[upbeat jazz music] [upbeat jazz music continues] - In this edition of WLIW Arts Beat, the language of flamenco.

- One of the things that I think makes it so empowering and powerful and intense, is the rhythms and in just the posture itself.

[upbeat jazz music] - [Diane] A mural that celebrates diversity.

- [Rhiana] We wanted to do a public art project that was demonstrative of our values and what we're doing here.

[upbeat jazz music] - [Diane] An ancestral funk artist.

- When you hear her voice, it's like this voice has been here before.

This isn't a new voice, this isn't a pop voice.

This is a voice that has a story.

- It's all ahead, on this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

Funding for WLIW Arts Beat was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Welcome to WLIW Arts Beat, I'm Diane Masciale.

In this segment, we head to Ohio to meet Alice Blumenfeld, the Artistic Director of the award-winning flamenco music and dance company, Abrepaso.

Founded in 2016, the company presents creative works to audiences in the state and aims to inspire.

Flamenco is expressive, it's percussive, and it's powerful both for the audience and the performer.

- One of the things that I think makes it so empowering and powerful and intense, is the rhythm.

And in just the posture itself.

The chest is always lifted.

There's a sense of tension in the way in the sort of the way we use our hands.

There's always this sense of resistance and then it's very much grounded into the Earth the way that we hit our feet on the floor.

- [Diane] The dancing fuses with music, often singing and guitar.

Performing here in Northeast Ohio, Blumenfeld says she's introducing many people to what it's all about.

- Flamenco, first of all, comes from Spain.

It comes from the southern most region of Spain where there was a really interesting mix of cultures over the last several thousand years.

Flamenco itself is a very young art form so it's roots are very old, but it's very young.

- [Diane] She was drawn to flamenco in her youth growing up in New Mexico where there's an annual flamenco festival and a national institute dedicated to the art form.

Blumenfeld ended up trading in her ballet slippers for flamenco heels.

- And I just became enraptured in the rhythm and had what in flamenco we call an experience of duende sort of an out of body experience, and I just knew in that moment that this was it.

This is what I would dedicate my life to.

[upbeat guitar music] - [Diane] She went on to tour with national companies and even studied flamenco in Spain for a little while, but as time went on, she says she realized she wanted to find a way to tell her own stories through flamenco.

- I felt a lot of flamenco outside of Spain was just perpetuating the stereotype of the woman in a red dress.

And it's an image that sells, it sells tickets to shows and there wasn't really a company that had space for the American artist to tell their stories.

So, a lot of companies bring in artists from Spain to set repertory, and I was just like there's so many artists here that have so much to say why isn't there a company that's emphasizing that?

And then it was like, well, duh, I can be the one to start that company.

- [Diane] She started a small pre-professional company called Abrepaso, which means opening a pathway.

Abrepaso dancers performed flamenco recently at Cleveland Public Theater's Annual Community Arts Event Station Hope.

[feet pounding] - An explosion.

Flash.

- So the beginning and end of the piece is movement to a poem that I wrote as part of a project called The Solaya Project.

So, Solaya is the flamenco form that comes from the word for solitude or loneliness in Spanish.

[feet pounding] - Push me aside.

Dignity takes my hand and leads.

[feet pounding] - [Diane] This performance mixed poetry and choreography centered around dignity.

- I walk with dignity.

So I was thinking about that word and the way that some flamenco allows for dignity and sort of re-empowers the individual to find dignity, if they have been dehumanized in some way.

- [Diane] The language of flamenco has helped Blumenfeld since she was first introduced back in middle school.

- I think every middle schooler is going through a lot and trying to figure out who they are, and being inundated by society with lots of ideas and just trying to search for oneself.

And so, flamenco really helped me in that moment of my life and has helped me in other challenging moments in my life to find an outlet and also to have community as well.

So, one of the really cool things about flamenco is it attracts people from all different walks of life, different economic backgrounds, different ethnic backgrounds, and I think that's because flamenco is a hybrid form to begin with.

It drew from many different cultures and histories.

So, it still welcomes people from just so many different backgrounds and experiences.

And so, I just wanna give people the opportunity to when they need that expressive outlet that flamenco is here for them.

- [Diane] Well, some people in Northeast Ohio may just be learning about flamenco for the first time, Blumenfeld says she finds this to be a great arts community.

- And it takes a community of people to have flamenco.

So, that act of witnessing when you're expressing something very personal, I think is so important to healing and to building community.

[gentle guitar music] [gentle guitar music continues] - [Diane] Find out more at abrepaso.org.

[upbeat jazz music] And now, the Artist Quote of the week.

[upbeat jazz music continues] At the Moab Valley Multicultural Center in Utah, one will discover the multicultural mural.

For this cultural education and outreach project, 10 local artists and community volunteers came together to render an artwork that features important figures like Maya Angelou, Harvey Milk, and Nelson Mandela.

Take a look.

[gentle music] - Art always contributes to the community and I think the mural, it gives credit to people that we're not always thinking about.

Even though they were all very important people and very important activists, I think someone may walk by and remember Malala or remember Nelson Mandela.

And so, I think that in combination with art it one makes the community more beautiful and it allows people to remember something they may not necessarily be thinking about while they're here in Moab.

- First and foremost, we're a community resource center, which means that anytime our doors are open, anyone in the community can walk in and whatever situation they've got going on, whatever problem they need help with, we'll do our very best to help them meet that need.

Sometimes through our own services, sometimes through working with community partners and other agencies.

And then we also do a lot of community outreach and education, a lot of youth outreach and education.

So, sometimes we're putting out fires, dealing with homelessness and mental health and substance use.

And then, sometimes we are making instruments from all over the world with kids.

And that can all happen in like a single afternoon.

[kids chatting] - The Multicultural Mural Project was started in 2014, to the best of my recollection, and it was completed, it took about three years to complete, Because the Multicultural Center isn't an arts organization, we're a social service organization, but we do see and appreciate and often use the arts as a way to meet our mission of building bridges across language and culture through family support, community collaboration, and education.

So, the idea of this mural was really a fantastic way to meet our mission, to involve people from our community, artists and all of the people who participated on the selection committee for which activists would be highlighted.

And then from the very beginning, we saw it as an opportunity to use an education piece as well.

[gentle upbeat guitar music] [gentle upbeat guitar music continues] It really began with the need to cover up an eye sore area on our property.

There was a junkyard on our property and we knew we wanted to cover that.

And so, we had decided we would build a fence and if we were gonna build a fence we wanted to put our own flavor on that.

We wanted to do a public art project that was demonstrative of our values and what we're doing here.

And that would contribute to the celebration of diversity here in Moab and all around.

- The piece that I created for the multicultural mural was the piece for Harvey Milk.

Spent a lot of time in the San Francisco Bay area in the Castro district and learned a lot about Harvey Milk.

And developed a sense of, I wouldn't say like a connection, but a sense of understanding and kind of a commitment to helping spread the message that Harvey Milk and his followers were also trying to share and spread as well.

And so, when I moved to Moab to this high desert and had the opportunity to create a mural about a person that I had a connection with from my youth, or my young adulthood, it felt really meaningful.

And another way that I could kind of give back to this community, while still honoring my own past and my roots.

- So, the piece that I did was Jane Goodall.

I have always really, really been infatuated with Jane Goodall.

It was like the life that I saw myself living at some point like working with chimpanzees and just like becoming best friends with them.

So, when I saw that one on there, I was duly excited, because I think she's a really incredible person.

And I saw it as my opportunity to add an animal and I was like, no one else is gonna be doing that.

I've gotta get Jane Goodall.

So that was the one I went for.

- It was a time of tears and trials.

Standing Bear and 26 others decided to reclaim their land.

To stand and return, to go home to Nebraska, to return to the ground besides the swift running water.

The small band of Poncas made it home after 10 weeks of toil, hunger... - We spend a lot of time in the classroom and sometimes that's our staff going into the elementary school or into the preschool or the middle school.

And a lot of times that's them coming to us and being in our space, whether it's our office or outside.

And I think it's great for, this is like, it's an office technically, but it's colorful and vibrant and welcoming.

And even though sometimes we're dealing with really hard, sad things here, we try and do that in a way that makes it okay, it's like those things are gonna happen and we have a comfy space where we can confront that.

And I think having the outdoor diversity classroom is just another place where that can happen.

- I think a lot of public art spaces or historical sites you could call them diversity classrooms with indoor or outdoor diversity classrooms.

But what makes ours specifically more one of its kind is the curriculum that matches each of the panels.

We had a teacher who volunteered to write that curriculum and it specifically tied to the Utah Public School's core curriculum.

We wanted the mural.

There's all these, there's a lot of needs that it met.

And it was important to me to make it complimentary to what our students were learning in the schools to reinforce that, because that in education anytime we can reinforce that it helps to integrate what we're learning, I believe.

So, the mural goes, it meets that need, but it goes outside of that too.

So, we can reinforce what kids are learning in the classroom, but we can go above and beyond that and into critical thinking in many ways.

- Painting my piece, the Harvey Milk piece, was really important to me and special for me.

And every time I see it when I take my daughter from our house to the park, we pass by it and I get to point it out and teach her a little bit about Harvey Milk.

But as a whole, the whole project, it just brings this immense sense of pride.

And it also reminds me of the importance of investing time in learning about these leaders from all different cultures and not spending too much time focusing on a specific group of marginalized voices, but recognizing that our community is made up of like all kinds of incredible people.

- It's amazing to be a part of something that's been here for seven plus years now.

When I did it at the time I didn't really know that I would necessarily continue to be here in seven years.

I didn't really know that the person next to me and the person on the other side of me would become like very good friends of mine.

So, it's just really cool to like, every time I pass by, I think like, wow, that was like a very different time in my life.

But here it is and it's served now like how many years of elementary school grades that have come here on field trips and that's so amazing.

And I think just getting that recognition is really funny, because I don't like identify as an artist in my day-to-day life.

I work at a hospital.

So, every so often someone will be like, "Is that your name on the mural?"

And I'm like, "Oh, yes it is.

I did do that, in fact."

So, it's kind of the fun, like we all wear a lot of hats here and a lot of people don't necessarily actively like do art for their living, because that would be very difficult.

But most of the artists who contributed to that mural do other things in the community as well.

And this is kind of just like a passion project.

So, I think the passion really comes through and it's something I still really feel strongly about.

- I feel like the impact that the mural has had in the community is it's added beauty to our community.

Anytime you add public art it is adding beauty.

People get to see that beautiful mural instead of that junkyard.

But a visual representation too, I think, there's the culture, your own personal culture, your family culture, your organizational culture, but what about the culture of the community that you live in?

Do they put importance on art or equity or diversity, things like that?

So, having something so large and bright and colorful, I think speaks to this is a community that celebrates diversity, wants to inspire people, by highlighting activists and having community projects that are collaborative.

I think all of that speaks to the culture not just of MVMC but of Moab and what we want it to be.

What we're striving to have it be.

[gentle music] - [Diane] For more information go to moabmc.org.

[gentle upbeat jazz music] Now, here's a look at this month's fun fact.

[gentle upbeat jazz music] [gentle upbeat jazz music] Music chose Siobhan Monique.

As an ancestral funk artist, she tells a story with her voice and connects with those that came before her.

When she sings, audiences are dazzled.

We travel to Florida to learn more.

[gentle bass music] - I am Siobhan Monique.

I am a conduit for my ancestors and the daughter of St. Petersburg, Florida.

I am here to fulfill my purpose, walk in my destiny, but more importantly, I am here to let my light shine.

[gentle jazz music] My very first performance, I was three years old.

I was selected to perform in front of the church.

[gentle gospel music] - She got on stage in front of an entire packed church for a Christmas play.

She grabbed the microphone and just ad-libbed her entire part, and just brought the church down.

So, we were like, oh okay, well, this is what she wants to do.

♪ Temptation ♪ - That moment was when I connected to my purpose.

I didn't choose music, it chose me.

- [Melissa] Her personality was an old soul from day one.

Her facial expressions had this kind of old soul type of feel to it.

She had a very unique, beautiful darkness to her.

And I think that's part of this artistry that we see now.

♪ Southern trees ♪ ♪ Bear a strange fruit ♪ - I was in awe the first time that I heard her.

She was such a demure person, a small person, but this huge voice would come from her.

And it was so moving.

♪ Swinging in the Southern ♪ - I can definitely see her sound and her music being something in the forties and the fifties and connecting with that.

And when you hear her voice, it's like this voice has been here before.

This isn't a new voice, this isn't a pop voice.

This is a voice that has a story that needs to be told.

So, she's continuing to tell the story.

So, it really resonates with all generations.

[upbeat jazz music] - My Uncle Buster was a very essential part of the jazz era.

He played with the Duke Ellington Jazz Band.

And now that I look back on it, as an adult, I can see the seeds that he planted for me and for my life.

[upbeat jazz music continues] - Buster Cooper is my uncle.

He is my father's brother.

That connection and Siobhan's gift of having that type of ancestral voice and connection to the great jazz legends allowed the two of them to really connect when it came to music.

[upbeat jazz music continues] - He would always say, my family calls me boo.

So, "Boo never give up."

I got a degree in classical voice.

I went to New York and I was the leading role in a off-Broadway show.

And then he got sick and I was missing my family at the time.

And my mom was like, "Listen, your uncle, he doesn't have much time left."

So I'm like, "Okay, I'm gonna pack up my stuff.

I'm gonna come home.

I already missed my family, I need to see my uncle."

On his deathbed, he pulls me to him and he said, "Listen, I want you to carry on the family legacy.

It's your time.

I give you my blessing and I want you to carry this through."

And I'm like, oh, okay, that's nothing major.

And so, with him saying that I embraced and I accepted the calling and what he was passing down to me.

And that is what you see before you.

Community is important to me, because there is strength in numbers and my community has shaped and molded me into a queen.

You have to give back to what has been given important to you.

- One thing I can say about St. Pete, especially, the south side of St. Pete, we are still a generational city.

We know people, we know their father, their grandfather, their great-grandfather.

So, there's still that generational connection that I think makes it very unique.

- It takes a village.

It takes a village that believes in you.

And in this case, establishing that base.

You know you can go home.

- She's actually taken on that field to go where, to New York, to LA.

She always wants to come back to that feeling of family.

[Siobhan singing] - If it wasn't for my village, my community, my family, my ancestors who constantly reminded me, no, you are beautiful.

You are smart.

Your voice ain't too loud, it's not loud enough.

Girl, sing, be you.

The moment that I decided to do that, all of the beauty.

All of the beauty.

So what I will say to you, little Black girl, that's watching this right now, you're beautiful.

You're more than just a strong Black woman.

You're magical.

Be yourself, love yourself.

Know thy self.

That's where all of this comes from.

I'm me.

- To hear more, visit ancestralfunk.com And here's a look at this week's art history.

[upbeat jazz music] [upbeat jazz music continues] That wraps it up for this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

We'd like to hear what you think.

So, like us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter and visit our webpage for features and to watch episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time.

I'm Diane Masciale, thank you for watching WLIW Arts Beat.

Funding for WLIW Arts Beat was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

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