Buccini-Butch, Goust, Irizarry Interview: PLM "FROM PERFORMERS TO SPECTATORS: COVID-19 | NYC" Ep #3

PRIME LATINO MEDIA Salón Interview: The 3rd episode features three artists from the six-part PBS series, "From Performers to Spectators: COVID-19 | NYC,” of the 30-minute program that premiered on the NY-PBS station, ALL★ ARTS (channel 1276). A docu-series set as a time capsule of inspiring performing artists who faced a lack of performance venues and gigs due to COVID-19 starting in March 2020, artists tapped into the power of invention. Dancer and circus acrobat, Angela Buccini-Butch transfers her creative skills into the art of balancing over wine bottles, as a means of self-expression during lockdown. Theater Actor and director, Daniel Irizarry talks about theater as a humanizing space and singer/songwriter, Renee Goust narrates how the pandemic made her more resilient.
Segment 1: Angela Buccini-Butch | Dancing Is Self-Expression A Buffalo native is a dancer since childhood, choreographer and circus artist who really felt cut at the knees and terminally confined with lockdown and insufficiently fulfilled broadcasting on social media without a live audience. However, within her limited space at home, she mastered another skill: bottle-walking that she took outdoors and to unorthodox environments. “Having time to rest and reflect, it’s actually using that restraint as a positive to steer in other directions.”
Segment 2: Daniel Irizarry | Theater, A Space To Be Human, Puerto Rican-born director, performer, actor and theatrical teacher thrives in experimental theater. The pandemic with all its closures and constraints only reinforced for him that theater is a celebration of the five senses and where we remember that we’re human beings - a profession he wouldn’t change for anything. “This pause has forced me to strengthen ties.”
Segment 3: Renee Goust | On Stage My Soul Comes Out A proud Mexican-American who bridges both cultures, a feminist and LGBTQ, she is a bona fide singer and songwriter having performed in dozens of concerts on both sides of the border. But then her world stopped and she was in lockdown until the social explosion of George Floyd’s murder when she hit the streets, helmet and all for weeks. “I’m also more grateful for the stuff that we used to have and that I used to take for granted.”
Executive Producers: Melisa Ramos & TíoLouie/Louis E. Perego Moreno
Creator, Director, Producer & Editor: Melisa Ramos
Cinematographer & Producer: Miguel Miller