PODCAST 179: Durham
Release Date: 11.25.24
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The Durham Dance & Art Community with Anna Barker, Jessi Knight, Kristin Taylor Duncan, and Stacy Wolfson
Episode 179: Show Notes
Durham, North Carolina, is a mid-sized city known for its vibrant mix of innovation, collaboration, and creativity. Frequently ranked as one of the best places to live in the US, it boasts a thriving arts, culture, and culinary scene. With a strong sense of community, Durham takes pride in its commitment to inclusivity and diversity. In this episode, we shine a spotlight on four inspiring Durham-based dance artists: Anna Barker, Jessi Knight, Kristin Taylor Duncan, and Stacy Wolfson. Resourceful and deeply passionate, these dancers not only support one another but also fully embrace the creative freedom they’ve found in Durham, along with its unique joys and challenges. Our conversation explores the journeys that brought each artist to Durham and how the city has influenced their work. They share insights into its geography and connections to the Triangle and Triad regions, discussing how these factors shape their artistic processes. The discussion also tackles the challenges of building a dance community and reflects on its role within the local arts landscape. Looking ahead, the artists articulate their visions for the future of their community, the changes they hope to see, and what makes their dance lives in this city so deeply meaningful. Don’t miss this heartfelt and inspiring exploration of creativity, connection, and community. Tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s topic and each of our special guests.
- What drew these artists to Durham and how it has influenced their artistic journeys.
- Insight into the geography of Durham; the Triangle and Triad.
- How dance artists navigate the various challenges of making work in Durham.
- Where in the community artists can come together in Durham or its surroundings.
- Reflections on where dance fits into Durham’s art landscape and why.
- A breakdown of the different changes or developments they’d like to see in the dance community and how they envision their contributions to it.
- What is special to Kristin, Jessi, Anna, and Stacy about their dance life in Durham.
ABOUT Anna Barker
Anna Barker she/her (Artistic Director, real.live.people)- Anna’s choreographic research draws from the shared human experience to create an exchange about our social and interpersonal existence within an evolving sociopolitical context. She founded her dance theater company, real.live.people, in 2013 with collaborator Leah Wilks. Since its inception, the company has presented four evening-length live works: “it’s not me it’s you” (2014), “Feature Presentation” (2016), “Again, but this time with feeling” (2018) and “could be worse” (2024). She directed and produced her first feature-length dance film, “Level Up” (2021), which was featured in the Carrboro Film Festival and ADF’s “Movies by Movers” festival in 2022. Her work has been presented in various festivals and venues across the US. She received the NC Arts Council Fellowship (2019) and the Ella Pratt Emerging Artist Grant (2018). She currently creates dance work both in Durham and in NYC. In 2022, she opened The Movement Studio, an accessible Pilates-based movement space, at Radical Healing in Durham. She is a returning faculty member at the American Dance Festival’s Summer Dance Intensive this year. Anna lives in the woods with her partner Leif and her beloved dog GG. www.annasbarker.com
Connect
Anna Barker Website
The Movement Studio Durham
ABOUT Jessi Knight
Jessi Knight is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer from Pittsboro, NC. Her dance journey began as a happy accident and has since developed into a life-long passion. After graduating from Duke University with a self-designed dance degree with an emphasis in music and education, Jessi embarked on a teaching and choreographing career that has afforded her the opportunity to teach, choreograph, and perform both locally and nationally. She spent four years in Denver, CO, as a member of the internationally acclaimed Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and currently resides in North Carolina where, in addition to choreographing on a project-by-project basis for her company Knightworks Dance Theater, she is a close collaborator with The Bipeds and mama to two incredibly brilliant spirits.
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Knightworks Dance Theater
ABOUT Kristin Taylor Duncan
Kristin Taylor Duncan is a native of Durham, NC. She is a BFA graduate of the UNC School of the Arts. Mrs. Duncan has trained at Jacob’s Pillow, and on scholarship at the Lou Conte Dance Studios in Chicago. In her early childhood years she danced with Collage African Dance Company and at Dance Arts Unlimited. In New York, she apprenticed with Urban Bush Women, and worked with choreographers Nathan Trice, Bridget Moore, Christal Brown, Shani Collins, Ayo Jackson and Sidra Bell. Kristin has performed with Dr. Kariamu Welsh and Nnenna Freelon in the Clothesline Muse, cellist and vocalist Shana Tucker, Dr. Andrea E. Woods Valdez, Mexico City-based Tania Perez-Salas Compania de Danza, Juel Lane, Gaspard Louis, nosi DANCE theatre, as well as created and performed works with Yuxtadanza Compania de Danza of Venezuela.
Kristin performed with Helen Simoneau for the DANCE X Tour traveling to Montreal, Tokyo and Busan, South Korea. She has taught for the UNCSA’s preparatory program, the Festival of North Carolina Dance, Slippery Rock and also as a guest teacher at Durham School of the Arts and Tri-Cities Performing Arts School in Atlanta, GA.
For two seasons Kristin joined the Community Choral Project at UNC Chapel Hill as the High School choreographer. She has also worked with the Glenwood Elementary award winning 5TH grade Show Choir. Kristin has choreographed works for the elementary students participating in Evening to Shine presented by Durham Public Schools performed at the Durham Performing Arts Center.
Kristin has worked with choreographer Jasmine Powell performing in Approximation of a Woman and in the “Problem PSA” music video by music vocalist Kwanza Jones. She has participated in the “Feedback: The Institution for Performance” program hosted and directed by Carolina Performing Arts. Through Carolina Performing Arts she has performed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company as a community performer in the work, “What Problem”.
Mrs. Duncan is a proud recipient of the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant and the Artists Support Grant. Since the founding days of her company KT COLLECTIVE Dance Company, she has been commissioned to create works by Helen Simoneau, American Dance Festival, NC Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum, NC Museum of History, Myra Weiss of Proxemic Media and North Carolina Central University. KT COLLECTIVE has performed at the Dumbo Dance Festival, the Richmond Dance Festival and most recently had the honor of performing at the Carolina Theatre for the Confronting Change celebration.
Kristin is the Dance Director at Riverside High School as well as the High School Dance District Lead. In addition, Mrs. Duncan teaches at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill and in the Duke Dance Program.
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KT COLLECTIVE Dance Company
ABOUT Stacy Wolfson
Stacy Wolfson (artistic director) is a choreographer (The Bipeds), dancer, singer (The Bipeds, Curtis Eller’s American Circus), mama of two amazing teenagers, wife, and Pilates studio owner (Bull City Pilates and Massage). Originally from Virginia, she spent a decade in Chicago working collaboratively with The Space Movement Project, a company she co-founded in 2005. After deciding that the Chicago winters were no longer acceptable, Wolfson and her family relocated to Durham, NC where she began working as an independent choreographer.
Wolfson seeks out like-minded collaborative performers and creators, and began working closely with banjo-player Curtis Eller. She subsequently formed The Bipeds in late 2015. The Bipeds have presented work across North Carolina, Chicago, Virginia and New York and have had their films shown in various film festivals across the US and UK. Their most recent work was a commission for American Dance Festival’s “Made in NC” show in 2024. Other performance credits include RAD|Renay Aumiller Dances, North Carolina Dance Festival, ADF, Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, David Dorfman Dance, Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Lucy Vurusic Riner of RE/Dance, Chicago Cultural Center, Erin Carlisle Norton, and Ayako Kato. Wolfson also sings harmony, records and tours with Eller’s rock & roll band, The American Circus.
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The Bipeds
Podcast produced by: The Moving Architects
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