Project. She...
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Building Community Through Dance: Jennifer Mabus
Dance Behind The Screen
#155: In this episode of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Jennifer Mabus, choreographer, performer, educator, and founder of Grackle Dance Collective, to explore what it means to create dance rooted in community, empathy, and human connection. Jennifer shares how immersive and site-specific performance transformed the way she thinks about the relationship between artists and audiences. From taking over a historic home to creating work in a funeral home and skate park, she reflects on the power of moving dance beyond traditional performance spaces...
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Pay Artists, Make Space & Stay Human
Dance Behind The Screen
#154: In the Season 8 premiere of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, host Martheya Nygaard Scott is joined by former co-host and current kNOwBOX dance Manager of People & Community Reyna Mondragon for a behind-the-scenes conversation about the ideas shaping this new season. At the center of the conversation is a simple question: How do we better value the artists doing the work? Martheya shares how kNOwBOX dance is prioritizing artist compensation by providing honorariums to podcast guests, festival makers, performers, production teams, editors, and designers—putting resources directly...
info_outline#161: In the Season 8 finale of Dance Behind the Screen, host Martheya Nygaard Scott sits down with Karla Hardaway—award-winning dance educator, choreographer, author, advocate, and founder of the Texas Association for Dance and Culture.
Karla shares how discovering ballet folklórico in public school helped her connect with her cultural identity and shaped her path as an educator. Together, Martheya and Karla explore the future of dance education, expanding access in public schools, preserving culturally rooted dance forms, and creating stronger pathways for the next generation.
Karla also shares the story behind the North Texas Ballet Folklórico Contest, her advocacy for culturally rooted dance education across Texas, and why she believes AI can never replace cultural identity.
This conversation is a reminder that building the future of dance means honoring where we come from, collaborating across communities, and creating opportunities for the next generation.
CHAPTERS
00:00 – Meet Karla Hardaway
02:00 – Dance + Cultural Identity
03:00 – Building the Texas Association for Dance and Culture
05:00 – The State of Dance Education in Texas
07:00 – Preserving Tradition + Creating the Future
09:00 – Creating Pathways for the Next Generation
11:00 – Why Dance Belongs in Public Schools
12:00 – Technology, AI + Cultural Identity
15:00 – Expanding Access Through Partnerships
20:00 – The North Texas Ballet Folklórico Contest
25:00 – The Future of Dance Education
28:00 – Collaboration Over Competition
33:00 – The Story Behind TADC
38:00 – Connect with Karla + TADC
CONNECT WITH KARLA + TADC
Texas Association for Dance and Culture
www.txdanceandculture.org
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This season of the Dance Behind the Screen Podcast is supported in part by the Moody Fund for the Arts and our generous individual Season Sponsors, Dexter & Jenel Evans and Helen & James Gallas.
Say NO to the BOX and YES to the future of dance.