Dear friends,
This week on The Nocturnists: Uncertainty in Medicine, we’re thrilled to share a conversation that might surprise you. It’s not with a doctor or a patient, but with an improvisational dance artist.
Meet Chris Aiken, a renowned dancer and teacher at Smith College whose life’s work is all about moving through the unknown—literally. Chris creates entire performances without choreography, inviting dancers to respond to the moment and each other in real time, like birds in a murmuration, or schools of fish.
We were curious: what could this kind of embodied risk-taking teach us about how we move through medical uncertainty?
In this episode, we follow Chris into the studio, where we observe his rehearsals and hear how he trains dancers to prepare for chaos, and respond with what he calls poetic instinct. Along the way, Chris shares insights about decision-making, attention, failure, and the kind of quiet discipline that makes improvisation possible.
This is a conversation about dance, but it’s also about the art of staying open when the path ahead isn’t clear. We hope it will leave you thinking (and feeling) in new ways.
With love,
Emily and The Nocturnists Team
PS- I recently did an interview with KALW’s Crosscurrents about our Uncertainty series. Take a listen here: The Benefits Of Embracing Uncertainty.
Tell us your thoughts on the Uncertainty series!
From Friends of The Nocturnists: Listen to Tradeoffs
Looking for a podcast that makes sense of the latest health policy debates? Tradeoffs blends rigorous research, thoughtful conversations, and compelling storytelling to help you understand the stakes—and the potential solutions—to health care’s toughest choices. New episodes drop every Thursday. Subscribe to Tradeoffs wherever you get your podcasts.
Uncertainty in Medicine in Nautilus
Check out this interview with our founder and host, Dr. Emily Silverman, in Nautilus. Emily talks about the discomfort of not knowing, and why embracing uncertainty is essential to the practice of medicine.
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