"At the core of nonstopping is a very political stance of each individual, maintaining, cultivating, nurturing, sustaining the agency of their attention." -Jeanine DurningWe talk about: the practice of "nonstopping," embracing not knowing as a generative state, going before we're ready, sustainability as an artist, Steve Paxton, Deborah Hay, Pema Chodron, and much more….ABOUT THE FEATURED ARTISTJeanine Durning is an Alpert Award winning choreographer and performer whose work has been described by The New Yorker as having both “the potential for philosophical revelation and theatrical disaster.” She has been investigating the mobilizing and mutable force of bodies and grappling with their conditions in time, space, and place for over 25 years through experiments in choreography, performance, practice-based research, teaching, and mentoring. Jeanine’s ongoing project,nonstopping, has been the foundation for her performance research since 2009, manifesting in many ways and contexts since. Jeanine has had the privilege to collaborate with several choreographers over the years, who have shaped her outlook on performance, including her mentor Deborah Hay, since 2005.http://www.jeaninedurning.com/@jeanine.i.dream@thebodyisthebrainREFERENCES/FURTHER READINGOn Jeanine Durning'sLast Shelter for Candoco Dance CompanyOn Jeanine Durning's⁠Dogs of Devotion⁠On Jeanine Durning's⁠dark matter, selfish portrait⁠ ( MANCC)On Jeanine Durning's⁠inging andTo Being⁠ (Chocolate Factory)Jeanine Durning,⁠nonstopping bookEleanor Bauer,⁠ Workshop by Jeanine Durning⁠Carl Phillips, StaminaDeborah Hay, My Body, The BuddhistDeborah Hay's websiteHope Mohr, Shedding a Split SelfSteve Paxton talking dancePema Chodron on groundlessness

"My weapon against destructive forces is creative forces." –Aejay Antonis Marquis We talk about preparing to direct as an embodied practice, facilitating ensemble process, the politics of casting local, creating liberatory spaces for Black and queer bodies, Lorraine Hansberry, The Magnolia Ballet, and much more… @thebodyisthebrain ABOUT THE ARTIST AeJay Antonis Marquis (They/Them) is a performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist committed to transforming theatre. A PhD student in Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, their work explores Black and Queer cultural safety, decolonizing theatre, and queer political performance. Formerly the Director of Theatre at Contra Costa School of Performing Arts, AeJay’s Bay Area contributions include directing, choreographing, acting, and dramaturgy. They are directing The Magnolia Ballet at Shotgun Players this summer. AeJay also serves as an Artistic Associate at Marin Shakespeare Company, Artistic Producer at Playwrights Foundation, and Education Program Associate at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. They are also a proud GAAP Fellow. RESOURCES/REFERENCES Ticket link to The Magnolia Ballet at Shotgun Players (opens July 2025) Diana Taylor, The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas, Duke University Press (2003) Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program (GAAP)

Episode 1: Pina, queering as a transitive verb, wrecking, drag as political practice, visibility …A conversation with artists Eric Garcia and Chuck Wilt about their collaborative show, Beyond, “an evening-length production that reassembles Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring into an intergalactic, Queer extravaganza.”ARTIST BIOSEric Garcia is a San Francisco-based devised dance-theater artist, drag queen, community organizer, and the Co-Director of Detour. He creates immersive and site-responsive performances that straddle nostalgia, radical futurism, collaborative ensembles, and queer maximalism. Eric is rooted in the drag and nightlife scene as Churro Nomi, and produces/hosts Clutch The Pearls, a drag cabaret on the first Sunday of every month at Make-Out Room in the Mission District.  https://detour.productions/Chuck Wilt is a choreographer, drag artist known as Fuchsia, educator, and the Artistic Director of San Francisco based UNA Productions. Chuck is currently on faculty at the LINES Training Program and has taught, created and set repertory for universities, training programs, professional companies, youth companies, public high schools, and professional dancers. Chuck’s work through UNA has been presented in San Francisco, NYC, Maryland, Colorado, San Diego, Massachusetts, Tokyo and Kaga Japan, Montreal, Vancouver and Rural BC. www.una.productionsRESOURCESSusan Rethorst, A Choreographic MindTILT Shift Dance, On WreckingJosé Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopiabell hooks, Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical OpennessOn Pina Bausch's Sacre (Rite of Spring)Hope Mohr, Self and SystemJack Halberstam, The Queer Art of FailureSarah Schulman Waxes PoliticHope Mohr Websites:https://www.hopemohr.org/https://www.movementlaw.net/

Hi friends. I'm Hope Mohr, artist and advocate. For decades I have woven artmaking and activism.    the body is the brain is a podcast about art and social change. Through conversations with artists and cultural workers, we explore the practice of contemporary artmaking. The podcast extends my decades-long work as a community-based curator of live performance. My guests include artists I know and love. Our conversations are informed by my wide-ranging career, which has included dancing professionally, writing a book about activist curation, making multidisciplinary performance, and working as an arts attorney. These conversations cover both the mysteries of the creative process and the realities of producing art today.  They uplift artists as essential workers. One conversation at a time, we build an artist commons—a context for practice. Tune in and be a part of the art. https://www.hopemohr.org/