The next in our series of short previews for Live Arts Magazine on October 23rd.

Rythea Lee is a Northampton based performer, who just recently finished a year touring her one woman show “Don’t Be a Dick”. She’s a professional dancer, multidisciplinary artist, musician, teacher, counselor, and author of the blog, “Gutsy Healing.”

Rythea sees her multiple professions as being intrinsically tied to each other, her overarching focus on “empowerment through fearless self-responsibility.”

As a performer and director she produces performances that balance intensity with her quick wit and humor. She blends highly physical dance with spoken word, and deeply personal stories. Her music is often part of her performances, connecting with the powerful social and political commentary central to her work.

She studied modern dance at NYU, then spent many years as a choreographer.

After her move to the Valley in the mid-’90s, she developed a unique practice of combining dancing and talking – “spontaneous monologue”. In speaking candidly with audiences about her problems, she discovered she could connect with people through her humor. Since then, she’s performed all over New England, from living room shows to colleges and performance art festivals.

“Don’t be a Dick”, her latest one woman show, is a musical memoir that uses her life as an example of “how to be awake, conscious, alive, expressive”… and, we’re guessing, how not to be a dick.

Music from her album “Something Knows You”.

Audio Engineer: J Kyle Sullivan
Editor: J Kyle Sullivan
Mixing & Mastering: J Kyle Sullivan
Photography: Joyce Skowyra

[gtalert title=”Note” title_color=”#699bb1″ close_button=”no” border_style=”none” border_radius=”4″]AudioFiles is a production of New England Public Radio. The interviews, anecdotes, and oral histories recorded for AudioFiles are designed to build a public audio library of the western New England experience, and are not intended as news content, or endorsements by NEPR’s staff or Board. For more information, contact AudioFiles producer, J Kyle Sullivan.[/gtalert]