Dancing Badly with Rinde Eckert
Rinde Eckert is actually a fabulous dancer. (“Bad Dancing,” as you will hear in our conversation, is one of the strategies he deploys to get students out of their heads and into their bodies.) He’s also a celebrated writer, composer, librettist, musician, performer and director, but I'm not sure even this list of roles captures his extraordinary versatility. Just within the past year, for example, Rinde danced with a San Francisco company, played a benefit with a jazz ensemble in New York, composed the score for a new play, wrote a new song for an old Shakespeare play, sang lead in the premiere of a technically grueling yet gorgeous opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, played an Irish warden in Ellen McLaughlin’s update of Antigone called Kissing the Floor, and taught interdisciplinary art, as he has done at Princeton University, the University of California, the University of Iowa, and numerous other schools across the U.S.
Rinde has won a Grammy, was a finalist for a Pulitzer, is a Guggenheim fellow, and has been my friend for more than 20 years. In this conversation, we focus on his recent project of rebuilding his piano technique from the ground up. (Photo: Eva Mueller)
Learn more about Rinde Eckert and his storied decades at the intersection of theatre and music here.
For a great discussion of some of Rinde’s early work, here’s an interview from the journal Theater (Vol. 30, No. 2, Summer 2000) that I asked Robyn to help me track down. I’m adding it here partially so I don’t lose it again!
SPECIAL THANKS
Many people support this podcast in one way or another, through conversations, emailed suggestions, books, articles, music, and more. Some are able to contribute financially, which is the oyster’s ice skates, as far as I’m concerned. Gifts of even a few dollars from folks like you help with everything from transcription assistance to gas for trips to Nyack, New York. There are two easy ways to donate—a one-time gift of any amount, or a monthly continuing contribution.
Current supporters include: Aaron Bartley, Gilberto Belaval, Mary Rappl Bellanti, Raj Bhandari, Melinda Bihn, Gretchen & David Brand, Jenni Brand, Jake Brown, Heather Carson-Wake, Patty Cruice, Ryan Daly, David Davis, James Duggan, Dave Eisenberg, Phillip Ellis, Anna Falicov, Errick L. Greene, Jonathan Hiam, Gregory Horn, Janice & John & Ava & Brooke Horn, Robyn Lee Horn, Greg Jackson, Kevin Johnson, Zack Kramer, Tim Lear, Janet & Robert Lee, Kristen Lee, Tom Loughlin, Susan Lytle, Carol MacVey, Linda B. Matt, Ellen McLaughlin, J. W. Gregg Meister, Miriam Meister, Sarah & Peter Meister, Dwight Nolt, Julia Olff, John Opera, Gail Radford, Monica & Rowland Richards, Gail & Frank Richeson, Friends of Diana Rochford, Stacy Rodgers, Elizabeth & Terry Rowlands, Paula A. Roy, Emily Style, Marue Walizer, John B. Webb, Keith Zemsky, Vana Zervanos
NEVER MISS AN EPISODE!
Let me have your email address, and I’ll make sure you find out when a new episode drops. 100% free, and takes maybe 18 seconds to fill out the form.
