Resilient Performance Podcast with Risa Steinberg

An active member of the dance community for more than 35 years, Risa Steinberg served as the associate director of The Juilliard School from 2009 to 2016. As a solo artist, teacher, rehearsal coach, and director of the works of José Limón, she has toured the world performing and teaching extensively. Risa is a former principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, Bill Cratty Dance Theater, Annabelle Gamson, Anna Sokolow's Player's Project, Colin Connor, and American Repertory Dance Company of Los Angeles. She has been a guest artist with choreographers including Wally Cardona, Sean Curran, and Danzahoy of Caracas, Venezuela. Her solo concert, A Celebration of Dance, features repertory from Isadora Duncan and Doris Humphrey to contemporary choreographers Wally Cardona and Ann Carlson. As a reconstructor of the works of Limón, Risa has worked with companies and dancers around the world including Nureyev and Friends, Frank Augustyn, Karen Kain, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. She was a dance panelist for the N.Y.S. Council on the Arts and presently sits on the Artists Advisory board for Danspace Project at St. Marks Church.

In this episode we cover the following topics:

1. Talent recruitment (objective vs. subjective characteristics, adherence to standards)
2. The importance of skill development early in a performer's career
3. Limitations of fear based learning
4. When coaches are the problem
5. Capturing emotion and feeling without being overcome with emotion to the point that it detracts from execution
6. Part vs. whole learning/periodization of dance
7. Do generational changes require different educational approaches
8. How do performers (and their directors) avoid complacency despite adhering to the same "script" night in and night out