Multidisciplinary artist Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg keeps it real on her arts-focused podcast
Talking Shit with Tara Cheyenne includes interviews, stories, and tips on how people can keep creating during COVID-19
Photo by Wendy D
TARA CHEYENNE FRIEDENBERG is one of those performance artists you never forget, a dancer and actor so expressive and convincing she can have you laughing your tail off one minute then heading to the sniffle station the next. Or maybe you’re just awestruck from start to finish. She’s an educator, choreographer, and writer as well; the latest on a long list of titles is podcaster.
Talking Shit with Tara Cheyenne is about “art making, creativity, not giving up, and living well in the process”. Friedenberg ponders and processes all that with guests from the local creative scene through informal interviews, personal stories and reflections, and the sharing of practical tools and tips.
When the pandemic hit, the artistic director of Tara Cheyenne Performance was in the midst of choreographing four plays: Cypher for the Arts Club Theatre/Vertigo Theatre Calgary, Berlin—The last cabaret for PuSh International Performing Arts Festival; Straight White Men for Itsazoo/Frank Theatre, and Trans-Scripts: Part 1 The Women for ZeeZeeTheatre/Frank Theatre. She was workshopping Midsummer Night’s Dream for Bard on the Beach plus getting ready to premiere The Body Project, what would have been an ensemble piece around body image from a female-identifying/non-binary perspective. The Body Project is now called Body Parts and has become a solo (which will be out as a digital experience and a live show for micro audiences in the new year). The work will also feature a series of digital installations with photographer Wendy D and composer Marc Stewart, virtual workshops, and circle discussions.
She’s also in the midst of making a web series and a feature based on one of her solos with filmmaker Allison Beda.
“Yep, a bit busy,” Friedenberg tells Stir. “But I honestly feel very lucky to be healthy and have the ability to continue my creative work. I really miss performing in real life, of course. I’m trying to embrace the digital.”
Talking Shit with Tara Cheyenne (which typically airs twice a month) came about last year following so many intriguing conversations with fellow artists that left her thinking, “that was so interesting I wish I could share”. A podcast proved to be the perfect vehicle.
“We are surrounded by so many super smart, fascinating, resourceful art makers and thinkers, we should be hearing what they have to say,” Friedenberg says. “I also wanted to share doable art-making tips and strategies that I’ve learned over the years. Especially in these crazy times, we need ways of staying creative, supporting and encouraging each other to keep making.
“I’ve definitely put more focus [since the pandemic hit] on how we can make art in such uncertain and challenging times,” she says. “We all have to do things so differently now, but obstacles can lead to great invention. However, we also have to be very gentle with ourselves. This shit is real.”
To date, Friedenberg has focused on hosting female-identifying and non-binary artists with the exception of one interview with her son, who’s now nine years old. In June, she made a conscious decision to pause white voices “and focus on the incredible Indigenous, Black, and POC female-identifying artists I know and love”, including Amber Funk Barton, Zahra Shahab, Justine A Chambers, Michelle Olson, Tasha Faye Evans, Cherine Amr, Olivia C Davies, Ziyian Kwan, and Jeanette Kotowich, with more to come.
Next up is a Q&A episode with three newly graduated dance and theatre artists asking her and dancer, choreographer Kate Franklin, associate director of Modus Operandi, questions about how to survive and thrive in Vancouver’s performing-arts scene.
“I have a dynamite list of artists I’ll be interviewing over the winter,” Friedenberg says. “I’m also going to start mini creative-tasks and -strategies episodes to keep us all creating over the dark months.”
Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg in rehearsal for Body Parts. Photo by Kate Franklin
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