Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's worse. Thanks for joining us for another
Speaker 1: bonus episode of Table for two. First off, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for all the interviews we have coming up
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. We're starting off the year with
Speaker 1: a lunch. I recently had a New York City with
Speaker 1: the principal ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet
Speaker 1: from nineteen eighty five to two thousand and six, and
Speaker 1: now the President of Juilliard, Damian Wetzel. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to sharing the full interview with you next week, but
Speaker 1: for now, I hope you enjoyed this quick and fun
Speaker 1: lightning round.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's star a little quick speed, all right.
Speaker 2: Favorite ballet either one you dancing or just one that
Speaker 2: you just love.
Speaker 3: Man, it's such a tough one because I liked dancing
Speaker 3: so much. I loved what I was dancing all the time.
Speaker 3: But I will say that my favorite in the end,
Speaker 3: I think it probably was The Prodigal Sun, which is
Speaker 3: what I retired with. And it's a It's an epic
Speaker 3: narrative of strength laid low and sort of a sense
Speaker 3: of redemption and journey with extraordinary.
Speaker 2: Are your ballets all your ballets. People can go see
Speaker 2: if they go to the archives.
Speaker 3: You can go to the public library or now you know,
Speaker 3: I'm you know a little bit from the black and
Speaker 3: white era basically, but there's but there's plenty of stuff online.
Speaker 4: You know, our dance belts comfortable. They should be.
Speaker 2: Favorite New York thing to do.
Speaker 4: Oh wow.
Speaker 3: In so many ways, like you know, life is in
Speaker 3: the in between moments, you know. So there's walking our
Speaker 3: dogs in Riverside Park sometimes feels like literally like this
Speaker 3: is where.
Speaker 4: This is where I belong.
Speaker 3: This is the sense of it. I look out at
Speaker 3: the river and there's that. At the same time, I
Speaker 3: will say, you know, of the moments that really stand
Speaker 3: out to me, they are outside. I will say, I
Speaker 3: like being outside of New York. I find there something
Speaker 3: in nature or a version thereof. We did an outdoor
Speaker 3: performance on Lincoln Center this this September, just kind of
Speaker 3: all play. Brought some musicians and some singers together and
Speaker 3: we did the last movement of Philip blast Is such
Speaker 3: a Graha, which is basically a prayer for peace. And
Speaker 3: we were surrounded by trees and everybody, you know, people
Speaker 3: were walking by with their dogs and it was like,
Speaker 3: this is New York.
Speaker 4: This is Mines, Yeah, bringing it all together. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I remember spending time in Sheep's Meadow in between classes,
Speaker 3: and when I wasn't in the library, I'd go to
Speaker 3: Sheep's Meadow and hang out. And I remember listening to
Speaker 3: Roxy music more than this. I'm just looking around at
Speaker 3: the skyline.
Speaker 4: From the moment.
Speaker 2: I mean that album in and of itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: best advice you've received.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what came to mind, and I'm not
Speaker 3: sure it's the best, but it's certainly good.
Speaker 4: Theater advice.
Speaker 3: Jerry Robbins would say to people taking on Prodigal Son,
Speaker 3: which he danced famously, if.
Speaker 4: You cry, they won't interesting.
Speaker 3: And there was some in that that's like an take
Speaker 3: yourself so seriously, like be mindful of I can't. It's
Speaker 3: it's a contextual note something in that. So I think
Speaker 3: about that, and there's so many more, but you know
Speaker 3: it's about to me. The best advice is probably get
Speaker 3: out of your own head.
Speaker 4: Get out to your other people. Yeah, listen to other people.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, heaven the first thing that comes to mind when
Speaker 2: you think of your wife.
Speaker 3: First ring left New York State Theater Silhouette, watching a
Speaker 3: dance nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2: Four, falling in Love Baby. Of the first three position
Speaker 2: one learns first, second or third? Which did you feel
Speaker 2: more comfortable during.
Speaker 4: That second second?
Speaker 3: Yes, because I was very turned out from the hips,
Speaker 3: not so much from the feet.
Speaker 4: Okay, so I had to.
Speaker 3: Fake it a little bit in fifth right, perfectly turned
Speaker 3: in second seconds here, Yeah, this is the first second second.
Speaker 4: We don't really do third more. We're doing it with
Speaker 4: our hands.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Just and see did you ever just say fuck it
Speaker 2: like a just say?
Speaker 1: It?
Speaker 4: Doesn't sound like you did, because it sounds like no,
Speaker 4: I'm not much of a fucking person.
Speaker 3: I tend to work the problem to death, just like
Speaker 3: you know, I often think that that's the you know.
Speaker 3: I tend to like, if there's a problem, I like
Speaker 3: look at it, and I'm like, how can I fix,
Speaker 3: you know, make adjustments. And lately I've actually been thinking
Speaker 3: a lot about I need to evolve from that to
Speaker 3: some degree, to change the problem, to make to contextualize
Speaker 3: that too, and not just fix it because it's like
Speaker 3: a little bit like oh, we're on stage or something's
Speaker 3: going on, going to fix this right instead of like
Speaker 3: looking at the meta of it.
Speaker 4: Sometimes because I think that's where the big thing is.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like, oh, there's actually the larger problem.
Speaker 4: So I'm more and more attuned.
Speaker 2: To that biggest pet Peeve And it could be like
Speaker 2: for me when I think of pet Peeve's pet Peeve,
Speaker 2: like co existing in New York City pet Peeve. Now
Speaker 2: when I go to like I go to shows people
Speaker 2: an audience, what they do, how they act, what they
Speaker 2: eat at the car, you know, anything that what's a
Speaker 2: Damien pie?
Speaker 3: You know? I walk fast, like so when I'm alone,
Speaker 3: it's different than I'm walking you know, with Heather.
Speaker 4: With people. But if I'm alone, I just I just
Speaker 4: know I need to move.
Speaker 2: I always say you could tell them when someone's from
Speaker 2: New York and not on how they walk.
Speaker 3: And you're like, okay, yeah, growing up in Boston and
Speaker 3: it's really cold, you know, you just walk fast, you know,
Speaker 3: just like and I love.
Speaker 4: To walk, so you know me too. My one of
Speaker 4: my goals this.
Speaker 2: Year is to walk from one tip to the other.
Speaker 4: Chip up, Wow, you're gonna do it. Did you read
Speaker 4: al Pacino's biography? No, I haven't got it.
Speaker 3: He talks about like major walks. It's a new mettle.
Speaker 3: I don't know him, but I want him to come
Speaker 3: to Juilliard. Yeah, mister, if you're listening, come and talk.
Speaker 2: To us, all right, Damien, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining me today.
Speaker 4: This is a true, true pleasure, really fun.
Speaker 2: M Thank you for pulling up for share.
Speaker 5: I love our lunches and never forget the romance of
Speaker 5: a meal. If you enjoy the show, please tell a
Speaker 5: friend and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Table
Speaker 5: for two with Bruce Bosi is produced by iHeart Radio
Speaker 5: seven three seven Park and Airmail. Our executive producers are
Speaker 5: Bruce Bosi and Nathan King. Our supervising producer is Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 5: Our editors are Vincent to Johnny and Cas B Bias.
Speaker 5: Table for two is researched and written by Jack Sullivan.
Speaker 5: Our sound engineers are Meil B. Klein, Jess Krainich, Evan Taylor,
Speaker 5: and Jesse Funk. Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our
Speaker 5: talent booking is done by Jane Sarkin. Table for two's
Speaker 5: social media manager is Gracie Wiener. Special thanks to Amy Sugarman,
Speaker 5: Uni Scherer, Kevin Yuvane, Bobby Bauer, Alison Kanter Graber.
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