Gabriel Rodreick “Freaque” — musician, dancer, & creator behind A Cripple's Dance — joins the show for an unfiltered conversation about pleasure, disability, and creative reinvention. He traces his journey from a piano-playing, barefoot Minneapolis kid to a 33-year-old artist living with a C5 spinal cord injury, sharing how he rebuilt his singing voice, found his sound again and turned grief into art. The conversation moves through the vulnerability of A Cripple's Dance, the shame tangled up in songs like "Drip For Me" and "Mudstick," and how his creative inspiration is shifting from "the mud" of grief toward fire, heat, and sensuality. Gabe opens up about exploring kink and polyamory as a disabled person, the courage it takes to be playful and imperfect in intimacy, and why "no" never has to kill the vibe. It's a raw, funny, and moving look at pleasure, art, and the magic that can be created when you follow what feels good.
Gabriel Rodreick “Freaque” — musician, dancer, & creator behind A Cripple's Dance — joins the show for an unfiltered conversation about pleasure, disability, and creative reinvention. He traces his journey from a piano-playing, barefoot Minneapolis kid to a 33-year-old artist living with a C5 spinal cord injury, sharing how he rebuilt his singing voice, found his sound again and turned grief into art.
The conversation moves through the vulnerability of A Cripple's Dance, the shame tangled up in songs like "Drip For Me" and "Mudstick," and how his creative inspiration is shifting from "the mud" of grief toward fire, heat, and sensuality. Gabe opens up about exploring kink and polyamory as a disabled person, the courage it takes to be playful and imperfect in intimacy, and why "no" never has to kill the vibe. It's a raw, funny, and moving look at pleasure, art, and the magic that can be created when you follow what feels good.
Resources:
Freaque (Gabriel Rodreick) - https://gabrielrodreick.com/freaque
Minnesota Arts High School - Perpich - https://share.google/ueZHjgki7kw9nM5gb
Ray Lamontagne https://share.google/uquQoz5qzS6nJaQQp
move me documentary - Kelsey Peterson https://share.google/2njGLQJx2jicGpJ7T
Young Dance – Transforming Lives Through Movement https://share.google/FQOArXa8XZwmjjaJe
Episode Timestamps
(0:00) – Intro
(1:08) – Welcome, Gabriel “Freaque” Rodreick
(2:14) – Pleasure and joy in childhood
(3:40) – Early song writing, first album and the Accident
(5:12) – Attending Art School shortly after his injury
(6:37) – Finding his voice through Ray LaMontagne
(7:48) – Starting the band Treading North
(9:15) – Founding Freaque and A Cripple's Dance
(14:26) – Living in a Disabled Body
(17:19) – Art as activism & the healing in Truth- Telling
(21:08) – Teaching and supporting others' stories
(23:34) – A Cripple's Dance
(27:50) – Pain, pleasure, and shifting inspiration
(29:39) – From Mud to Fire - Creative Evolution
(32:39) – Writing "Drip For Me" and confronting shame
(37:50) – Finding pleasure today
(40:14) – Exploring kink and polyamory
(41:29) – Play as his North Star
(44:59) – Courage, bravery, and being a goofball
(48:20) – Consent and "no" in play
(51:01) – Sound, voice, and sensuality
(55:07) – Closing thoughts, hopes, and advice
(57:03) – Music send-off “Drip For Me” by, Freaque