Introducing The Slant Podcast. Hosted by Dana Tai Soon Burgess, the first choreographer in residence at the Smithsonian, this podcast is an ongoing conversation about art, culture, and belonging in the Asian American experience. Joined by leading voices in the American and International arts, literary, and activism community, this podcast hopes to create a place of generational mentorship, healing, and community—through storytelling.
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The Slant Podcast


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Lisa Gold: Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges
29:30
29:30
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Join host Dana Tai Soon Burgess, renowned choreographer and dancer, as he engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Lisa Gold. Lisa Gold is the Executive Director of the Asian American Arts Alliance (A4), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring equitable representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the arts. Lisa brings …
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Alicia Austin: A Costume Designer's Toolbox
36:11
36:11
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Alicia Austin is a Brooklyn-based costume designer and a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Currently a designer and mentor for young theatre students, Alicia chats with Dana about growing up as the Asian daughter in a white family, the power of investing in personal experiences, and trusting yourself in the path you've decided to take.…
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Jason Kim: Writing, KPOP, Asian Solidarity!
39:22
39:22
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Jason Kim is an Emmy-nominated, Korean-born writer and producer who grew up in the Midwest. Known for his work on the television show BARRY (HBO), Kim's new slate of projects include a Crazy Rich Asians spin-off, an adaptation of Michelle Zauner's bestselling book Crying in H-Mart, and KPOP the musical. Join us for a conversation about writing as a…
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Erica Barry: Media Belongs To The People Now
34:05
34:05
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Growing up in the internet generation, media strategist Erica Barry watched digital media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok transform the entertainment industry and become a way for talented yet historically underrepresented creators to find their audience and tell their story. Thus, she decided to write her debut book Don’t Wait, Creat…
In the early 90s, Kevin Stea was hired as associate choreographer to the famous choreographer Vincent Paterson for Madonna’s legendary Blond Ambition Tour, where he also quickly became dance captain and dancer. Soon after, his career continued to take off: dancing for Gloria Estefan, Prince, and Michael Jackson, among others. Decades ago, Kevin was…
Adi Shankar is an Indian-American film producer, writer, YouTube personality, and actor—best known for producing Castlevania (2017), Dredd (2012), and his "Bootleg Universe" One-Shot series of unauthorized pop culture satire films. Having spent a nomadic childhood in cities all around the globe, he was constantly the outsider looking in. Adi reflec…
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Tim Ma: What's More American Than Chinese Take-Out?
38:26
38:26
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Tim Ma is a critically acclaimed chef and restaurateur, known for several iconic spots in the Washington D.C. area. After an eight year career in engineering, Tim—to the dismay of his restaurateur parents—decided to carry on the family legacy of serving food in a new way. Tim discusses his personal mission to reinvent Chinese Take-Out, a French-Chi…
Ken Narasaki is an actor and playwright who has performed in over 70 plays internationally and was the star of a German cop show called ZWEI PROFIS. Narasaki discusses his adaptation of John Okada's novel "NO-NO BOY" into a radio drama, the Japanese American community's conflicting experiences in World War II, and his family's deep commitment to ad…
David S. Leong is a certified conflict resolution trainer and fight master whose fight choreography has appeared in over twenty Broadway, London West End, and New York Metropolitan Opera plays. David shares how growing up in a home with domestic violence, a childhood obsession with Zorro, and the stubborn belief in his own growth lead him to where …
Phil Chan is a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization that is decolonizing ballet repertoire through advising performing arts groups on how to maintain the integrity of works from the classical Western canon while updating outdated representations of race and culture. Chan discusses navigating orientalism in classical ballet perfor…
Gary Jackson is the author of two poetry collections entitled Origin Story (University of New Mexico Press, 2020) and Missing You, Metropolis (Graywolf Press, 2010), for which he received the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Gary discusses the unique experience of growing up in the midwest with Black, Korean, and Indigenous roots; moving to Korea—his …
A conversation with Susan Choi, the author of five novels, Trust Exercise, My Education, American Woman, A Person of Interest, and The Foreign Student. Her work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award and has won the PEN/W.G. Sebald Award, the Asian-American Literary Award, and the National Book Award for fiction. Susa…
A conversation with Diep Tran, an arts journalist and editor based in New York City. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, NBC News, Backstage, CNN, and other publications. Diep discusses the limited theatre market for complex, Asian American narratives, the systemic inequalities in journalism, and her growing project, Viet Fact Check—a b…
A conversation with Ping Chong, an American contemporary theater director, choreographer, video and installation artist who was raised in New York City's Chinatown. Internationally recognized as a director, and a creator of interdisciplinary theater work, Ping discusses the influence of Cantonese Opera, using the "physical body" as an element of pe…
A conversation with David Henry Hwang, an award-winning Chinese American playwright, librettist, and theatre professor known for his iconic works—M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, and Soft Power—all of which have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. David discusses racial roles in American Theatre, the failure of the model minority myth, and a…
A conversation with Priya Darshini, an Indian American singer, composer, and actress whose debut album titled Periphery has been nominated for a 2021 Grammy for best New Age Album. Priya shares the difficult cultural and personal questions she undertook in the creation of Periphery, the spiritual experience of recording songs in an abandoned church…
Introducing Slant Podcast. Hosted by Dana Tai Soon Burgess, the first choreographer in residence at the Smithsonian, this podcast is an ongoing conversation about art, culture, and belonging in the Asian American experience. Joined by leading voices in the American and International arts, literary, and activism community, this podcast hopes to crea…