Episode Transcript
Transcript:
Intro: This is words that move me, the podcast where movers and shakers, like you get the information and inspiration. You need to navigate your creative career with clarity and confidence. I am your host master mover, Dana Wilson. And if you're someone that loves to learn, laugh and is looking to rewrite the starving artist story, then sit tight, but don't stop moving because you're in the right place.
Dana:Hello, hello, my friend, and welcome. This is words that move me. I'm Dana and wow, have I got a treat for you today? Um, so you know that feeling when you get to meet your heroes, uh, if you don't, I'm going to explain it to you actually better yet. I'm going to just let you listen to it. This episode is it, this episode is me meeting a hero. Wow. Let's see. Okay. I have been a fan of Karine Plantadit since I saw her perform at the Tony awards, um, with Come Fly Away, back in 2010. Oh, back in 2010 and I will 100% be linking to that performance. Um, a YouTube link because it's so great FYI. She was nominated for a Tony award and a Drama League award for that role. And then several years later, we got to work together on In the Heights. She is the brilliant dancer that is straight up punishing Abuela Claudia on the train during Paciencia y Fe. Um, if you have not seen the movie yet, please, please do, and keep a close eye out for Karine. And if you have seen it, you know what I'm talking about guarantee, but go back and revisit that anyways. Okay. So not long after the premiere of, In the Heights, Karine slid into my DMS on the gram. And she asked for my number to ask me a question and I immediately choked up, like maybe I was in trouble or I did something wrong. I was sweating instantly. And then she called me and it was so warm and delightful and insightful. And she told me about an ongoing series of conversations that she is having on her Instagram live. Uh, she calls this series. What's Good with Karine? And she asked if I would join her as a guest. Um, so after I collected myself off the floor, uh, in, in true improv fashion, I said, “yes, and can we record our conversation for my podcast,” told her all about the podcast. She said, yes. And then we talked for a really long time about dance and life, and what's going in the world. And after discussing some of our personal and professional heartbreaks, we decided that the topic of our conversation would be life after rejection, which kind of sounds dreadful. But when you're talking to someone like Karine, even tough subjects can feel like a glass of cold water on a hot summer day. So get ready for this one. But first wins today. I am celebrating the summer solstice, which was this past Sunday. I'm sorry that we're falling a little bit off on our schedule. I'm recording this before you will hear it. But on Sunday we had our longest day of the year and I celebrated more than the solstice itself. I am celebrating that. I joined today's guest Corinne and her partner Mochi. They go by Kamochi Method on Instagram. We'll be linking to that in the show notes as well. Uh, anyways, I joined the two of them for 108 sun salutations. And that's a big win because I haven't done a pushup or a chaturanga or a forward fold. Well that many forward folds, I haven't done that in a long, long time. So I was sore on Monday, but I also felt focused and fantastic. Big win! 108 sun salutations. Whoa. So that was me. That's my world. Uh, what is going well in your world? What are you celebrating today? All right. Congratulations. Rock on. I'm so proud of you. Keep winning. Okay. Let's get back into it. So I was very excited and a little bit nervous, which are pretty similar feelings in my body, uh, for this conversation with Karine. And then as the conversation was happening, I was having complete revelations. That is a happy accident of word usage because Karine is a former principal dancer for the Ailey company, I digress. In this episode, Karine and I talk in the Heights. We talk Buddhism, we talk process. We talk goals and flash flood warning. There are tears. So get ready and please enjoy this conversation with Karine Plantadit
Karine: Welcome everyone. This is What's good with Karine? It's been a moment I haven't been around, but I'm back. And I'm back with such an incredible light. I had this incredible opportunity to meet Dana when we were on In the Heights shoot. I don't think I knew Dana at all. Like it wasn't a, it wasn't a thing. It wasn't like a new of her, but I should have known of her because the moment I met her, I was like, I've got to be in the presence of this woman all the time, every time. So we were able to connect and then I started to look at what she does and we started to talk and Dana is here today.
Dana: Karine my Queen!
Karine: So yeah, I don't know where to start with you. I don't know where to start. You make me, you make me feel so, um, bubbly inside. And if you're bubbly..
Dana: Let's go! And you, you know what? You look like sparkling lemonade on a hot summer day. I'm glad to bring the bubbles and be met with bubbles. And my earrings are making noise on my little ear dongles. So I'm going to take those out. Um, okay. So earrings aside, thank you so much for having me. Thank you for reaching out to have this conversation. It blew my mind to receive a message from you saying, Will, you have a conversation with me? Because I cannot tell you every moment on set that I watched you dance. I was like, I want to talk to this person. I mean, I could watch you dance for ever and ever and ever, but when you weren't dancing, you were meditating. When you weren't meditating, you were reading. I can tell, I could tell that this was a mind that I wanted to meld with. And I'm so excited to have the opportunity to do that right now, even over the virtual, the the pixel pixel verse, or
It doesn't even let okay. The pixel, I think we had to learn. Um, we had to learn how to move beyond what the eyes were seeing, you know, during, I think that's one of my biggest learning is that what if, what if I were to close my eyes? Can I reach Dana? Right? It can, because I really had to learn this on, in a hard way, because during the pandemic actually left my mom in France and I was here and she's dealing with Dementia. She's dealing with very difficult, you know, Alzheimer's dementia, all those, um, crazy challenging aging disease. And I could not be there for her meaning physically. So even though I was separated from her, I was like, my love for her is so grand and vast that I was like, I have got to figure out how to transport the love of mine through the ocean, Atlantic ocean, moving through France, going into , going into Mougins in the nursing home. And I have to hold her head. She has to feel that she has to feel. And I feel Dana that you are that kind of person that is looking. I don't know, like the way I saw you were was there was a precision that I appreciate with you, but there was a looseness, but I am wanting to go in your brain, Dana and your heart. Can I come? Can I come in? Okay. Come in. Okay. So we got to go factual first. I want to go factual. Okay. I want to go super factual. Let's go. Where do you, where did you start dancing? What's the story with the dance part of you?
Okay. The dance part of my life begins at a dance studio in Aurora, Colorado, which is where I'm from. At the age of three. I had an older sister who was already in dance, and it's possible that my mom saw a convenience in having both of the kids in the same place at the same time. So we went to dance. That is what we did when I was a young person. I spent all of my, um, my life in Colorado up until my teenage years. And my training moved from the studio that I started at as a tiny dancingling to a dance studio called Michelle Latimer Dance Academy. Shout out to any Michelle Latimer alums that might be listening it, shout out to Michelle herself. I owe this beautiful life and my relationship with dance to her. She, she watered the seed and nurtured this, this plantling that became dance for me in a beautiful way. So, uh, yes, I, I started my relationship with dance at three, when it was more like babysitting or daycare, it was more like playtime. And then, you know, increasingly over the years, got a little more serious, got a little more serious, got a little competitive, got a little, um, um, inspired by the introduction of the idea that this could make money someday. And then I fell in love with the idea of dance for a living. I saw many people do it successfully. I saw many people fail at it, and I was determined to succeed at it for myself, which terrified my parents mind you. Uh, I moved to Los Angeles at 18 to become a backup dancer. That was the big goal.
And, um, did you have, uh, Did you have someone that you wanted to?
Yes, I was, I know I was obsessed with NSYNC. I was very much in factuation. In fact, in fact, I was infatuated with Justin Timberlake, um, the music video for Like I love you changed the game for me, everyone was just so cool and sexy and without trying, and, and, and as a teenager, is there anything better than being cool and sexy without trying like that was the goal? Um, so that, that was it for me. And I was very fortunate in my timing. And in my placement, I met and befriended Marty Kudelka, who is one of JTs best friends, and also his long time choreographer and collaborator co-creative director. Um, Marty and I, uh, began a friendship that is one of my most cherished to this very day. Uh, I started assisting Marty on various projects. And then one day we were working on a commercial gig of all things for Reese's Peanut butter puffs cereal. I remember the day very well. And he, he got a phone call and he was like, hold on one second. He takes this call and then he hangs up the phone and he looks at me and he's like, yo, are you ready? And I was like, are we going back in what's up? What are we doing? And he was like, that was JT. He's going on the road. Do you want to help me? Will you help? And it was like WTF yes, count me in. So that, that was the beginning of my, um, uh, that was my first tour. I was, I turned, I was 19 when I met JT. When we started, we did a, a fashion show. I went on tour while I was 20. I turned 21 on the road. Um, and, and that was the beginning of what is still a very special work and human relationship for me,
Just so, so incredibly inspiring.
You know, when people say success is when opportunity meets preparation, I think if there's so many more things than that, and I do want to take a pause, as I know that people listening are looking to model their careers after ones like mine, if not mine, oh, one, one that might be like mine. And it's, uh, for me, this notion of success of being successful is much less about, uh, the person that you work for, or the person that discovers you or, or the job that you do and more to do with what you think success is. I think that success is doing what you said you will do. And I said, I wanted to be a backup dancer, so hell yes, you better believe I feel successful in what I have done in my life, but I also feel like a failure when I say I will take the trash out and I don't because to me, success is doing what you say. Well, you will do. And failing is simply not doing what you said you will do. And trust me, I have failed plenty.
Yes, yes. I'm loving that. I, um, I have, um, something about, you know, success and failure or. I feel, I feel Dana that a lot of time, uh, when I see success is oftentimes I feel that it has a lot to do with me looking at something and maybe not being, uh, I'm learning to not be attached by the end of project, but how in the journey I move, I move in the way I deal with people over the time I deal with my own, um, lesser self during that time, did it have a little more, hold on my lesser self or a little more, a little less listening. And following my lesser self along the way of my journey, because sometimes I feel that you can actually get, I'll give you an example shape, but I'll give you an example. One of my dreams and the reason why I came to this country when I was 16 I saw the Ailey company in Paris, I'd never seen such a thing in my whole life Dana. I literally, I was 16 or 15, 15, and I just came from Africa. I was in France. Then I was studying dance a little bit. Like you were also in, you realize like, wait, I can make money out of that. I can, I can actually, it can be my job. I can just be that I can just, that's my job. That's my first time. Yeah, the first time I saw this was for one I, saw Fame, the bootleg tape of Fame in Africa. That was my first moment where I was like, that's a job. I was like, that's my job. But now fast forward to the Ailey company, I saw the Ailey company. And I literally, at that moment, my life just like for you, like you knew that was a game changer. That video that you saw for me was watching the performance of Ailey in Paris and my eyes and my heart, my skin, my soul saw the current come up and I saw this, right. So I never came back down. I was like, wherever they are in the world, I will be like, the clarity of this could not be clearer right now, fast forward I joined the company and I joined them. I joined the company and the first year in the company, I actually wasn't happy. I had succeeded, but I had an idea of what that was to be in the company. I had an idea that, that that idea does not always match what is,
Oh, very rarely because we are not fortune tellers.
Exactly. So, so all of a sudden, you know, I was in the company, but I had to do some work within me now, the real work of me, not just, oh, wait a minute, see success and happiness can be very different.
Oh, my friend let's talk. All right. Yes. Yes. Oh. And the assumption that success equals happiness is a dangerous one because you can live your whole life chasing success, the thing, or the company or the job, or the relationship, or the amount of money that you associate with that and land there and feel very unsuccessful. So in, in my pursuit, I've sort of rewired, um, become much less interested in being a successful person and being a person that lives a full life and is a professional at feeling both sides of the spectrum. The hell, yes, I've got this, I'm winning. I'm great. I'm the envy of all my friends. I'm fulfilled. I'm happy. I'm all the things too. I am the scum of the universe. I am an imposter. I am, I mean, really not worthy. Um, that's one of my favorite ones. Uh, and, and I've gotten to be very good at feeling those things without taking them out in action. Sometimes I just sit and feel them without resisting them or pushing them away. Like, no, that's not appropriate. I shouldn't really do that right now. Don't do it. And, and, and I'm getting better at not avoiding them altogether and ignoring them, but honoring them. That's, uh, that's what I am. That's the, that's the journey that I'm on right now is like honoring the full spectrum of feels. That's what I'm, that's what I aiming for.
Wow. Dana. So, so I, um, in the, in the real mother of the pandemic, I have been talking a lot about, I think a lot of us have been able to go inward where you just talked about that place, where we could no longer fake it. And because it crumbled. The ***t crumbled clearly. Right. It went down, it crumbled at a level that I don't even think Dina, that we actually know the real impact of that crumble.
The ripples will be going far, far beyond.
Yeah. Yeah. Was there during the, was there during the pandemic for you? Um, a specific moment that you can go back to and take us with you. Was there a specific moment as for your career first and for you as a person second, that was very, um, one of those shifts where you, you knew you shifted at that moment. I don't know what that means, but was there a shift? So first we between Dana career, was there a shift in your career during the pandemic and the way you saw your career or what you think of your career or what you, what you, what you discovered maybe even, so that's the first part.. That's the first spot you should
Do that? Is it for a living? You know, if dance doesn't pan out? Um, no big deal. Okay. So to answer, okay. That was the first part. I'll take the first part first. Yeah. I had several, oh **** moments over the quarantine. A handful of them were around my career. Most of them were around my personal life and relationships and the value that I place in relationships. And I do want to circle back to where you began the conversation about feeling connected to your mother, even from a distance. Um, but I'll, I'll put that in the parking lot for a second. Just don't let me forget, because that was a beautiful sentiment. I don't think we rang the towel dry on that. There's a lot of value in, in that discussion. Um, but one moment of clarity that I had came shortly after I was a part of, um, an NYCDA, which is the company that I, the convention company that I teach for the founder of NYCDA is Joe Lantieri, who is also the owner of Steps on Broadway, uh, a pillar in the dance community to say the very least. And he, he worked to build something special for graduating seniors over the summer. Um, he built sort of a, um, a mentorship opportunity for the graduating seniors who were missing. Um, I say missing, but who did not get an in-person graduation, did not get a senior year at nationals moment. And so he built this mentorship opportunity. And what I, as I sat on a question/answer panel of this mentorship program, I realized that this is a, obviously a unique time for all of us, but to be a graduating senior, to be embarking on what is already a difficult transition to navigate from student into workforce or from student into student under a parent's roof to student under college roof. Um, that must be a really difficult, uh, um, bridge to cross, even when you can see clearly it's scary, but for these graduating seniors, it must've looked on fire like and missing planks and like, do I really go, I don't want to go out there. So I knew immediately. I was like, I have to create something that, that can help guide and give tools to the class of 2020. And with the help of my two assistants, Malia Baker and Riley Higgins, we built a 12 week course in two weeks. It sold out in no time. It w it w I, I didn't even, I announced it. I didn't even make offers. I didn't even ask, Hey, are you in? I said, this is what I'm doing. And the people came because there was need. And that was a beautiful moment where I realized that making money isn't about booking jobs, making money is about creating value. I saw there was an opportunity and I felt that I could contribute value. And that's what I did. That was a very empowering moment. It was, it was, it came from me, but it was selfless and it felt so good. Um, so that was a big pivot. Um, the other pivots that came from me came, came for me during this time were about my awareness of terrible, terrible social injustice in our world. Um, the assumptions that I have based on my lived experience that are wrong, that are lies that are not only untrue, but un-useful, so I got to do a lot of deconstructing of my beliefs and rebuilding them, um, to be more in alignment with the world that I want to live in someday. And we're getting there slowly. We're getting there. And, Um, I, yeah, that's, I hope I answered the question. I'm getting fogged very now, but
No, no, no Dana You talked about it. Like you went into the career part, you talked about, you know, making money, uh, versus just thinking of creating value. And that is one of my biggest, oh my God, this is one of my biggest, uh, gem for my heart, from my, my way of living life. The moment I started to know that, oh, wait a minute. It's actually about creating value. It's not about anything else. Then, then he changes the game of whatever you're doing. The moment I realized that I was, I've been a Buddhist for like, I don't know, 30, maybe 27 years or so. And one of the big thing was like, for me, as I started to perform, I said, but I don't like, what, why am I dancing? What is going on with me? Wanted to just kick my leg up and twirled around. But when I started to practice Buddhism and I started to understand that, wait a minute, no, no, no, no, no. That's my way of creating peace. I am an artist for peace. I, all of a sudden doing a tondue was like a tondue, like a weapon for peace.
You know, it's crazy. When you say This, I'm seeing you tondue and it's a knife. It's a sword in the sky. That's like peace justice, but I'll fight for it. Fight for it.
I will Fight for it! It took me. It took me a moment to realize when you saw that creating value, that I realized that everything that we are about as artists, because of the impact that we are in the world, you see, look at you, you know, with that kind of energy, you are performing as you know, with, uh, with Justin Timberlake. And then let's fast forward. You are on the set, of la la land at that moment. You change the space. You see, because in your mind, you're about creating value. So, so the space will never be the same. It can only be implied an imp. And because we touch so many people at once, we are extremely powerful as artists. That is why we have to be centered. You cannot, we cannot, we cannot let that opportunity to create value, walk away from us because we've got too much power. Yeah.
You better be careful. You're, you're stirring up some hot watery eyes over here. It's a tremendous honor. And it is a responsibility that you can think of as heavy, or you can think of it as light, like a tondue like, you don't need to put any weight on that toe. You can tondue with such force and power and determination and will and value that it becomes meaningful. You know what? This is crazy. I love this, this loop. I did an episode on, on my podcast. It was my last episode of the year, 2020. And in that episode, I had asked every single guest from the entire year, the same question, and everyone had to answer that same question. No one answered it the same. It's a beautiful, I mean, the question has no answer. That's why I ask it. But the question that I asked is what is the difference between style and technique? And one of my favorite answers to this question, I'll just skip all the really exciting answers that I got. I'll jump straight to my favorite is the technique is the what? And the style is the, so what. It's like, so what you can point your foot. So what, what, what's the point? What's the difference? What does that make me feel? And when you, tondue you make me feel something? There is a, so what it's like, so what come here. So what back off. So what, like, you are invoking a reaction with your action. There is a, so what behind it? Um, and so that's that I, that I think is your part of the value that you bring. I think you are an exceptional technician that should not go without saying, but what, w it's clear to me that you're doing work behind the scenes of the technical side and it, it shows in, In the Heights, it shows when I see you on stage, it, it shows, it shows in the way you communicate. Holy smokes. Wow. I'm just, I'm floored right now in fan growing game.
I wanna know. I want to know Dana, what gives you inspiration? Like, what is the, where, where do you look at for us? So beautiful clip. I don't even know what that was. It was in your reel. And he was this beautiful people, people in which I adore, it was outdoors with people And I think there was this movement that went like this.
Yes, there was a music video for Vance joy directed by Mimi Cave, who is a woman that you would adore. She is a dancer as well. And she is a brilliant director, Mimi cave, MIMI CAVE. Shout out, Mimi, love you! And, um, she had a beautiful vision for this, uh, for this video. It's gorgeous. I'll send you a link in this episode when it becomes a Words that move me Podcast episode, this conversation, I will link to that performance in the show notes. Um, but because Mimi understands dance and movement, not just of a body, but of a camera and of the wind and of the grass, I think beautiful opportunities, beautiful art come from people who understand beautiful movement or, or painful movement. Oh, that reminds me of a question for you. Um, but that's what that was. And the inspiration that I got from that came pretty solidly from the piece of music and the treatment that made me put together. Um, we get to see in that, you know, tiny, tiny little music video, a lifetime of a love, a romance, a young love, an elderly, an older love. I love at the end. I love that's gone from being two people to being one person. So I explored themes of alonenness, loneliness of support of having to support yourself in a way that you've never had to support yourself before of, of being used to a limb or a way of walking and then that becoming gone or broken. Um, so that I get a lot of my inspiration from, for my industry work from what's presented to me in the first place, the song hugely. And usually there will be a visual treatment of some sort. Mimi's tone and palette is so specific and beautiful, uh, that it just looking at it on a page, puts me in a place in my head. And when I'm in that place in my head, my body comes to meet me there. And that's how, that's how that video happened. Okay. Now I have a question for you. Can I turn the, can I turn the microphone for a second?
Turn the microphone let's move on. Yeah, I'm all yours. Go ahead, cheri.
Okay. Yeah. So I, I, I think that I am very interested in Buddhist principles and I think that a lot of the work I've been doing, um, in the past probably three years of my life is just working on, um, not wrestling with reality on catching myself when I hear myself saying it should be different, or it should be some way that it isn't. And that lands me like sweaty on the mat, just wrestling with life and unable to see solutions, unable to be kind with myself. I'm just like down there fighting. And so I think that there are, I don't know much about it, but I think that there are, uh, I think that I'm probably very much in alignment with a lot of Buddhist principles, but what my question is for you right now is, and wow, this is me just showing my complete naivete right now. But I think there's a notion of not struggling, um, in, in the Buddhist practices to not struggle. And I've also found a tremendous value in conflict lately. So what I would like to know, like I, I'm learning how to have conflicts with kindness, with curiosity and with an outcome that is favorable to both, both, um, uh, fighters, I would say yes, creating value. But my, my question to you is in, in your practice, where, what is the role of conflict? How do you view conflict? Is it valuable to you?
Wow. What a great question.
Uh, I, I'm sorry. It took me a while to arrive at it.
Good. Oh my God. It's good. Dana. So, so conflict in Mahayana Buddhism is not separated from Buddha-hood Buddha-hood actually is in every single thing that you see, including the conflict. So there was a moment where a long time ago in, in Buddhism, where you have to go up the mountain and you had to clear your mind, you have to levitate and you had to just feel the breathe and just, you know, like that was Buddha-hood. That was it. You know what I mean? Or for some people at the time, if you're a woman, you could not be a Buddha. And there was another time you had to go upside down in a tree, not eat for 30 days. And then you're rich. And then, and then there was a game changer. Bam! The moment will, the teaching came to a head it's called the Lotus Sutra where at that moment, the Buddha actually admitted that he had prepared the mind of everybody for this one particular moment. So we could prepare so people could understand that everybody was a Buddha. What does that mean? That simply means that everything has Buddha-hood capacity, which means that if, if the world says that we have like 10 worlds that we travel through. So from, from hell to any malidy, to anger, to rapture, to learning, realization, and then you go up to Buddha-hood, right? So you will think they're like this up on top of each other. And people will trying to climb them up all their lives going like, oh shit, you know, it's karma, struggle. I'm like, damn, I'm going back down. And then the lotus sutra came in at that moment where it was revealed that in each of those 10 world, there was Buddha hood because Buddha would is first. You are a Buddha. You are divine beings, all levels. That's the base. That's the base. That's where you start. So from that point of view in the conflict, the greatest part about the conflict is that you can actually start to in meditation, in chanting or whatever, you can start to see the enlightened side of the conflict. What is, and that's the real question. See, what is the enlightened side of my anger? What is it? Because then I can gear. I can gear my focus towards the enlightened side. I can't say I'm not angry. Like two days ago, three days ago, I was a raging, darling raging. I was like, I am falling apart right now. I could feel the red.
I've just recently started throwing things. When I get mad, never in my life. Have I been a person that reacts in that way? And now that I've done it, a couple of times, you better look out, I'm looking for things to that. I'm looking for things to throw. It's amazing. Okay. Carry on. You were raging.
Oh, no. Dana truly? No, but the moment where you realize what it does, rage, anger, any of those, what it actually does to the body and the soul, because it's in yoga practices, we call it Visha. Visha is an, it could be an obstacle to your enlightenment because if you keep it in, that's where you're going to stay. So let's see, I am raging and I'm furious or whatever, and I'm not doing anything about it. Then I'm going to ripple that into the world, in my thoughts, my words and actions. So from that moment, I become a base for anger and violence, right? So creating value at that point is gone. That's gone with the wind. So we're not saying which I love, I'm not here to say I'm a Saint. I'm not feeling those things. No, no, no. Oh no, no, no, no. I am angry. I'm an angry. I have an angry nature period. I got pissed. Many times I am coming from an angry family. That's the karma that I've chosen to transform, but this is not where it ends. Once you start to practice Buddhism, or you start to have a serious practice on your mat, on your cushion, you get to actually be part of the process. The process is not taking you in. You're not becoming the victim of the process anymore.
You are the one processing.
Yes, yes. You are the one processing. And in that moment, if this is your Buddha nature, processing the situation, then you know, you're going to be one level up. You see? Yes.
You're in the empowered position.
Yes. And now you can make a decision. We're all included. We'll have them all included because by the time this is so interesting to me because once we leave this earth, once we've left the shell that we came in with, first of all, there is no going back. We've already spent the time, everything that we are doing, there is no time to go back only going forward. So if you are making drama, if you are putting violence in the world, that is what you're leaving behind you. It will, it will actually leave after you, you know? So it's like, when you turn around and you're like, oh my God, what am I leaving behind me? You know, as, as a trail. Yeah. As a trail, as a perfume, you know, do you want it to smell like garbage? And you want like a fierce garden of Magnolia? You'd be like, yeah, baby, Dana passed here. Look, you can see, smell that. Right.
I love, you know, it's crazy. You know, it actually is crazy. I'm going to break the third wall for a second. I just saw, we've got Leslie grace in the house. Shout out, Leslie Grace. And I was just thinking, as you were talking, as Leslie showed up, I smell her perfume on me. And it's one of my favorite smells. We just got to have a hang in person as, as human beings out in the world. And I love the smell. And I think that choosing to think of our value as being something that isn't always touched, felt, held, but seen, heard, smelled a calling on all of the senses that will be there long after the matter that is my body's gone. That is power. That's awesome. And that just all came together in one moment. So shout out, Leslie love you so much.
Shout out Leslie! Very happy to meet you, and though, you know, I don't know you are already smelled, you that's amazing. Right? Because they
I'm trying to waft it. I'm trying to, I did. I did a spin. Oh my gosh. So, um, yeah, we're all over the place now. We kind of got, oh,
It's good. It's good. It's good. Let's I want to wrap up about this thing that you spoke about, which is conflict. What I, this is what I felt, you know, when I was with you In the Heights where you were the quality of your entering the space, you see, there's a moment that proceeds, uh, before we enter the space in all the, all the communication that we've ever had as human being, there is an aura that comes before the person is visible. And so it is so powerful because when the person is already welcoming the process and wanting to include all the people around as equals and that we get to, we get to bow. You actually, I would just want to cry for it. Do you know what I mean? Because I remember the first time I met you, Dana, that you, you literally walked into that space. There were many, many dancers and some of us, we knew each other. Some of us did not. It's a big cast, huge cast. So for, for the quality being able to deal with all the different, uh, what's the word, um, personalities that are there being able to deal with the needs and the demand of the production, the amount of time that is there for us, you had professional on the set. So obviously there's certain things that are going to be working very fast. I would love for you to talk to me about the swimming pool scene.
Oh my goodness.
Can you, can you choose, share with me because I, I mean, I wasn't in it, but I watched, I watched it.
There were, as you can imagine, so many moving parts in that world sections within sections, multiple people in different sections. You know, you've got some people that are lounging ladies on the, um, on the kind of risers areas there that are also in the ballet section. You've got people that are in the ‘yo ma it's me check my ticket’ section that are also in the, uh, noodle section or the jazzy section and the front everybody's in the… So a lot of it was like managing who goes, where, what we can shoot when, what we're setting up while we're not shooting that because those people are working right now. And these people, it was, it was a puzzle like so much of, of this work is, is placement and structure. But the part that I cannot understate is that structure is only a part of it. Spirit is the rest of it. And that was such a spirited group of dancers and the crew that was there to get it done. Um, that was a terribly challenging day. And I use the word terribly on purpose. It was cold. It was raining. That is some movie magic that y'all are beholding on that screen. It looks like 102, the shoot day itself was like a marathon that seemed impossible. Yeah, it was hell in the middle part, but I, I, I really commend Jon, Chris first and foremost for keeping their finger on the pulse of the demands of the film and the safety of the dancers. There were moments that it was difficult to sit like, can you really do one more? Can you do one more? And we really had to be listening. Um, so that that's how the day went, but the preparation for the scene a lot lighter, because it was spread out over some time we would put in, we would put in eight hour days in a dance studio and then all get in a car or on a train and go to a pool that was a part of an apartment complex. And just, you know, in, in sports bras and whatever bathing suit, we may or may not have Eddie Torres Jr. shout out for swim sweats. Cause Eddie never had a swimsuit. He would just jump in that pool in his sweat pants. Um, please, please stay tuned for more of that story. But, um, we would go and, and workshop, just try, like, can you jump out of the pool at five feet of water? Can't how much of your body comes out? Okay. What if we have two feet of water, can you get your knees up? What if, um, you know, to, oh, uh, this is a fun tidbit that I don't think we've talked about yet. I am a big fan. If you've seen on Instagram, I have a 360 degree camera. It looks like a fisheye and that's, that's hovering 12 feet above the earth. What it actually is, is like a three-foot, um, monopod, AKA selfies stick. And, uh, and the camera on top of that has to 180 degree lenses on it. And there's software that stitches the two images together to make it look like a spherical image. So I was able to use this 360 degree camera on the end of a monopod to capture what looks like an overhead shot. So we could mock up the, uh, the feeling of a Busby Berkeley shot without having a jib, without having a crane without having an actual camera overhead. Um, and so that was an extremely helpful tool in figuring out the geometry and the, you know, the overall aesthetic of the overhead shots. That was really cool. Um, and, uh, the other, the other thing in there was like, what's possible and what looks great and what can be sustained take after, take after take. Um, and I think I want to also just shout Chris out again for being really good at knowing when to push for something and ask for it and when to fall back and say, okay, that's not worth it. That, that move isn't worth it versus like, no guys, this, we, we must do this. We come on, you've got this and is, is encouraging and nurturing and helpful, but really just has his finger on the pulse of what is worth fighting for and what is worth changing, you know? Um, so that's how that's
This is, this is incredible because, you know, we all know about watching something that there's, something is behind it that was able to support see to me then a lot of work, you see the tip of it underneath is that famous iceberg situation. The underneath part is what you will never see, but without the, underneath the invisible work, that tip won't be showing.
Ooh, the less massive down there, that's not showing that's my friend. I never even considered that when, when it comes to the iceberg theory, oh, we had a lot of mass underneath. There's so much movement, so much creation process that, that the audience will never see.
But even that I feel that you know what that scene, oh, I mean, there was so many incredible over the top. Every single one of them were just phenomenal. If any of you have not seen In the Heights, please go see it. This is not, this is an historical landmark at the rebirth, right at the rebirth of New York city about going so deeply to the Latinos community, the Dominicans from head to toe, it is beyond any talks about dreams. It talks about this element, literally being able to, no matter what we talked about that journey right now, particularly attaining the dream the way you see it, but don't ever give up on your dream. I mean, it is not possible. And I think said this, Dana, I want to very quickly, we talked about the art of life after rejection, a little bit of it.
You and I did on our, we, we talked more about specific rejection moments on our preliminary call, which y'all were not invited to. Sorry about that. Um, but yeah. Do you want to, do you want to try to touch on that? I think it's really important.
I want it, yeah. I want to touch on it because I think that we are in a space right now where maybe we think differently about what rejection is today because of what would experienced or maybe we have, um, another reaction about what react rejection was or is today. So I would love to.. what is rejection? What is rejection for you?
Okay. To me, rejection is a feeling in my body that I get. When I think someone doesn't want me thinks I'm not good, thinks I'm bad or won't accept me. And if you notice, and as I'm saying it out loud, I'm noticing that all of those things are outside in it's all they versus me. And the only time, like I I've, I have disliked my body before I disliked my talent before I've been unsatisfied with both of those things before, but I've never rejected myself. So for me, the re— the feeling of rejection comes when I think that other people don't want me, don't like me think I'm bad. Think someone else is better. And the feeling is like a foot, like somebody wearing a big shop boot on my chest, pushing it away from something that I want. It just feels like someone pressing on me in the opposite direction of the thing that I want. That's what rejection is. And it's an awful feeling. I don't like feeling it, but I've gotten to be, I've become a professional at feeling it. And I know that the worst thing about it is this pressure in my chest that isn't even real. And there's no boot. There's no person there's no, actually that's really just in my head, but that's what rejection feels like. And I've, I've, I've heard the word no, in my career way more times than I've heard the word yes, come on board. And that's why I say I've become a professional, but I, in the end of 2019, I experienced my most, my longest lasting and my most intense version of this feeling. And I felt it because I thought it should be different. I thought that this job should be mine. And because I had spent so long imagining myself on it and preparing myself for it, I really believed that the fact was that it should be mine. And what I came to believe over some nurturing and healing, and a lot of journaling is that if it was mine, it would have been mine. It's it wasn't mine. It just, it wasn't mine. And I, I only thought that it was so remembering that remembering that I own so much, I own my talent. I own my history. I earned my, I own my appetite for knowledge. I own my car. Like, there are things that I own. I have plenty and I, I don't need to. Um, it's, it's lovely to imagine yourself on the job. It's, it's an, it's an audition tactic that I recommend all the time. Like being able to put yourself there in your mind helps you to show up in body that way. It's risky, because you might find out that you were wrong, that you don't, you know, again, you're not a fortune teller. You don't belong there. So it's a tactic that you can use that has some risk. It's like using a knife. Like you might cut your finger and it might hurt, but it's also really helpful. Cause you can get through the thing. So to me, thinking that I should be somewhere, I can see myself there. That's a helpful tool that can hurt sometimes because you just might find out you're wrong and there's nothing wrong with being wrong. There's nothing wrong with predicting the wrong future. It's just like, it's like get up off the mat. Don't wrestle with reality. That, that, that thing, that thing that just wasn't yours. I don't know. I'm dying to hear your take though, because I'm sure.
No, no baby, you went in, you were, then I love it. Now you went totally in the eye. Oh my God. I, um, there is a beautiful saying, um, in the Buddha's word are, uh, enjoy what there is to enjoy suffer where there is to suffer no matter what, continue to chant numb, whatever people are doing. So there, this is the notion. A notion that I believe in is that rejection is also coming from a very, um, oftentimes comes from your inner child, um, seeing it through the eyes of the inner child. And I think it, I mean, for me, it touch, it can touch upon not being loved, as simple as not feeling, feeling loved. Right? So a job, um, the day we, we kind of realize that our jobs are not our identity. Ooh, let's talk about this big moment.
Let's talk about that day.
You know what I mean? That was all of a sudden, you're like, wait a minute. I really want it because I'm going to kick some ass in it. That's what I think I'll ever, but that's not my not, it might not be good for my life. And if it was good for my life, entrusting, the universe, entrusting ones life, then I would be in this moment during that thing, I remember my first, first job Dana. I signed my first job here in America with 17 of so excited. It was my first dancing job. I barely spoke English. It was a horrible company. The worst contract I've ever had in my whole career. It was a disaster. It was, uh, it was, uh, it was a trickery. It was bad shenanigans. They were like stealing money, not paying us. It was a horrible. Per diems were not given. I was literally crying everyday, going like X cannot be the profession that I sit. I want it to be part of my mother came at that time. We were performing in Germany. It was a fake name they were using. I don't even know what they call themselves anyway, all fake, all wrong, all twisted. So my mom came to watch the show and I was like, I told her, I was like, that is it. This is, this is what I'm closing shop right now. Cause I'm not doing this for my life. And then she looked at me and she had such an incredible, you know, tell she was like, this is just the best that could have happened for you to have the worst right at the beginning of your career. So you can now feel and smell what is smells like. And you will never take a job like this again. And I had to take that in and go, okay, so I have to continue. And just going to be ok, I'm going to finish it off and I'm going to turn back, but that will remain what is one of my biggest memory of now knowing I can smell the shenanigans in production and I'm like, bye bye. Bye.
That's interesting. That's interesting is like the rejects. The idea of rejection dancers think happens to them, but we have the power at any point to reject the circumstance that's presented to us and say never again, thank you and walk the other direction. So it's, it's like, I think the feeling of rejection is compounded. If you, if you it's unbearable, if you reject yourself, if you stop being your advocate, if you stop having, But if you say that's it. Yeah. If you, if you say I've got my back, they're missing out. That's okay. Bye. I reject you. No thank you to your no thank you.
BINGO! Exactly, exactly. But it's day now go go. It takes us. It takes us to also take that moment of self where you go back to listening and hearing what you are really about and what kind of value creating you are making. And you want to make in this world, because this is the real compassion. Because at the end of the day, we get like, you know, we get 12 hours where we can actually create amazing things. And I see it most of the time, even more so now I'm like dreams are real. Like, like I had a dream Dana of being a mother, right. I'm 51. So I had a dream of being a mother and I lost that dream. I was in a relationship where the dream became nothing at all. Literally was listening to someone else's dream. And then one day someone came around and woke up that dream, like ignited it back. It was my choice to go yay or nay to go no, no, no I'm done. This is, this was a long time ago. But now I had to listen I had to sit myself down and not have the courage to hear the whisper first of my dream. And to let my ear open enough that I will hear the sound and then I will hear the cry of it. And then I would hear the singing of it. And then I will hear the yelling of it. And I will be like, you know what, I'm doing it. Um,
You are keep going.
So, no, I mean, just, we talk about dreams and we talk about presence and we talk about, so for me, even as a woman to say to myself, no, you need this and that and that. So you can be a mother where all of a sudden, all that was out. And I was like, but the dream is still talking. So what are we going to do? Yes. So you know what? Well, that's called egg donor sperm donor. Let's go, you know what I mean? Let's get this done. You know what I mean? So now the shift, the real shift and today for the artists of today, just like you as a young human being, as a light in the world, it is about your dream. So I say to you, like whatever, you know, this moment, like 2019, whatever, that was all about. The learning, the learning that was behind of being able to hear also to be able to heal yourself when you get punched, right? You get that punch like bam, you like, whoa. And then another one, bam, whoa. So you're on the ground now where that's where it start. It starts there, but it starts with a dream. It doesn't start. It doesn't start empty. So people today, wherever we are as destabilized as we can be, we actually more stabilizing our dreams. So go, listen, listen to the dream, right? . I want to see you. What is your dream Dana? What is your dream? Let's go, we're going to end up like this, by the way. So you get to, you get to like, shout it out, a dream, a dream. And you just need to, you know, there are many dreams just share me. Uh,
Yeah, you're catching me on a day. This is good. This is a brilliant thing to be asking me because I feel like a dream that I've only taken tiny steps towards because I've been telling myself that it's, that it relies on someone else. Are you ready? My husband is the person that I love in the world more than anyone else. We don't desire a human baby to, to, to share as our life's work, but a space and a life together that is as much ours as it is individually one or the others. And in up until now, the space in my brain looked like a building that was half dance studio and half workshop. But what that my brain was doing is just putting four walls around two people's things. What I would love instead, my dream is for us to have one thing that is ours, that may or may not fit even into a building, maybe it's a, maybe it's a new technology. Maybe it's a product. Maybe it's, uh, I, I don't, I can't yet see, you know, you spoke about Alvin Ailey having this clarity. Like I know I have to do that. And when you know, what you want to do is not that hard to find the steps to take, to get there. Same was true for me in becoming a backup dancer. And it took me a while to reorient my goals. After I had accomplished that one. When you, you talk about like identity and becoming wrapped up in your work, I had a few years where I was like, if I'm not a backup dancer, then who am I? And I'm finding myself in a similar position now where I am aware of my power and I am aware of my skills and my skill gaps, if I can just imagine, or even invent something out there that is ours. I am certain I can make it happen. And I am certain that he will meet me in an effort at very least. I don't know if our vision will be the same. We're two different people with two sets of eyes. But, um, I know that he will meet me in my effort.
Um, oh my gosh, listen, I cannot wait to see the shape of this. And a lot of today, like we were talking about right at the beginning of the, of us talking, it's not in the eyes, that sees, but I think it's in the heart that is like linking in that, that we can't really see it. So sometimes you can't see it. All you can do is close your eyes and continue to walk towards the whispers.
Quiet down, listen to the whispers. Yeah. I also like to rage. I like to party. I like to dance. I like to music and, and you're right. Sometimes it's like, what's the whisper saying, what's my child, the inner child saying,
You know, and, and I believe that you so extremely in tune. So your light in the world as a very specific mission. Right? So it's really about also like when you surrender, like you, you, the way you do choreography in the space that you can, like, you can just, you know, take the time to be with the shape. before the shape shows up. You know what I mean? Like it's like, that's that space that is so magical. Right? I have no doubt. No doubt my friend. Well, listen,
We could go on. Trust me. This is might need a part two.
Hello? Dana Wilson.
God, you my friend. Thank you so much for opening this conversation. Thank you for, for asking the good questions and bring in the good answers. And you, your gold, your, your you're, the sun, as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for shining your light on the planet.
You know what? Talking about the sun, Summer Solstice is on Sunday
Is that why I’m sweating profusely?
I'm doing 108 cents salutation. Yes, please. Yes. Please wish you all could see my face. If you're listening to the podcast version of this, those of you that are in the Instagram live right now, or like Dana, Dana, close your mouth. We can see your tongue. Dana, close your mouth, I see your tonsils. Okay. Collecting my jaw. I will be there for that.
We'll see each other very soon. If not on Sunday, but other time I appreciate you so much. I don't know your husband, but I say hi to him. Nonetheless. He is a very smart man. He knows a thing or two about a thing or two about having chosen you as a life partner. Wow. Wow. And him and you for him, both obviously for him the same. I send you all my love.
Thank you. I'm receiving it. I talk to you sending love and thank you to you. I love you. I love you, darling.
Wow. Yeah. Yep. Here I am. I don't have much to say my friends. In fact, I might just take it from the top one more time and repeat that episode on back right now. Um, I would love for you to find a more Karine. I would love to have more of her in my life. So I will 100% be linking to her socials and her website in the show notes to this episode, please go see In the Heights, watch her do her thing. Get out there in the world, keep it exceptionally funky. And I am going to keep it bubbly and keep it right here by listening to this episode again right now because wow, I'm speechless. Okay. I'm out of words. Keep it funky. I'll talk to you.
Me again. Wondering if you ever noticed that one more time. Almost never means one more time. Well, here on the podcast, one more thing actually means two more things. Number one, if you're digging the pod, if these words are moving you please don't forget to download, subscribe and leave a rating because your words move me too. Number two thing. I make more than weekly podcasts. So please visit thedanawilson.com for links to free workshops. And so, so, so much more. All right, that's it now for real talk to you soon. Bye.
