MSP 188: Attuning to the Beauty of Passion with Sara Veale
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
Release Date: 11/06/2025
MSP 199: Balancing Dance and Academia with Bhumi B Patel
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
Dance is a beautiful medium to honor the past while building community in the present. Today, we are joined by Bhumi B Patel of Patel Dance Works to discuss her distinguished career. In this episode, you’ll hear all about Bhumi’s life, her creative interests, her college education at a women’s liberal arts institution, her love for constant learning and education, and so much more! We delve into her MFA experience and working through injury before discussing her dissertation on how queer of color performance is informed by improvisational practice and the ‘ghosts’ of the past. She...
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MSP 198: Starting with the Heart with Winifred Haun
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
If you want long-term success in the dance industry, you need to be very clear on why you’re doing it and who it’s for above anything else! In this conversation, you’ll hear all about Winifred Haun’s introduction to dance, how her craft has evolved over the years, some of the incredible dance practitioners she has learned from, how she decided she wanted to dance for her career, and what it was like to start her company, Winifred Haun and Dancers. We delve into the importance of balancing unique ideas with appealing entertainment for audiences before discussing how her company has...
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MSP 197: Making Dance Performance ‘Fun’ with David Parker
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
In this episode of Movers & Shapers, we welcome the founder of the Bang Group, David Parker, to talk about his incredible career and how his life and dancing are entwined. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about David’s life, how a film about the Golden Age of entertainment sparked his love for dance, the training he received, and so much more! David tells us all about his time in New York, his love for tap dancing, and what it was like to experience ‘the Dance Boom’. We delve into his decision to start choreographing later in life and how his sexual awakening informed his work before...
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MSP 196: Shaping a Life in Dance with Jessica Gaynor
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
A lifelong devotion to movement can shape not just an artist’s career, but an entire community. Today, choreographer, educator, and Artistic Director Jessica Gaynor shares how her path began in gymnastics before finding her true calling in modern dance. From her early days studying with the legendary Alice Teirstein to becoming a mentor and leader in her own right, Jessica’s story is one of passion, resilience, and creativity. In our conversation, Jessica reflects on the freedom and self-expression she discovered through improvisation, her formative years studying dance at Brown and...
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MSP 195: Remembering Kathy Dunn Hamrick
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
With a heavy heart, KDH Dance Company announced the passing of their fierce founder and dearest friend, Kathy Dunn Hamrick. Kathy has had an enormous impact, with ripples throughout Austin and beyond, as she is loved by so many. The organization is heartbroken, but committed to honoring Kathy and her legacy for years to come. Read more in the . Today's podcast is a re-airing of an interview with Kathy from 2024. Kathy Dunn Hamrick was the Artistic Director of Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, an award-winning modern dance company based in Austin, Texas. Kathy happily committed her...
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MSP 194: Reaching Beyond Borders, Rooted in Movement with Bobbi Jene Smith
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
From Iowa to Juilliard, from Israel to screens, Bobbi Jene Smith’s Journey through dance is anything but ordinary and defies borders and expectations! In this episode, we are joined by internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker Bobbi Jene Smith. Known for her deeply personal and raw approach to movement, Bobbi shares the milestones that shaped her path; from leaving home at the age of 11, to ultimately moving to Israel to join Batsheva Dance Company. Bobbi opens up about the challenges of living abroad and the profound ways in which her relationship with dance evolved...
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MSP 193: Beyond the Product with Morgan Teel
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
Morgan Teel is the mind behind Dance Waterloo, an organization making dance more accessible through site specific and site responsive shows in Austin, Texas. During this episode, she joins us to share the story of how she first fell in love with dance, what deepened her knowledge of choreography, and the motivation behind launching Dance Waterloo. Morgan also shares what first drew her to site-specific work and how Austin audiences have embraced it, from intimate community performances to larger shows like Quixotic States at the Zilker Hillside Theatre Stage. We discuss her inventive projects,...
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MSP 192: Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
Joining Erin on Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast today is Mickela Mallozzi. Mickela is a four-time Emmy® Award–winning host and executive producer of Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, a PBS and Amazon Prime travel series celebrating global dance traditions. A professional dancer and trained musician, she travels the world exploring how everyday people express their cultures through movement. In today’s conversation, Erin and Mickela delve into the origins of her dance journey, how a middle-of-the-night dream blossomed into her life project, Bare Feet, and she recounts the impact...
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MSP 191: Mocean Dance with Sara Coffin and Susanne Chui
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
Some creative partnerships do more than grow over time; they help shape an entire artistic landscape. In this episode of The Movers and Shapers Podcast, we meet Sara Coffin and Susanne Chui, co-artistic directors of Mocean Dance, whose long shared history and collaborative vision have transformed contemporary dance in Nova Scotia. Sara begins by tracing her path from early choreography to training across Canada and the United States, and how returning home eventually led her into a leadership role with Mocean Dance. Susanne shares her parallel journey, from a childhood in community dance to...
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MSP 190: The Dancer’s Entrepreneurial Leap with Danielle Guillermo
Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast
A dancer’s career is often shorter than many others, and for the most part, there comes a time when the performer must pivot and find other ways to find value and joy in their craft. Joining us today is Danielle Guillermo, a former dancer turned dance consultant, as well as brand strategist and web designer. We begin with Danielle’s background and how she got into the world of dance before learning how her home and school support structures gave her the confidence needed to excel in performance. Then, we examine how her career goals have evolved since high school, how being rejected from...
info_outlineMSP 188: Attuning to the Beauty of Passion with Sara Veale
The incredible beauty of passion lies in the relentless dedication of one's entire being, a force that radiates outward to inspire and elevate others. Today on the Movers & Shapers podcast, Erin is joined by author and dance critic Sara Veale. A North Carolina native, dancer turned dance writer, currently living in London, UK. Tune into the conversation as they dance into what inspired Sara into a lifelong journey in dance, how dance became an integral part of her identity, and what sparked her journey to shift into one that centers around her writing. They discuss her transition from the US to London, UK, the differences in the dance world, and she unpacks the responsibility of writing dance reviews and why she ultimately finds the Stars system to be fundamentally flawed. They then dive into an in-depth discussion on her book, Wild Grace: The Untamed Women of Modern Dance, breaking down what inspired the writing, how she approached the structure of the book, incorporating advice from her editor, delving deeply into the research, and the timeline from beginning to end. She shares how the book ultimately led her to a new attuning of the very beauty of passion itself! Be sure not to miss out on all this, and as always, much more. Thanks for listening, enjoy!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Sara reveals how a two-year-old girl's fascination with movement blossomed into a lifelong journey in dance.
- Sara explains what about dance made it such an integral part of her identity.
- The journey of her writing career.
- Sara unpacks how she got into writing as a dance critic.
- We discuss her transition from the US to London, UK, and how it shaped her dance writing.
- Finding her voice in the dance critic world.
- Why you’ve got to be reading when you want to be writing, according to Sara.
- The responsibility behind writing dance reviews.
- She shares why she believes the idea of the Stars system, when writing reviews, is fundamentally flawed.
- We delve into a discussion on her book, Wild Grace: The Untamed Women of Modern Dance.
- How she approached the structure of her book, finding the women, taking advice from her editor, and making tough decisions.
- Sara explains the research journey she undertook for her book and the women she writes about.
“The coolest thing ever is to be good at something and be passionate about it and to throw your whole body and soul into it.” — Sara Veale
For more on Sara and Show Notes & Links: The Moving Architects
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