9. Ballet and Wealth Redistribution

A conversation with professional ballet dancer Craig Freigang. Our discussion includes topics such as: ancestry, Craig's time in Germany, Craig's childhood and teenage years, how Craig got into ballet, childhood hyperactivity, dancing as a sport rather than an art form, dancing and acting, the self-critique required of being a ballet dancer and how dancing is as physical as it is mental, the body type expectations for ballet dancers, the lengths people will go to make their feet the right shape, the extreme competitiveness of ballet, the role of audience appreciation in self-esteem, sponsors and job security in ballet, the absolute power of the artistic director, unemployment in the off-season, how to improve ballet to make it healthier for people's mental states, how lucky Craig was to get a spot in the ballet company, how Craig deals with the stress and competition of ballet culture, the role of art in society and why dancers dance, art as escapism vs art as a critique of society, the 2020 presidential election (I'm sorry for the background noise during this part), political division and the electoral college, anti-trump conservatives, if the runner-up became Vice President, ranked choice voting, how Craig feels about fiscally left-leaning issues such as unemployment and coronavirus relief funds and increasing minimum wage, universal basic income and financial responsibility, whether taxing corporations more is a good idea, the balancing act of how much regulation there should be, Joe Biden's plan to raise taxes on the super rich, not wanting to tax the rich because you imagine one day you'll be rich, equality of opportunity and trying to decrease wealth inequality, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins, and the benefits of reading books over watching movies.   Milwaukee Ballet: https://www.milwaukeeballet.org/