Liss Fain Dance performs vibrant, abstract contemporary dance pieces fusing modern dance’s forceful energy with the kinetic precision of ballet. Liss Fain has premiered over 15 new dance works, including collaborations with MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies and the Apple Multimedia Lab.

In this podcast we talk with Liss about International Dance Exchange — Artists (IDEA), her media collaborations with artists from other disciplines, and why there is an undercurrent of sadness in choreography from Europe.

Photo Credit: RJ Muna

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Critically-acclaimed singer, guitarist and composer Howard Fishman made his debut at the Algonquin Oak room in 1999 and has since headlined in major venues both here and abroad, including Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub and Le Petit Journal in Paris.

In 2008, Howard talked with us about his connection to live performance and his audience, and in 2009 he contributed the soundtrack to our end-of-year slideshow. Now, in this podcast Howard talks about the trilogy of recordings he’s releasing in 2010, including Better Get Right, a love letter to New Orleans, and No Further Instructions, inspired by his travels in Eastern Europe.

Fans of Howard’s music can stream online for free (or purchase for download) tracks from his new album, Better Get Right.

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Zero Hour Tango Festival is a new festival designed to deepen the experience and involvement of the audience in the multi-faceted meanings of tango. In this podcast we talk with Alfredo Minetti, producer of the festival as well as a musician, teacher and writer.

Alfredo talks about how his background in cultural anthropology shaped the way he crafted this new festival, what the soul of tango has to offer to American audiences, and how a fatalistic and yearning art form can actually make you feel good.

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Jennifer Backhaus is the founder and artistic director of Backhausdance, a contemporary dance company based in Orange County, CA. Backhausdance has an eclectic and dynamic vocabulary that is physically demanding, yet fluid and graceful. They have performed extensively at venues and festivals throughout California and will be making their East Coast debut at the Joyce SoHo in New York City March 5-6.

In this interview Jennifer talks about how she came to form the company in 2003, how she was able to fund the Joyce SoHo appearance through Kickstarter, and why it is important to make dance a part of every young person’s education.

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Irene Sazer is a violinist, composer, arranger and singer. She is the founder of the Real Vocal String Quartet, an ensemble that bends and mixes genres and combines vocal and string sounds into beautiful compositions.

In this interview Irene talks about how the group came together, why it’s important that every member have room to create their own music and what musical influences you’ll hear in their debut album.

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