Conversations on Dance | Ballet & Dance Careers

Hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden welcome Alicia Graf Mack back to discuss her transition from leading Juilliard’s dance division (2018–2025) to becoming head of the Alvin Ailey organization. Alicia reflects on building relationships, gaining confidence in arts leadership, and pivoting during the pandemic to sustain community and support dancers. She explains how the Ailey opportunity emerged through a search process and her growing belief in “why not me,” and describes Ailey’s strong organizational and financial foundation and her holistic responsibilities across the company, Ailey II, school, and education programs. She outlines her City Center season coming December 2 - January 3: https://ailey.org/series/ailey-new-york-city-center.

Access upcoming BONUS episodes plus listen ad-free when you join our Patreon page. Membership starts as low as $3 a month and every dollar helps support the future of the podcast. Thank you for your support. https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance. If you're not a Patreon member yet, join us over there, for a free month. Click here: https://www.patreon.com/conversationsondance/redeem/2D104
Conversations on Dance was the recipient of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

Access bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Website: conversationsondancepod.com
Join our email list: https://conversations-on-dance.kit.com/7f73880f5b
Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Access upcoming BONUS episodes plus listen ad-free when you join our Patreon page. Membership starts as low as $3 a month and every dollar helps support the future of the podcast. Thank you for your support. https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance. If you're not a Patreon member yet, join us over there, for a free month. Click here: https://www.patreon.com/conversationsondance/redeem/2D104

Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden share a catch-up episode. Michael recounts recent travel and staging work: time at IU and Chicago, then Nashville for the premiere of Balanchine’s Allegro, reflecting on the ballet’s joy, difficulty, and the dancers’ investment, alongside mention of Miami City Ballet performing Allegro and Ashley Knox’s retirement. He returns to Royal Winnipeg Ballet to stage Alexei Ratmansky’s The Fairy’s Kiss, describing its personal significance, Ratmansky’s brief visit, and Ratmansky’s formative history in Winnipeg, including meeting a key supporter from that era. Michael also praises Houston Thomas’s Firebird. Now in Hamburg staging Justin Peck’s Copland Dance Episodes, he discusses seeing John Neumeier’s Cinderella and Lady of the Camellias and the company’s strong theatrical acting, with Alice in Wonderland also in repertory.
Conversations on Dance was the recipient of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

Access bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Website: conversationsondancepod.com
Join our email list: https://conversations-on-dance.kit.com/7f73880f5b
Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Access upcoming BONUS episodes plus listen ad-free when you join our Patreon page. Membership starts as low as $3 a month and every dollar helps support the future of the podcast. Thank you for your support. https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance. If you're not a Patreon member yet, join us over there, for a free month. Click here: https://www.patreon.com/conversationsondance/redeem/2D104

Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden welcome Pacific Northwest Ballet artistic director Peter Boal back to Conversations on Dance to discuss PNB’s major facilities project: building a new school four miles south (finishing in March), temporarily moving all operations there, then renovating the 1993 headquarters for a year. Boal explains the growth and inclusion-driven space needs, highlights plans to feature the costume shop prominently, and reflects on 22 seasons of repertoire building by developing ongoing relationships with choreographers (Jessica Lang, Alejandro Cerrudo, Crystal Pite) rather than one-offs, balancing familiar classics with experimentation. He discusses coaching and stagers such as Karla Korbes, updates on Balanchine works including La Sonnambula, and previews the season’s programs: “Ghost Stories” (Cerrudo, Kyle Davis’ The Raven, George Balanchine's La Sonnambula), Director’s Choice (Kyle Abraham, Eva Stone, Chris Wheeldon), Swan Lake, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Ballet on Broadway (Twyla Tharp, Susan Stroman, Wheeldon).

Explore PNB's season here: https://www.pnb.org/.

____________

Listen to Ballet Help Desk wherever you get your podcasts. Click here for more information.
Conversations on Dance was the recipient of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

Access bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Website: conversationsondancepod.com
Join our email list: https://conversations-on-dance.kit.com/7f73880f5b
Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our bonus episode with Merrill Ashley, which is available now on our Patreon page. If you are a member of our Supporter, Ruby or Emerald tier on Patreon, you can listen to this entire episode, as part of your membership. Here on our main feed, we are sharing an excerpt of our interview with Balanchine Ballerina and Repetiteur, Merrill Ashley.

If you're not a Patreon member yet, join us over there, for a free month, and enjoy this bonus episode. Click here: https://www.patreon.com/conversationsondance/redeem/2D104

Also as a Patreon member, you get early and ad-free access to other episodes, and we will be having other bonus episodes that you surely won't want to miss over there. So give it a try!

Hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden interview former New York City Ballet star principal and Balanchine coach Merrill Ashley about her path from early training, to the School of American Ballet on a Ford Foundation scholarship and joining NYCB at 16.

Ashley describes weak early technique, learning step names late, using Pilates to build strength, and being shaped by Balanchine’s precision, Monday classes, and belief that dancers can exceed what they think possible. She recounts first roles and challenges and Balanchine choreographing for her, especially Ballo della Regina, her later guesting in Sleeping Beauty, and her focus on coaching, archiving, and preserving Balanchine tradition through projects like Balanchine Essays and current work.
Conversations on Dance was the recipient of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

Access bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Website: conversationsondancepod.com
Join our email list: https://conversations-on-dance.kit.com/7f73880f5b
Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ccess upcoming BONUS episodes plus listen ad-free when you join our Patreon page. Membership starts as low as $3 a month and every dollar helps support the future of the podcast. Thank you for your support. https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Conversations on Dance hosts Michael Sean Breeden and Rebecca King Ferraro interview choreographer Houston Thomas. Houston recounts starting dance in Chicago inspired by Savion Glover, shifting from tap to ballet through Joffrey community classes, then training at the School of American Ballet and joining Dresden Semperoper Ballet, where he danced for 10 years. He describes growing choreographic ambitions through SAB’s workshop and Dresden’s young choreographers program. After winning the Emergence Choreographers Contest, he pursued commissions by widely sharing work, ultimately leaving Dresden as choreography opportunities grew in the U.S. In Winnipeg, he premieres a new, corporate-America reimagining of Firebird aimed at drawing audiences from streaming to live theater.

Royal Winnipeg's 'Stravinsky Stories' program runs in Winnipeg October 8 - 11th, 2026. Tickets and more information available here.

Listen to Ballet Help Desk wherever you get your podcasts. Click here for more information.
Conversations on Dance was the recipient of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

Access bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance

Website: conversationsondancepod.com
Join our email list: https://conversations-on-dance.kit.com/7f73880f5b
Instagram: instagram.com/conversationsondance
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.