Why Dance Matters

Royal Academy of Dance

Why Dance Matters is a series of conversations with extraordinary people from the world of dance and beyond. It traces the impact of dance on their lives and asks why dance matters to them – and why it might matter to us all. The RAD inspires the world to dance, and we hope these insightful personal conversations – hosted by David Jays, editor of Dance Gazette, the RAD magazine – will delight and even surprise you. Find out more on our website > https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/

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Top 10 Why Dance Matters Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Why Dance Matters episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Why Dance Matters for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Why Dance Matters episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Episode 5: Eilis Small

Why Dance Matters

07/25/24 • 30 min

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Episode 6: Aakash Odedra

Why Dance Matters

08/01/24 • 31 min

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Episode 2 - Yami 'Rowdy' Löfvenberg

Why Dance Matters

10/07/21 • 35 min

The hip-hop choreographer, dancer and teacher Yami Löfvenberg is also known as 'Rowdy'. As that name suggests, hers is a wonderfully confident, engaged presence - but growing up in Sweden, she was racially bullied and called stupid, because she struggled with maths. Only later did she realise she had dyscalculia: a deep-seated difficulty in understanding numbers. Discovering a talent for dance transformed her life. As well as creating choreography, she's worked in schools with the RAD's Step into Dance programme, and has a gift for reaching young people who might be struggling as she once did.

About Yami 'Rowdy' Löfvenberg

Yami 'Rowdy' Löfvenberg is a multidisciplinary artist working between movement and theatre as a creative movement director, director, hip-hop theatre maker, performer and lecturer. Alongside making her own work, she also mentors, creates and delivers workshops across the UK and internationally. A One Dance UK DAD Trailblazer Fellow and Marion North Recipient, she was on the creative choreographic team for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony and is a member of performance collective Hot Brown Honey. A fierce advocate for intersectional feminism and hip-hop dance culture, she is a highly respected role model and teacher within the art sector.

Step into Dance is a Royal Academy of Dance programme in partnership with the Jack Petchey Foundation. The largest inclusive dance programme in the UK, it reaches over six thousand secondary school students annually across London and Essex by offering regular dance classes. Find out more: https://bit.ly/3ozsjs3

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

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David Jays @mrdavidjays

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: https://bit.ly/3fnxEwm or make a donation: https://bit.ly/3bxA6z5

Yami Löfvenberg’s website: https://yamilofvenberg.wixsite.com/yamilofvenberg

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Episode 6 - Special Episode

Why Dance Matters

04/04/24 • 25 min

Life changing moments with Why Dance Matters!

We’ve made over 50 episodes of Why Dance Matters, and the conversations often hinge on life-changing moments. This special episode gathers some compelling chats about change. Some are personal choices which prove momentous: the unlikely decision to pursue ballet, or to host a ballet class in your front room. Others include being part of a major cultural event, like a movie the whole world is watching, or a period of historic change, happening before your eyes.

From Carlos Acosta to Barbie, here are moments that changed our guests’ lives: past, present, even future. And don’t forget to explore our previous episodes, for more life-changing conversation with the people for whom dance matters.

Carlos Acosta is artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Dame Monica Mason is a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Dance and former director of the Royal Ballet. Victoria Treviño is an RAD dance teacher based in Mexico. Jennifer White is a stage and film choreographer. Wayne McGregor is a choreographer and director of Company Wayne McGregor.

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:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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Episode 5 - Olivia Lume

Why Dance Matters

03/28/24 • 33 min

With members in over 80 countries around the world, and Royal Academy of Dance’s relationship with its members depends on its National Directors. They include Olivia Lume, who last year celebrated her 40th year with the RAD. As National Director for the Academy in Africa, she has lived through historic changes, and has seen the RAD grow, especially after its flagship event – now The Fonteyn, formerly the Genée International Ballet Competition – was held for the first time in Africa, in Cape Town in 2011. How did a professed non-dancer come to be crucially woven into the heart of a dance organisation?

Olivia Lume is National Director, Africa, for the Royal Academy of Dance. She is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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Episode 4 - Rebecca Yates

Why Dance Matters

03/21/24 • 32 min

The Silver Swans programme is one of the Royal Academy of Dance’s most life-enhancing initiatives. Silver Swans are people of 55 and over taking a specially-designed programme of RAD ballet classes: some are experiencing dance classes for the very first time, and describe how Silver Swans fosters physical and emotional wellbeing. Rebecca Yates, an RAD teacher in north east England has developed a committed community of Silver Swans. But what are the charms and challenges of teaching people old enough to be your parents? And has Rebecca herself been changed by her teaching?

Rebecca Yates is Founder and Director of Complete Ballet CIC. She took her first classes at the Kathleen Burdon School of Ballet at the age of six, progressing through the full RAD examination syllabus and achieving RAD Registered Teacher Status in 2012. She has since become officially licenced to teach RAD’s Silver Swans and is a Practical Teaching Supervisor for the RAD to assess and support trainee dance teachers.

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:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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Episode 3 - Patrick Makuakāne

Why Dance Matters

03/14/24 • 41 min

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.

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:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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Episode 2 - Naomi Smart

Why Dance Matters

03/07/24 • 20 min

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:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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Episode 1 - Wesley Ruzibiza

Why Dance Matters

02/29/24 • 37 min

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.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

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