For twenty years, Charlie Hodges heeded his creative calling to dance at the highest level. With roles in acclaimed Broadway productions and as part of Twyla Tharp’s legendary repertory company, his trek to the peak of that profession was grueling to say the least. Charlie endured waves of intensely personal rejection – oftentimes targeting his body type and appearance. But he ultimately prevailed, thanks to his abundance of talent, perseverance and incredibly high pain threshold.
Most people would be more than satisfied with those achievements. But for Charlie, that was simply act one. He then pivoted – or, more accurately, pirouetted – toward a completely new creative métier: product design. Drawing on his lifelong passion for architecture, he enrolled in ArtCenter’s Product Design program.
His natural creative abilities and propensity for hard work continued to serve him well. Charlie developed Urbanette, a sustainable dollhouse, as part of an ArtCenter project sponsored by a major toy company, for which he received a prestigious IDSA award. He recently delivered a remarkably vulnerable and wise TEDx talk on the resilience he acquired pursuing a career in dance with an unconventional body type. And, finally, true to his commitment to excellence, Charlie graduated from ArtCenter College of Design as the summer 2018 valedictorian.
In this episode, Charlie and ArtCenter President Lorne Buchman discuss his hard-won ascent to the top of the dance world, the evolution of his passion for design, his lifelong belief in the power of persistence and his new passion for designing toys that can influence change.
Learn more about Charlies's work:
https://www.charliehodges.design http://ladanceproject.org https://www.twylatharp.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrEDTelG_9U http://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/movinout.htmLearn more about this episode of Change Lab at www.artcenter.edu.
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29 Saki Mafundikwa and Sadie Red Wing on Decolonializing Design
28 Recent Alum Vicente Magaña on Solving the Riddle of Mass Transit in California
27 IBM Design Chief Phil Gilbert on Leadership as Love
Encore Episode: Wendy MacNaughton on Road Testing Inspiration
Encore Episode: Reconnecting with Jesse Genet on the Growth of Lumi and the Future of E-Commerce
Encore Episode: Reconnecting with Jackie Amézquita on Crossing Borders into Parts Known and Unknown
26 Father Greg Boyle on Reducing Gang Violence through Radical Kinship at Homeboy Industries
25 RISD President Rosanne Somerson on the Next Iteration of Creative Education
24 Jeff Goodby on Creating Mass Intimacy through Artful Advertising
23 Rebeca Méndez on dissolving boundaries and connecting with our animal nature
22 Mariana Prieto on Designing for Wildlife
21 Ari Montanez on Realizing his NBA Dreams through Design
20 James Hollis on the Psyche, Uncertainty and Uncovering Creativity
19 Ralph Gilles on Automobile Design, Human Connection and the Future of Cars
18 Lisa Kron on Memory, Meaning and the Collective Power of Theater
16 Jesse Genet on Building Businesses to Create a Meaningful Life
15 Matthew Rolston on Glamour, Death Anxiety and the Unity of Opposites
14 Jackie Amezquita on Crossing Borders to Create Change
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