All episodes
Elsa Gindler in context #2: Writing and Resistance
One of the stories you may hear about Elsa Gindler is that she didn't write much, and/or that her writings were all destroyed in a fire at the end of the Second World War. This is not true. She wrote a lot, she got her students to
25 Apr 2025
Leo Kofler and the Legacy of Tuberculosis.
Have you ever heard of Leo Kofler? Here's my podcast on Kofler, and some of the He was an Austrian-born singing teacher (1837-1908), who spent most of his career in the United States. His ideas were later taken up in Germany. You may hear the story that he
24 Apr 2025
On the face of it: Kate Gies's It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished (2025) and Louis Kuhne's The Science of Facial Expression (1917)
Kate Gies's wonderful (and devastating) memoir, It Must Be Beautiful To Be Finished shows that the mainstream medical profession has a lot to answer for when it comes to deciding which bodies are "attractive," which ones need "fixing," and how all that should take
24 Apr 2025
Elsa Gindler in Context #1
The work, life and legacy of Weimar movement teacher Elsa Gindler (1885-1961) will form the uniting thread for our conversations in Spring 2025. To head up this section, I deliberately chose a grainy picture of Gindler, reproduced many times and appearing as part of someone else's story. To
26 Mar 2025
Recordings from year 2: Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit #1
In 2024 and early 2025 we worked our way through a silent film from 1925: Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit created at the famous Ufa studios in Berlin, this documentary gives a cross-section of German physical culture in the mid-twenties – from outdoor living, to dance, to sport to that fascinating
24 Mar 2025
Spring 2025 dates
Join me in a series of discussions about Elsa Gindler and her legacy. Tuesday, March 18 – 7 p.m. EST – lecture/discussion Tuesday March 25 – 4 p.m. EST – followup discussion Tuesday April 15 – 7 p.m. EST – lecture/discussion Tuesday April 22 – 4 p.m. EST – followup discussion Tuesday
10 Mar 2025
Introducing @Work
This week, I scaled technology-mountain and published my first podcast: @Work. It's the here-and-now version of my exploration of craft and method, where I invite artists of all kinds to reflect on their practice. Technically it's, well, a Work in progress, but the guest makes up
20 Sep 2024
SUMMER 2024 POSTS
10 Jul 2024
Recordings from year 2: Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit #2
In 2024 and early 2025 we worked our way through a silent film from 1925: Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit created at the famous Ufa studios in Berlin, this documentary gives a cross-section of German physical culture in the mid-twenties – from outdoor living, to dance, to sport to that fascinating
26 Mar 2024
Fall 2023 Talks
The Work: Straight Talk on Craft and Method launched in the fall of 2023 with a series of three talks called Breathing in History. Of course, there's much more to say, and the theme will come back, but here's a list of the talks you can
19 Mar 2024