Episode 52, ACT 1: Michelle Manzanales - Shattering the Box

Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie

Hello, TA PODience. We realize that there is a lot going on in the world and want to acknowledge the continued shared traumas we’re experiencing here and globally. We hope that our newest episode, which is centered around the themes of creativity, self-expression and living one’s truth will bring some much-needed hope and joy into your spaces. In our newest two-parter, Episode 52: “Shattering the Box,” Courtney sits down in a Zoom space with Michelle Manzanales, Director of Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance since 2016. Courtney and Michelle’s thoughtful, feel-good conversation is one for the moment in which they discuss how this pandemic time, while fraught, has been a time of reinventing, restructuring and reimagining, particularly for arts organizations. Over the past two years we, as artists and arts administrators, have expanded the ways in which we can do our work, create art and collaborate (e.g., remote work means the potential for finding new creative spaces like parks, the street and even subways). They also discuss the emotional impact of the arts on kids, noting the visual inspiration that comes from being present in the magical spaces in which kids are seeing live performing arts, like change in posture and the glimmer in a child’s eye. They then draw direct connections to their own childhoods asking: What might it have been like if the programming we now work in existed when we were younger? Where would we be? The conversation segues into one that is quite personal and poignant, especially in today’s world—a conversation about racism and societal assimilation vs. cultural appreciation and what it means to have a true understanding of one’s culture and standing in it with pride and conviction. So, how does this conversation thread all of those thoughts together? You’ve gotta listen to find out!