An image of a blue cartoon robot with arms and legs outstretched overlayed on the title of the podcast. Image by Kevin Ju

Dances With Robots - Teaser Trailer

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Introducing Dances With Robots: a new podcast about dance, robots, bodies, and technology.

Episode 1 - The Nerd Gaggle

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Welcome to Dances with Robots! In this introductory episode, Sydney Skybetter recounts the beginnings of the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces, aka CRCI (pronounced Circe, like the Greek sorceress), and breaks down exactly how, and why, we work in dance and emerging technologies.

Episode 2 - Oh Great, the Nazis Were Into Modern Dance: A Conversation with Kate Gow

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Kate Gow, CRCI’s archivist and web designer, sits down with host, Sydney Skybetter, to discuss historical intersections of dance and technology. Turns out that the weird history of class warfare at the ballet, dancers catching on fire, Degas, and Nazi choreographers has a lot to do with the dance of the future.

Episode 3 - The One With Tom Cruise

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Sydney Skybetter interviews John Underkoffler, the Science and Technology Advisor for the 2002 movie Minority Report. We talk about how the infamous computer gesture scene that made John famous led to the founding of Oblong Industries, a company that tried to make Minority Report’s speculative interfaces a reality.

Episode 4 - Fierce on the Palm Pilot: A Conversation with Kamal Sinclair

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Sydney Skybetter and producer Kamal Sinclair chat about the intersection of the cultural sector, emerging technologies, and the vintage hardware that shaped their childhoods. Are we all complicit in these complex cultural systems? Oh, and also, can we please bring back the Filofax?

Episode 5 - Choreorobotics 0101

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Sydney Skybetter gives us an inside look into his research into chorerobotics; the overlap of choreography and robotic motion planning. He and the CRCI team ask questions about the risks and the implications of the work, and what it means to make a robot do the mashed potato.

Episode 6 - Dances with Robots IRL: A Conversation with Catie Cuan

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Sydney Skybetter sits down with choreorobotics innovator, Dr. Catie Cuan. They discuss her personal and professional trajectory, and try to answer the question: why dance with a robot?

Episode 7 - There is Always a Cost

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Ariane Michaud, CRCI’s Executive Producer, steps in this week as host. She explores various forms of emerging tech, from the New York Police Department’s deployment of “Spot” robots to getting drones ready for dance performance. What are the challenges? The risks? The opportunities?

Episode 8 - Overclocking of The Human Computer

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Sydney Skybetter sits down with performance historian Doug Eacho to discuss emergent technologies of the last century. They explore how sci-fi has influenced our expectations for the future of performance, and why these expectations almost never become reality.

Episode 9 - Turning The Tables

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Sydney Skybetter discusses some of the core theories that he teaches at Brown. Turns out, what works in the dance studio doesn’t always work in the real world.

Episode 10 - Code Switch: A Conversation with Raja Feather Kelly

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Sydney Skybetter sits down with artist Raja Feather Kelly to talk about his work in live performance. The two consider airport security and the end of the world, and Raja shares how his personal experiences and creative work shape one another.

Episode 11 - This One's for the Dancers

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Sydney and Ariane showcase two groups of artists leading the way in combining technology with the performing arts. Sydney talks with choreographer Bill T. Jones, while Ariane chats with dancers Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson.

Episode 12 - Sad Dads in Space: A Conversation with Sarah Bay-Cheng

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Sydney Skybetter sits down with Dr. Sarah Bay-Cheng, a performance studies professor, scholar, and Dean at York University in Toronto, Canada. They discuss their shared expertise in deaning, puppetry, and the COVID moment.