20250515-115800-T001_01.mp3
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Well, I think that's some very fine advice,
Deathcab for Cutie, stay young, go dancing,
open it up to Daze, Trail Lunchbox.
There are three people in the Trail Studio.
Two of them are dancers.
I'll give you a question, which one of these kids is not.
That would be me.
I'm Mike Smith.
Joy French, welcome.
Hello.
Thanks for having me.
Nice to have you back in.
Joy French from the West Side Theater,
Bear Bay Dance, among other things.
That's right, and I would say grow old and keep dancing.
Not just day and age, you know?
Yeah.
I think they've moved that around a little bit.
It's like, well, if you go dancing,
you kind of feel--
You stay young.
Yeah, okay, bear.
OK, bear.
Shannon Flanagan, also no stranger to the airwaves.
Nice to have you back in the Trail Studio as well, Shannon.
So good to be here.
A lot of folks might be like, you know, Flanagan's, Shannon,
what's he up to these days?
Can you give us the sentence or two?
Well, I'm working with Youth Homes on a capital campaign.
And today, I'm here to help Joy French promote
West Side Theater's Abundance.
Nice.
It's coming up Friday and Saturday, just weekend.
Because we're so lucky to have Shannon on our board.
Yeah.
Well, and we--
I appreciate a couple of--
I won't say old.
I'll say longtime friends of the stations coming
into talk about us, talk about it.
West Side Theater presents Abundance Community Performance
coming up May 16th and 17th.
This is bringing in members of the community.
I'm already identifying people I know in the lineup.
I know.
I think probably almost everyone I've done probably
knows someone on the list.
Yeah.
It is not just a who's who, but just really a lovely cross-section.
The idea here was just to--
I love people who don't always get to perform,
chance to be on stage.
And last year we did 40 over 40, which Shannon was a part of.
That was.
Enthusiastically, it was the most amazing artistic experience
I've had in a long, long time.
Yeah.
So fun.
I mean, the premise there was, like, can we get 40 people
over the age of 40?
And then we had all these lovely 20 and 30
somethings being like, yeah, but what about me?
That looks like fun.
Exactly.
Yeah, we don't want to exclude anyone.
So we came up with the idea for Abundance,
which we have a wide range, I think, with like a 60-year range
in the cast.
Tell us more about just that thing where you have a lot of other
things going on in your life.
But don't forget to dance.
You can still dance.
You don't have to be Joy French, who is a master dancer.
And you also don't have to be Shannon Flanagan, who's studied
dance and been on stage.
This can just be something you're excited about.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
And there's something so playful to be in the studio
with a bunch of movers.
And so, for example, my piece for Abundance,
I choreographed one of the pieces, and there's
20 dancers and movers.
Everyone from people who are actively teaching
and really dancing a lot right now too,
I have a couple people who've barely ever been on stage
let alone in a dance studio before.
And so it's like a super wide range.
And it's just so fun to come together and move your body
in ways that you don't get to do when you're sitting
at your desk or walking your dog.
I mean, all the things that Missoulians love to do
like skiing and hiking and all that is so wonderful.
But it's different than actually being together
with the goal of an art form and a performance in mind.
Totally.
Shannon, what is dance meant to you over the years?
What have you gotten out of dance?
Oh my gosh, that's a really huge question.
Can we start with something a little smaller?
Yeah, right.
No, dance is without a doubt my favorite art form.
I started dancing when I was in college
with Amy Ragsdale and Karen Kaufman at the University of Montana.
At that point in time, it was just something
that I started because I had a conflict in my schedule
with a soccer that I wanted to play.
And they're like, well, you should try dance.
And I did and it just stuck with me forever.
I think one of the things that's really
wonderful about these community performances
is just the fact that somebody with limited to no experience
can jump in and actually feel like they're contributing
to this piece of art.
There's buy-in for sure.
I think people emotionally get really attached to it.
And it also grows community, which is something
that I think we could all use right now.
So I'm super enthused about it.
Last year's 40-over-40 performance was very interesting to me
because a lot of people that I know that regularly go
see dance, this was their most favorite performance of the year.
And it wasn't because the dancers were awesome.
They were awesome.
They were awesome.
But the lens of what this was, yeah, the emotional current
was so strong.
And it was just-- it was a beautiful thing to witness.
I was really actually--
my only disappointment is that I didn't
get to sit in the audience and watch that performance.
Yeah, because I was on stage.
Joy, what would you say to somebody who needs to amplify
that voice that's inside that wants to dance?
And maybe we get the self-critic and all these other things.
You've probably done a lot of encouraging over the years,
like along the way.
What would you say to a person who's like,
I might want to do that?
Well, I would say I think we all have a little bit of fear
walking into the dance studio, even people who were trained.
But then maybe they took a year off and they're like,
oh my gosh, I haven't danced in the year.
Can I walk back in to people who have never done that before
and are thinking, can I walk in for the first time?
And I think the truth is that if you're
with a coach or a teacher or a choreographer who
is honoring the art form and loves it,
they're going to share that love.
And they're going to help you find the comfort,
enjoy, and excitement.
And that's true.
There's so many amazing teachers all across town.
And a lot of them are choreographing for us for this.
And then we collaborate as much as we can with the dancers
outside of the theater, outside of the company,
because there are so many exceptional leaders
in the dance community here.
And they will hold your hand if you're in the rest.
I've always noticed too with your organization
and others that there's these folks that go away.
They do a whole bunch of stuff in New York, LA,
everywhere else.
And then they come back.
It's that fun.
It's that Missoula thing.
It keeps pulling me back in.
Yeah.
And it'll cost a perfect example of that.
And she's choreographing.
She's a Montana and grew up here.
Had a huge career in New York and then wanted to be back.
Because then we all want to be here,
whether you're a fancy career focused individual
and really are pushing or whether you just like it
because of the land either way, we all want to be here.
And we find our ways to live and exist and work and make
art and be together in community because we want to be here.
I was going to say one of the big things is how social dance is.
But then just stay in active.
You know?
I met you guys decades ago.
And we're all getting a little older.
And so the movement, moving the body is such a healthy thing.
Yeah.
And like getting up and out of the ground
and using your feet in different ways
because you're not used to wearing dance shoes or not
dancing whatever it is.
But like there's so many little aspects that really keep it
healthy.
And that's another thing about like access to dance
for people who don't get to do it a ton.
And it's really so good in the body and so fun in community
that both.
Yeah.
To add to that, just a little bit.
I mean, emotionally and intellectually,
it's really a big thing as well to be remembering the movement
and trying to follow through pick up little cues here and there.
It's an extremely healthy thing for people
to be doing for their minds as well as bodies.
My guests in the trails studio today, Joy French
and Shannon Flanagan talking about the Westside Theatre's newest
community production, which is abundance.
It's cool.
It's cooler to look at the night at what I just said.
Abundance.
Abundance.
A fun dance.
Community performance.
And I go to thewestsidetheater.com right now,
you're going to find some people that you actually know in there.
The performer list is long.
I want to say that the Westside Theatre Bear Barber Dance
is presenting, producing, this show.
But we actually outgrew the Westside Theatre for this one.
So the show is not at the Westside Theatre.
Montana Theatre.
Is that the Montana?
And which is a huge deal for us too.
And when you have 60, 70 plus people who sign up and say,
yes, I want to dance, you try to accommodate them.
And the Westside Theatre is amazing.
And we wish we could be there for absolutely everything.
But this one felt a little unruly to everyone backstage.
And then all the audience and the parking on the Westside
David.
But it's going to be really fun.
It's been fun to be on the Montana.
And that's on campus.
So it's a little different.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Montana Theatre University of Montana.
It is a little bit different.
We don't have to turn anybody away this year as far as I'm there.
Oh, I remember hearing about that.
We were selling out so much for 40 or 40.
We felt bad to have to turn away audience members,
because we wanted them to see it.
But we just--
we have a limited capacity at the Westside.
I've got this new Missoula speech that I tell people,
make sure you get your tickets in advance,
that you get your plan in order.
Make sure that you don't get shut out.
You know, it used to be.
We're not in the same town where you can walk up day off.
Yeah, absolutely.
But nice that you have more folks.
Abundance, community performance, show times, May 16th, 730,
May 17th, 2 o'clock, and 730.
So that'll be--
that'll finish up on Saturday.
Yeah.
Three performances, Montana Theatre.
Yeah.
The 16th is tomorrow, by the way.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
Wow.
OK.
It's happened.
It lost it just before I got it over here.
I know, right?
The days do fly by pretty quick, because it's
really this time of the year.
Right.
Yeah, I think it's just going to be so inspiring
to see all these amazing community members on stage.
And the costumes are great.
And the lighting is beautiful.
And the sound is-- I mean, it's just such a full experience.
Yeah.
I can't wait to watch.
Parting thoughts, each of you, I just
wanted to say that I think this is one of those things
where if you are debating just pull the trigger on some tickets
right now, go get out of the normal
mode that maybe you're in.
Obviously, the dance community is going to be there.
But get out of the normal mode.
Go see something different in town.
Hard working, folks.
A lot of talent in town, probably more
than the population would normally support.
So a little parting thought about kind of on that.
One thing that I want to say about this particular performance
is that a lot of people think of contemporary modern dances,
sometimes kind of a tough nut to crack, like hardcore jazz
or something like that.
So it's really not.
And this is a super consumable piece of performance
that I think anybody would be able to appreciate.
So I would encourage you to just kind of get
outside of yourself a little bit and try this one on,
because I think I like it a lot.
And then tagging onto that, it's actually not just contemporary
modern dance.
It is focused mostly on that.
But we also have ballet this year.
We have tap this year.
We know we have a little musical theater.
We have a lot of things in the mix that make it.
So it has that eclectic feel with different lights,
different costume, different sound, and different,
a huge amount of Missoula on stage.
So cool.
So one more thing.
Because in terms of entertainment,
it's easy to spend a lot of money to find entertainment
in Missoula.
But try to watch how much her tickets.
Good question.
It starts at about 25 for senior students, military,
and then goes up from there, depending.
But I think we cap out at 36.
I wonder if I can get a concert tickets.
And it's an investment in your evening.
It's also an investment in Bear Bay Dance Westside Theater
and everything you've got going on.
It helps with that.
So we want you to see the art.
And we also want to keep making the art.
So if you want to see us do it, some more in the future,
then come check it out.
Sounds good.
Appreciate having you both in.
Shannon, you're coming back at some point.
We're going to talk about something else.
All right, Shannon's going to have his own radio show.
We'll keep you posted about that.
And Joy French Fantastic will continue success and work.
And I really appreciate what you do over there.
Again, thewestsidetheater.com for tickets.
But it's happening at the University of Montana,
at the Montana Theater.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Well, you got it.
Thanks for coming in.
So back in 1965, Bob Dylan scored his first top 40 hit,
subterranean homesick blues.
And you can bet we're going to play it right here right now.
Thanks you too.
(upbeat music)