 So good morning and welcome to women and movement number 11, African American women affecting the arts in New Orleans, dance. I want to start, I've been thinking about Intesaki Shange a lot lately. So I want to start with a little Intesaki Shange from her choreo poem for colored girls who considered suicide in the rainbow was enough. And say, we got to dance to keep from crying. We got to dance to keep from dying. So come on, come on. The song, gratitude, we are here again together in person after a few years of not being together. I want to give gratitude to the earth beneath us and the atmosphere around us. The land, the tribes of the Gulf South region, the Chakra, Chinimacha, the Lexi, Homa. The shot of people's, the humble gratitude to all our African ancestors and the people of Africa and the South region. We are here. Listening to black women requires art and skill. Black women have something to say. Black women are leaders. Black women are present and visible. Black women are movers and shakers. Over six years ago, a graduate student helped support the vision that executive director of New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, Rebecca Snedeker, had to showcase women of the Gulf South region and how their creative work intersects with supporting our Gulf South community. That graduate student is actually on the stage and her name is Jarell Hamilton. Thank you. I'll just try to project. Over the 11 iterations of women in movement, we have hosted incredible artists and scholars like Maddoxula. To be able to act entirely with the moral view, a solid enthusiasm is the van. Gia Amilton, Stella Jones, Dr. Lady Hubbard, Keisha McKee, Stephanie McKee Anderson, Lisa Alexis, Dr. Courtney Bryant, Zoltanik Nisham, Natasha Bundy, Ms. Berina Kegins, Baincherese Harrison Nelson, Gia Tolentino, Anna Krieger-Vincent, and Rissa Joseph and Chiqui Black, just the name of the event. And we are here again held by the incredible moderation of Lauren Turner-Heinz to celebrate and hear these incredible and powerful women. This could not have been possible without the support of New Orleans Center for the Gulf South. Executive Director Rebecca Snedeker, Executive Secretary Regina Cairns, Graduate Student Demi Moore, and myself. We also thank Dr. John Ray Proctor for his partnership in African-American women as you are today. Thank you to Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Multicultural Affairs Carolyn Barber-Pierre, Juliana Argentino and Ariel Pintis from the School of Liberal Arts, the EDI Office, the Africana Studies Program, NOLO for Women, Music Rising at Tulane, and TU Libraries, especially Alan Velazquez and Lisa Berger. I will now introduce Dr. John Ray Proctor. Dr. John Ray Proctor is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Tulane. He teaches acting. He holds a PhD in Theater Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He's interviewed Pulitzer of Ties when they write the launch of the Secretary-Lizarre and Producers Area Committee at Tulane University. He's a career developer and producer in conjunction with New Orleans Center for the Gulf South of the annual forum African-American Women Affecting the Arts in New Orleans. I give you Dr. John Ray Proctor. Good morning. I am humbled and happy to invite this host of truly beautiful women into the Department of Theater and Dance to have this discussion today. I was raised in a matriarch. My mother raised me. I knew my grandmother. My mother was the second eldest of seven children and she raised her siblings and I knew my great-grandmother. I was raised in a world where I got to sit in the kitchen as my mother and her sisters and my aunts made Thanksgiving dinner. I have been listening to women talk my entire life and I have been blessed by the stories and I know that that's where my ancestors are held. So, without further ado, I will take a moment to introduce the panelists then I'm going to stop talking. I'd like to begin by introducing Greer Gough-Mendey, Director of Dekrema Center for Arts and Culture. Asetua Amor-Amencom, Big Queen of the Wichita. Washington. Thank you. I'm from up north. I'm used to being corrected. The Washington Asian Big Indian Tribe, Artistic Director and Founding Member of Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective. Mariyama Curry, Founder, Artistic Director of Kulu and Kaffu Traditional African Dance Companies. And Kumbu. Kulu. Kulu. Thank you. Kai Knight, Artistic Director of Silhouette Dance Ensemble and Breed. Choreographer and Performer and Instructor. Kumbulu African Drum and Dance Collective. Bambula 2000. Jarell Hamilton, Founder and Director of Jarell Hamilton Inc. And De La Soul Performance Company. And De La Soul Performance Company. And we are blessed that this panel will be moderated by the Miss Lauren Turner, Artistic Director and Founder of No Dream Diverged Knowledges. The floor is yours. All right. Well thank you everyone for being here. I am so excited. I've been thrilled ever since I was invited to moderate this panel because I too was that child who sat on the floor in the kitchen listening. Some people would say snooping, but I love to hear. I love to sit and listen to especially black women talk about not just their lives but also their artistic practice. So one of the things I want to do first though is I just want to acknowledge that we are here and we're going to have this wonderful conversation. But we are doing this. And the only reason we're able to do this is because we have access to land, right? We have access to land that's been stolen. And I just want to name and lift up the Homer, Choctaw and Shitty Macha peoples who have, whose land we're on, right? And I also want to acknowledge stolen labor. I want to acknowledge my ancestors of the Wolof and Bambara people, of Senegal and the Gambia, whose blood is in the soil and whose have basically culturally shaped this place. And so I want to lift that up today. And I want to set acknowledgement as a very meaningful intervention, but it's a first step. And there are actions that can accompany acknowledgement, actions looking like supporting land sovereignty for indigenous people, supporting the Black leadership, supporting anti-racist policies and practices that push forward equality and equity. So there are things that we have to do beyond acknowledgement. So I just want to say that first and foremost and give honor and encourage everyone in here to think through in this moment and beyond why we're able to do the things we're doing, whose land we're on. There is no empty space and there's always stories that come before ours began. So with that said, let's jump right into it. Thank you so much for that beautiful introduction. And let's give it up one more time for Dr. Proctor, Dr. Frazier, Nolago South and all of our illustrious panelists. So I'm going to ask that we start by just having each person describe their own artistic practice. I'm sorry, what? Okay, don't start with you. So we can go, we can come from this way with Ms. Kynight. Describe, we love to hear it in your own words, how you would describe it. That's a layered question. I love dancing from that perspective that where dance for me is healing, it's a way of life, it's my voice. I also love to, can you hear me? Okay, there we go. I, the question was, what's my practice? Yeah, describe your own artistic practice. I am a dancer, but I really love to teach dance and choreograph, I'm a choreographer. I teach mainly in the realm of African diaspora, Afromodem, but I also double dabble in different other art forms and disciplines. And I love, one of my companies is a multi-generational company where we have the youth dancing with their elders. I love that kind of melting pot, so I can say pretty much I live in that area where we create community amongst the dancers. And we go out to show how we operate, but it's the way we live. It is part of the performance, but it's how we practice. And there's a lot more, but I don't want to talk that much. Well, to the elders, do I have permission to speak? Go ahead on, girl. All right, okay. I know Tulane endorsed me to be here because of my gift, but my elders is always going to let me know if my character is out of place. You're not welcome to speak, so that's what we do in our African American community. So to get to your question, my creative practice, I am an artistic director and choreographer, interdisciplinary artist, and De La Soul Performance Dance Company. What we do is embody African American stories and histories of our people through interdisciplinary forms, dance, film, theater. And we process that through abstract narratives at the intersection of spirituality, identity, and culture. I am also the founder of Jeral Hamilton, Inc., now known as TBing Productions, which is, we support, we present, and we create original interdisciplinary works and cultural works. And right now, our cultural programming that we have is a smart grant initiative where we give $1,000 to artists in their artistic endeavors. We have a TBing mental wellness program where we ages 8 to 16, the students come to do holistic programming, rooted in mental health services, as well as cultural arts. And then we put on productions, and we did our first production in November 2022 inside of watercolors. And yeah, my life's work is healing. My life's work is elevation. My life's work is, yeah, just doing God's work. That's me. You want me to come behind that? Check, check. I'm looking for the monitor tech person. That's what I was looking for the monitor. So, how do I describe my life's work? I begin by just saying, I'm a child of Africa, I'm a child of the drum. Also, I'm a child of New Orleans. Not New Orleans, not New Orleans, New Orleans. I'm old school, seven-walled hard hitter all day, right? I describe myself as a cultural activist, advocate, and warrior. I believe that dance can be used for social change, in addition to healing and education. I'm not that kid that had ballet lessons. I didn't have ballet. I didn't have modern. My first introduction was through African dance. When Kumbuk organized in 1981, we started in Greer Golf School of the Arts on Dryad Street. So, I have to just say, I represent that kid that might not get ballet classes or lessons. My introduction to dance was like, listen to the second line, come down the street, you know? And doing your thing. My mama didn't dance. She didn't pay for no dance lessons. Her thing was church and music. I played the clarinet. That's what I played, right? Yeah. And I still know my ambassure. And I have an ebony clarinet. Not these plastic things that they have right now. I have an ebony clarinet. But I would just like to add to that. For me, I don't look at my work in... I don't define it in terms of all of the institutional stuff. I define it as how do I interact with my community. Which is why I take African dance into the prisons. You know, why I take African dance to the elders. Because I feel that dance in America, African dance, is taken out of context of how it was used in Africa. It was a part of the community. In the United States, we can part-life stuff. It's this dance. It's this singing. This is that. So I just feel like with my work, I just felt like I wanted to do more. I needed to find ways to include community in what was being done. And not just as an art form to appreciate, but in a way to impact their life. And to make it better. Because dance is a metaphysical phenomenon. It does change the atmosphere. When people dance, things happen, right? You saw in South Africa, when they dance, when they took down a part-time, things happen. We decided to stop City Hall from going to Congo Square. We bought it down, right? So it's something about people coming together and movement and dance. And that's why the culture of New Orleans is so important. It is a culture of resistance. Yeah, it looks good. And we dance with it, but it's about resisting. The constant trauma and oppression that people of color face every day in New Orleans, but still survive. I told y'all this was going to be good. All right, we're going to come around this side. Is it on? Can you hear me? So my experience is similar to how I said to us, I grew up in a civil rights home with my dad who was a civil rights worker. And so my first experience with, I don't want to say knowing who I am, but with African American history, I was in the fifth grade with Dorothy Moore. And she started telling us about Harriet Tubman and all these people. And it opened up doors for me. And so I would go home every day as a little girl and tell my daddy, oh, I learned this one today and I learned that one today. And he said, seek, always seek because it's more. So my dad and I had the same fight, but our highways were different. He, along with Dr. King, put together the SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference here. I joined the Black Panther Party as 14 years old, the youngest female member there. And from there, being a part of the Black Panther Party, they always taught us that we had to educate ourselves. And it was very important that we get educated and pass it down. And so I did, I left here, I went to Jackson, Mississippi, attended Jackson State University political science major. From there, I always had a burning feeling to dance because as a little girl, I would dance in the streets. So as a teenager, I would always enter dance contests in the clubs. And then the, you know, the universities would have dances. And so I would always win those contests. But anyway, moving forward, I decided that I wanted to dance. I came back home, graduated with a BS in political science, and Greg Golf had a studio, New Orleans School of the Arts on Dried Street. There's a lot of people here don't know anything about. There, dancing with Greer in the ballet class, which I hate it. And she would always fuss at Kevin Godin and I and tell us to stop talking in class. Because Kevin and I be at the bar like, we hate this shit. Why are we doing this shit? And Greer would be like, Mariam and Kevin, stop talking. And we'd be like, oh God. But anyway, from there, I found out about Kumbuca. I joined Kumbuca. From there, wanting to know more about my people and wanting to study in depth more about African people and their ethnic groups. I formed Kalfo Traditional African Dance Company and Kulu Children's Traditional African Dance Company. And so my quest is to always tell what I call the untold stories of my people. Every year for the last 33 years, I've put on two concerts and conferences every year for the last 33 years. One is children for the children only and one is for the adults. So right now, and I need to talk to you, I'm in rehearsal for my upcoming concert in March but I'm telling the story on the wrestlers. If you guys are familiar with Senegal, they have a big wrestling match, really, really big. So I'm bringing that wrestling match to life on the stage that I shake. So my quest has been to tell those stories about my people that no one know about. And so I've done in-depth stories, in-depth study, I'm sorry, with my teachers about the different stories that are told or that they have in the countries of Senegal, Mali, and Guinea. So that's my quest, that's what I do. Okay, so the question was to describe your practice. And before I describe it, I'd like to acknowledge Ms. Curry. She was very emotional when she started talking about her father. You will understand why I want to acknowledge the Curry family when I talk about my practice. In my practice it's based on a lot of research from the perspective of Louisiana. The Curry family was instrumental in the civil rights quest of not only African-American people in New Orleans, but throughout Louisiana. So the tears, and she doesn't talk about it, but when I was reading it, I was just amazed and I have to give her family honor and credit for that. So I talked about New Orleans School of the Arts. So that was founded with a woman named Lula Elsie and myself. It wasn't just me. Lula was more dedicated toward the performing aspect of it with the company. I was more interested in the teaching aspect immediately upon graduation from Xavier University in New Orleans. Lula and I were gone. We began another aspect of our professional training in New York. And at that time I said, but if I stay here, the level of where we need to be and what we need to do, not that people weren't doing it. I'm going to tell you another story about Xavier, the Xavier University, is how will we move beyond what is just being done now. So just make it light, and I'll tell you my perspective on my training. So yes, Xavier University is where I took my first professional dance class. Yes, Xavier University offered classes in jazz dance, in African-based class. They were taught by a woman named Barbara Martin and another professor who her name, it escapes me right now. But Xavier University offered that because if you know our history, Xavier, the music department, they offered operas every year. So therefore you needed a body of people who would serve as decor. So it was Xavier held the responsibility of training those people. So with that said, my perspective, and I'll make it short, I'm writing everything down. My perspective has evolved over the years. It now includes music, research, and writing. It's from a, not my organization, we're talking about Greer. It is from a self-reflective perspective. So that means it includes my work based on my emotions, personal experiences, professional training, and academic education. More importantly, encased in black culture, but dedicated to protecting and honoring that culture. With that said, it is very important that we understand our, my work is always presented from a historical analysis of our collective experiences in the practices and in what I write. I have no apologies having been raised when I was raised in the 50s and 60s, yes, flying into 70 here. And I think that's, you know, I don't want to go off. From the perspective of your practice, the practice is we're in New Orleans, I said, talked a lot about, you know, being in New Orleans. We need to be clear that culture does not make people. People make the culture. So once again, I just, I'm honored. I want to take a moment just to, I mean, I hope you all feel the same way. This is it right here. I don't know how much better it can get on a Tuesday. What is the day? No Friday. Good Friday. Don't push me. But I'm honored and I love the thing that I'm picking up amongst all of the, you all as artists and practitioners is that this is a pathway, right? Dance is a pathway and a modality for healing for black people. It's a modality for reclamation of narrative and story and remembering. And so it's all, you know, it contains all of these beautiful things, quite literally metaphysically somebody brought this up. It movement like disrupts negative energy, right? To move and to make noise and to shout disrupts and can change energy. So it's all these wonderful, beautiful things. But yet, as someone mentioned, a lot of people don't understand the full history of African or black dance or black dance leadership in the city. And so my next question is, what are some of the challenges that are currently existing in the dance community that you feel or that you faced as black women and as black leaders and black teachers? We'll start there and then we'll keep going from that point. But what are some of the challenges? Start first. That's because I'm short. I don't talk as much. I'm going to get it out now. There's several challenges, of course, and it's impossible to be able to list them all. Of course, finance has always come up first as far as not me getting paid necessarily, but for my students being able to afford the space, you know, being able to take classes. I come from a generation where the arts were not necessarily lifted up. It was extracurricular. It wasn't who you were. It wasn't a part of that. And I had a very loving family. It's just that that generation was coming from the perspective of you needed to go get a job. You need to work, right? And so the arts wasn't necessarily like anything to push. It's cool, that's what you do or whatever, but it's not something that you would necessarily go out of your way to do. That being the first stage of it, then another thing, of course, is what defines a dancer is what I ran into a lot in my... Now, before I could even... Before I had children, before I could even get into a good mama figure, I was told I wasn't shaped like a dancer. And so therefore I would never make it as a dancer. Really. I was muscular. I came from an athletic family. So I was all muscle. And to be told that I would never make it as a dancer, when I clearly was dancing, I was dancing. That in itself is heartbreaking. This is why in my particular companies, I create space for all shapes and sizes and for all levels of dance because I'm more of an introvert. So being up here is hard for me to talk, but dance was how I spoke. That's how I was able to release and do things. So had I not been able to dance, I just had thought of not being able to dance. I wanted to create a space that made sure that people who wanted to dance could dance. And it didn't matter whether or not you had the ballet background, whether or not you had... You were a size two, size four, size 16. It didn't matter, you know, because dance could bring forth that joy. So we have the finances. We have what defines a dancer, right? And then, of course, the spaces. Acquiring spaces. So in order for me to do community work, and I want to create a community company or provide space for community itself, back to the finance. One, how can I do that or for my classes at a rate that someone can afford? Somebody has to pay for it, right? And then to be able to find the spaces that allow us to do that, where we either pay minimum and have a dance floor. You understand? Because you can pay minimum as people who will offer you spaces, but it's now these harder floors, you know, on concrete, you're on tile, which I now know better. When I was younger, it didn't matter. I was good to go. But I feel that now. So I'm more cautious for the younger generation, and I'm constantly saying, hey, I know you feel great right now. But one day, one day, you're going to feel every concrete pound that you can't train on concrete. You can't train on tile floors. So these are the three that come off my head, top of my head as challenges automatically. Financially, what defines a dancer? We have to broaden that narrative of what a dancer really is. And then the third one would be spaces. And even in community spaces, we have to protect the bodies of the dancers, the teachers, and for the longevity of dance. So is this your way of telling us we need the sprung floor at the ACC? So you have wood. You have wood. You have wood. And so that in itself, that's one of the decisions. So she's mentioning ACC because that's the housing space for Season Center, for my dance companies. We're a house over on Value Road at ACC, which is Andrew Kyle, Center for Performing Arts. And we have wood floors. Even our extra spaces have wood floors so we can be shift and moved and everything and still have wood floor. So I'm in a happy space. Now, if you go ahead and get that sprung floor, you know I'm happy, but I appreciate the fact that we have a wood floor. And I have no problem with bringing my dancers, the young ones, all the way up to my older dancers because I do have dancers who are 70 and who take my classes who are part of the company. So I want them to be able to dance as long as possible, too. Challenges. We're talking about challenges in the black dance community. Well, I'm going to say this again and she and I fall out about this all the time. I don't care. I just want everybody to know that this sister here had one of the first dance schools in the city. And I think a lot of times because people don't know the history of dance here, they feel like they created it. You didn't create anything. It was always here. So I want to get that clear with everybody in here. Our set player, Clarenette, I was a major at for L.C. Fourchet Senior High School so dance started a long time ago. We're not going to get into that. In his way. In his way. For me, funding is a huge part of what I do. I do get funded, but it would be so much different. Thank you, Allah. If I could get those kinds of grants, that's, you know, 50,000, 40,000, those kinds of grants to really put my show on hold. To really put my show on the way I would like it to be put on. I do applaud the artists who have helped me put my show on. They've done an excellent job. And a lot of times I could not pay them. And every year for the 33rd, 33rd year I've walked away and didn't get one penny because it was more important to me to pay the artist if I could and pay the theater because I'm in the theater and nobody bothers me. But those things were more important than me saying I'm going to take this grant. I've never been able to go on the shopping spree. I've never been able to buy a pair of shoes because damn, I did this show and it was good. And let me treat myself. I've never been able to do that. Yeah, I like shoes. I'm a shoe girl. Thank you. I'm just... But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, when you get a little extra few dollars you can say, wow, I did this show. It's over with. Let me go and buy me a pair of shoes. No, I never even do that. Anyway, so being able to get funded to put the shows on the level that we would like to put them on is very important. The funding is really, really, really, really hard. Also, as Kai was saying, being in spaces that do not after longevity ruin your body. I'm 67 years old. I'm still rolling. But, you know, I've... Huh? No, I do pretty good. I bounce off. I do pretty good. But, you know, I've had to train myself to make sure that I don't have those injuries. Like learning ballet because ballet teaches you how to land on your feet. Like learning the different stretches and the exercises that this girl would give us in a dance class. But those lessons went on through my African dance experience in being able to teach people. A lot of people don't like to come to my class because they say I work them too hard. But that's how I was trained. You know, I'm at the bar and I'm bow-legged and this girl is like straightened up and tuck in and look, I'm bow-legged and I don't have knock knees. I'm going to do the best that I can do. But, you know, those things helped with the longevity of us being dancers and knowing the different genres of dance and applying those different genres to what it is that we do. But the most challenging part I would say is funding. It is the funding and being able to put our dreams and our thoughts in our wants and needs on stage and being able to do it without stressing. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, I'm not going to repeat what they say because all that is, those are challenging. But for me, the biggest challenge for me because my choice of dance has always been African. And I find that there is still a resistance to African dance and its significance in the world of dance. They seem to think the technique is inferior. Or that there is no technique but it's the complete opposite. So that's a challenge for me. When you ask somebody, show me African dance that they always go, they do this one. But they always do this. And I don't try to make them feel bad. That's what they think it is. But it's so diverse. You can go to one city in one country, one region and have over 50 different techniques of dance. So that's a big challenge for me. The second thing is the community. When I say community, I don't just mean black community. I mean black and white community not valuing us. They always go, oh, can't y'all just take $200? You got 10 people. You want to pay people like 10, 15? No. I can't even pay people for the rehearsal and then the performance. So I try to negotiate. I want something decent for the head-gone performance. And they still ask you, well, can't you come with something a little less? And then they have the audacity not to have your money when the gig is over. So yeah. So that's a challenge for me. I wrote mine, I was in Texas and I was writing my notes down on the phone. They probably say, look at her texting. Look at her texting, right? And so my third challenge is to talk about that over the phone. Kumbuka has always been a family dance company meaning that the people who started out are still dancing today. Then you bring in other generations, right? And so we got the mama dance. Let them do the mama dance. That's the mama dance because it's the older ones doing it. And then you say, uh-uh. It is for the older women. It's okay. She never likes to say we're getting older. We're getting older, Mariamma. Yes we are. At some point you have to let the reins. You got to pass the baton, right? We're going to still grow. They already said, what did you just say? Mariamma and us said we're going to be dancing when they're 90 still trying to dance. But I just find that it's a challenge because as people grow their lives change. They have children. They have schedules. They say we got rehearsals two times a week. People, they cannot come. So now I've become a company that is performance driven. So when we got a gig, then we rehearse. And then when that's over, they go about their business and they come back in together. I just wish I could recreate what we had back in the 80s and 90s because it was a true family vibe. The children were there. All of us was there. We was rehearsing not no one hour. We was there for hours. Then we would leave the rehearsal and go buy somebody house and eat. It's like, don't you get enough of those people? But it was a communal, it was a family thing. And the final thing I want to say about space all what they said is true but the biggest challenge for me is finding spaces that artists can own in New Orleans. We do not own brick and mortars. We need brick and mortar spaces and we have difficulty in getting funding to get the space. You know, it's like if I had known, if I had a crystal ball back when I bought my house I wouldn't have bought a house. I would have bought a piece of commercial property that I could live on the top or the bottom and the business would have been there. That's what I would have done. If I had known when Katrina struck I should have bought that property before Katrina hit because after Katrina hit the prices went up. If I had known after the pandemic the prices have quadrupled and we can't afford them. And we don't have a city administration that values the arts. That's my other problem. We use the Indians. I'm an Indian queen. We use our indigenous culture to the benefit of the city but we don't invest in it like we value it. And I have a problem with that. So I'm not saying that every Indian should own a mansion. I'm not saying that. But the same token we should have a space that is owned by us that's ran by us that we can pass on to create a generational wealth in our communities and that's a big challenge for me. That's my challenges. Other than that, I'm having a great old time. I'm having a great old time. Well, first I have to say because of the work that my elders have done it's kind of made it better for the work that I've been doing. So I'm really grateful and humbled for what the groundwork that you all have laid. I think what are some challenges that we still face? I mean, it's funding. I was having a conversation one of my dancers the other night and I said from 2016 to the time you've till now do you feel like there's been an increase for you or economic advancement for you financially? And he was just like, no, there hasn't been. And so that's a problem for me as an artistic director, as a choreographer I'm trying to figure out like what it is that we have to do in order to pull resources or to go from, you know, him going from a place where he first landed in the city in 2016 to 2022 being able to sustain living here as an artist, 150 per gig is not sustainable and those prices have been in the city since they were started dancing and that's still like a rate in a fee. So I mean financially that's still a challenge but also the knowledge that we have access to like knowledge about how to write a grant, knowledge about how to do business with the city knowledge about what is the language that actually needs to go in a grant so that we can get a $50,000 or $250,000 grant. What are the knowledge about just having the access to funding for materials like film documentation or images for your company so that when you write the grant. So like all of this stuff, you know, I had to kind of find out just researching on my own which presents the next challenge of there being more mentorship from the end of Black but being more mentorship for emerging artists in this city and you know, I I can't blame anyone on this panel because you all didn't have that knowledge or access to that knowledge. So in terms of mentorship, what do the elders need to know in order to be able to rally in the emerging artists to then share that information and those resources with them and so mentorship has been a challenge. What else? Yeah, I think I think I'm a pause there. I'm going to let you go but I want to say something about that. Okay, so since we're on Tulane's campus we can say in two words or three words challenges regarding the arts and Black women in the arts revolve around racism and gender inequality that's just the bottom line it's racism and gender inequality throughout my younger life we were not given grants even now because we were not considered the socially acceptable or the good Negro or the stories as I told you about my practice it's not predicated on the romance that we often associate with dance in New Orleans so you're not going to get funded because it's not liked so if you're trying to do things I found my personal experience trying to bypass whatever excuses that those who use racist pre-Texas to not fund you or to not support you so I think that I've done everything but that then becomes an issue because then you're seen as difficult so you write the grant the eyes are dotted the T's are crossed oh no she's difficult see this has nothing to do yes you're asking me for an explanation you're asking me for why and I'm telling you it's in full sentences you don't want to do it going to Jarrell's point about the mentors how can we we don't want no no how can we if we don't want to put you in a place of disadvantage from an association so I stay away the association so and when I say racism and I'm going to not go delve deep into it here I mean external racism and internal racism I'll leave that alone and I will only point to writing the grants you have the opportunity most of the money is coming from some source of federal funding or state funding so you have the opportunity to then ask for the the inadequacies of your grant may I have the comments may I have what did I write wrong a lot of people don't do it I do it every time you don't take it personally I've learned not to take it personally I've learned to take it as this is what I need to correct my by the way my footage of my work is not adequate I've never I've failed it that I'm taking the onus on that I've not been good at that but the writing you get the comments it's amazing it has it's so subjective it has nothing to do with the work itself it has to do with it has and this is personal experience it has to do with oh yes she's doing a dance conference they just got twenty thousand dollars so they don't need this a dance conference if I'm bringing in people from around the world and people from New Orleans and I'm paying everyone industry standard as Mariamma said we don't pay ourselves right you want to respect your artists then yes we do need it we need to pay the venue there's no venue we can go into free we have to Kramer use the Sanchez center I to Kramer has to maintain a million dollar liability insurance policy to be in that center I have no I and I don't have any problem the right side of my brain has no problem with that no problem with that because you know things happen and I want to be able to tell insurance company yes okay here pay or whatever but a great example of that and I gave you one the young lady we didn't get a grant it was a small grant from the arts council and I'm saying that I can say it and say these words because it's public it's public knowledge you can you can get it yourself and the young lady and it was a young African-American woman they don't need this and she's always talking about black this and black that and what could I say I can't that that's not an argument for me to have with her she's a young woman even we talked about Nord even getting the Nord facility to use it so we had a facility and it's been four years I'm going to hurry we had a building and the building needed a lot of work to accommodate all of the things to Kramer does there so at the time James Gray was the councilman I called him I invited him to the facility to see it to give me directions toward who I should ask about renovations and funding and this and this the councilman basically said take your time with that we have a state-of-the-art facility in your neighborhood just fill out the application and use it Nord says you cannot use it you cannot use it because we don't think you know how to use it you don't have the capability and we already have a partner and the partner is the partner okay that's a great organization they have dance classes in every Nord facility take nothing away from them it's free whatever ours is free too and they said whatever so this is how you become difficult I go in my back pocket and write a public records request please give me the city ordinance or the state law that says only one organization can use a city-owned facility and I'm trying to do a legal a legal activity it took a city council meeting to grant us authority to grant us the right to use that facility and then once again you see how difficult why difficult because I'm writing a public records request oh you want me just to go because you're saying oh if you dance and if you teach dance it will only be a building one of the rooms upstairs and it has to be what the children do at the parades I like the parades I like the dance teams I do but so again it speaks to racism and it speaks to gender inequality so we're talking about dance teams I'm going to tell you all about this one here I always put on blast yeah I put on blast she was the one that created that little walk that the Dancing Dolls do yeah she created that the swag walk she don't talk about it but she did I don't know if a lot of you people familiar with Southern University and the Dancing Dolls but she created that but going back to Jarell's point also I said to our point that has also been a challenge for me is getting people to understand and in a lot of instances my African American people to understand that African dance is an art form it is an art form for African American people jumping around on the stage to some drums or some bongos no that's why I study in depth to make sure that my story that I put on that stage is correct and that the audience understands that this story is about the walloff or this story is about the bomenade I study in depth because I know the negativity as an African dancer as an African folklorist that I get the other thing I said to Waianae we've worked for agencies back in the day going into schools doing all kind of shows four and five shows a day I'm talking about back in the day we's 67 years old now so we was what 20 something 29 something like that we were young we was fine too we had it going on and so now our children are doing those shows and they're paying them the same amount that you paid us and I'm telling my son like no you're not doing that I had one show and the lady got mad at me because I refused to dress in the dressing room in the bathroom I said shaka pack up let's go let's go dressing in nobody's bathroom I'm not doing that I did that and it's my job to teach the ones that's coming behind me to know this is what you asked for this is how you asked for it because you're an artist we did that you're not going to treat my son a settler's daughter Jarell whoever else is coming behind us the same way you treated us do not drink you're no gay and no bathroom I need a dressing room I need parking I need these things me and the people at Jazz Fest fall out every year where's my catering my kids work just as hard as Pamela Belle do so where's their catering I need you to get the catering and so yes sometimes we do become difficult I have been known to be difficult but I'm going to stand up for what I know is right I'm going to stand up especially for the children I'm going to stand up for them I'm going to make sure that they have what they have I'm going to make sure the people like Jarell who are coming behind us have what they need to have Janice have what they need to have but at the same time you guys got to grow balls and you have to tell these people nope we're not doing it I used to get shows all the time I'm going to get them that much anymore why because you don't have my money I'm waiting for my money I need to have my money when I leave off the stage plain and simple plain and simple so a lot of times I don't get calls anymore they used to bombard me for African American History Month bombard me I don't get too many calls now it's okay because you're not going to treat me like you treated me 30 years ago that's not going to happen so I was just going to say you know it never ceases to amaze me how much a city that kind of hangs its hat on black arts also doesn't literally make space for it literally talking about the need for space but also at the same time something there's a commodification of the art that takes place right so there's no value attached to making sure that artists are paid in a sustainable way so there's no work or initiatives to make sure that there are places in which the art can be made and can flourish but we are going to still commodify the art that's coming out of space so in what ways have you experienced black dance in the city African dance black art making as commodified meaning for consumption you know in a way that it's been used exploited for consumption but also not in a way that maybe doesn't recognize the history of the art and the art and the art and the art and the art and the art and art in a way that maybe doesn't recognize the history, the legacy and it as an art form versus just a product I'm going to cite two instances very quickly the first I got to go to my Mardi Gras Indians my black masking Indians it's a perfect example we spend the whole year sewing it's no lie we sacrifice it's self funding we put our own money into it it's a beautiful show every Mardi Gras for free we don't have no regrets about that however if a photographer takes our picture because the law says if you're in a public setting it's public domain so they can take my picture and they can end up anywhere and that photographer can make big bucks off of it and I'll not see a dime I will say that there is a group of photographers here in New Orleans who understand that inadequacy and their rectifying it they will call you and say look I just sold this picture I'm going to give you a percentage I never asked them how much did you get the fact that they even called me I moved by the fact that they even decided let me just break you off a little something something for it right I've had instances being up in Paris big picture another example we were dancing Kamuka was dancing in Congo Square and somebody took a picture an action shot me and this little girl and other dancers and the drummers I've never seen the photograph in my life the actual photograph but I have seen it on a national campaign that ran in Essence magazine Ebony magazine RTA buses, billboards and everything and I was like I was like I got notified and this is the city of New Orleans this is not somebody who just snuck away and did it it's the city of New Orleans and so how I got a poster of it when Jackie Clarkson left the office she didn't run again she left some things in her office and because of my background I'm a dancer and I teach here but I also am a former NLPD police officer who was assigned to City Hall say I got something for you I need you to come down here I say what you got he said I can't tell you just come down here big old gigantic poster of the whole thing that's how I got a copy of it I never got a copy of it I never got a notification of it I never got compensation for it so I think it's such a vast occurrence to police it like how do you get together to moderate to regulate how we don't get exploited well for so for me if I'm at a festival I tell my league yo they can't take no pictures who are these people they can't take them I just put a stop to it because like you're saying we've been in situations where you know we go in theaters or we go somewhere and it's like what so what I do is I'm like who are you they would you no shut it down and so people get upset the other thing is I think it's because the way New Orleans is sold to the world culture it's a culturally rich city and so a lot of people when you use the word culture they immediately think culture free so they come here and I'm going to Congo Square and I'm watching these drummers and dances and Indians and Kazasambha and all these people and I'm going to take these pictures and so there you have it and it's because the city those that's the powers that be in the city doesn't care about the arts art forms and so they allow free reign and then when we say something about it then it's a problem but I shut it down like they would you so so here I am and I'll be difficult but I'm going to be difficult so addressing all of my distinguished colleagues here in March I'll be putting out a new body of work called Nekka Appearances it includes a collection of essays two short stories some poems and short writings called Hard Thoughts that are just my thoughts without evidence but the collection of essays includes an essay entitled Shared Spaces and it addresses the subject and the issue of copyright law and our right as community members are people who are actually involved in what I call ritual in New Orleans the effects the consequences and at some point I think it says the practices in New Orleans are and copyright law are a mistake of law because they don't they don't mesh and in terms of the city there's some things the city can do because I'm sorry I'm difficult but it's governed by federal law no I'm laughing how does she know that how dare her no I'm not an attorney I'm something like a paralegal I just studied a little on my own girl you got a big go ahead girl you got a big J.D. go ahead girl so and there's nothing wrong with that you know that self taught but in regard to that and that's important and I would love to share with all of you all I was about to go grab my computer and read something from it but I'm not what I'm gonna say here about the commodification is the experiences that I've had as a black female artist in this city so the first body of written body of work that I did was called Black Dance in Louisiana Guardian of a Culture and it's about dance from a social political environment of the dance practices and what has maintained it in writing the work the commodification of it and how we view ourselves we're going back to the gender disparity the gender discrimination and the racism whether it's internal or external and I hire someone as the editor and the first thing she says is did you get permission to write this before you started like wait the area code is 504 we know the United States can we write what we want no you need permission from and she named the two people and I just went okay then she said well you don't have this you have to have this because the commodification is these myths that we have put in you don't have this is the oldest black and this is the oldest black and I was like well I'm not really comfortable with that well evidence and research and history Philadelphia, Mobile those places are older than New Orleans no you have to have this and I'm going because she wants me to commodify this work and tell a story to just keep this myth going and so I can't do it so I'm going to stop right there I don't want to say to oh no I've got to say this so the commodification the kind of commodification the one person who is like I had to get permission from someone she devises this idea where they're going to reduce second-line steps to lab notation and they were going to blah blah blah it's not for me to say you can do whatever you want and I'm thinking is this for notoriety on your part and this other dancer's part what then you know yes we have this culture we have this history and a big part of it it is centered around an oral tradition and you want to reduce to lab notation so how are you going to get the step from the little person who was born yesterday who is going to go out and second-line the day after tomorrow let me see you get that step and so you have to know where to stop mm-hmm and in that same line of thought I'm going to change this question up a little bit are there ways of performing or I'm going to go even deeper are there rituals that you have to think differently when performing them or doing them in front of black audiences and this versus white audiences can I go I'll go first this time I've been going less I've been going less I'm going to and as I'm listening I'm writing everything down and I'm going to say for me no because everyone has a right to like appreciate and support the art they want and as the artist you have the right to create the art you want I will just give you two examples one and I know she's going to come behind me one is called the Maafa visual arts mm-hmm visual arts exhibit it commemorates the Maafa it is a visual arts exhibit for youth six through seventeen so the themes of their artwork has to be centered on African-American African diasporic art history and culture or whatever they want to do in whatever the medium that's the audience that's what they're creating every Thursday night I am teaching a pole dance class that is not changing we have a show I haven't done it in a while called fulfillment of my fantasy it is an adult show that's what it is I'm not going to apologize or make an excuse for it it is in context because I have children and grandchildren so I'm not going to do something they're going to be embarrassed for some little boy at St. Augustine is going to walk up to my grandson and talk about me it's going to be done with character so the work and the historical work I'm not changing it to appease anyone you come if you want if you don't want to come I'll go to a ballet class I don't want to change anything girl what you want me to do? turn my head no I'm respecting everyone's art and respect mine and if you don't want to come don't come pole dancing is awful anyone else want to just thinking about ritual performance that would be performed you feel more comfortable performing or in thinking about commodification I guess doesn't make it easier when ritual is then shared with white audiences in a way that allows them to summarize it in the way they want to summarize it and then figure out how they want to sell it as a practitioner of indigenous religion I don't put ritual on the stage if it's a ritual that's for my personal stuff the people that's involved with me if I put it on the stage that's for anybody who wants to see it at the same time I've learned from my teachers that some things you just cannot put on stage some things you just cannot dip and dab with and in going to Africa I saw what they were talking about there's just some things you just don't do I don't want to call the particular dance but it was one of my teachers out of Guinea who brought this particular dance to the stage some things it's not for the stage some things it's not for everybody to be invited into but he put this particular dance on stage and before he can get home his son had passed and so I know the dance I don't really do the dance because I'm like that says no no no no no no so we have to know what you have to do the studying and the research and the history to know what is good for the stage what is good for allowing some people to come in and what is not and so I follow that really I follow that a lot that's an interesting point in terms of black masking Indians because back in the day the tradition was really a male dominated secret society you couldn't know the color they were wearing let alone the design and so as time has gone on and we do know that traditional stuff it has to be flexible in order to survive so sometimes things change however there is a split in the black masking community because now a lot of things that were secret are wide open people are sharing the sewing techniques and how they put the suits together and there is a concern that if you keep giving it away 50 years from now you won't even see black people masking as Indians because somebody else going to take it over I keep telling y'all better hope the LGBTQ community don't want to do it because they're so phenomenal in their art they're so fabulous in their vision so I just think that I'm old school Indian I'm with I'm with my chief now for 17 years but before that I was with Donald Harrison prior to that so I'm kind of like from the old school but the new school Indians are different why are they different because the sewing work is so hard and you need people to help you it's difficult to make a suit by yourself you just need help and so it comes a time and you just burn your people out people only want to see you coming because they know you got to design because you just need to help I think that's one of the reasons why they're opening up but there's still there's a few little secrets that we're still holding on to that has not been made public but that's a growing concern amongst that particular group because now everybody know the color they know the design they know everything the practices used to be kept underground for the community now it's broadcasting you go to social media Indian practice at this la la la la and it's just a big old crowd showing up so it doesn't become practice anymore it becomes like a show as opposed to you actually practicing to hone your skill in so I guess it's a struggle you have to always deal with in terms of the tradition surviving maintaining that little thin line of balance just trying to maintain that balance in between so I have a thought on that mama said to I a thought on how do you maintain a tradition mentorship intergenerational connection how does that work if someone who may not be in the sacred tribe of your community but grew up in New Orleans and is interested in being a part of that tribe what's the entry point for that individual that may have not been in that closed off circle because as you're saying it's gonna die off because nobody's sewing so where does the mentorship what is the access point is it a character thing does this person demonstrate good character in the community is it they're gifting what is that I'm curious to know I'm talking about our people I'm just saying because I'm talking about our people because you're saying I'm hearing you as you're saying nobody's gonna but I think what is it that the elders are doing to again pull those who may be in the community that's not necessarily in the family of what it is you all are doing but is passing the torch or getting them ready for when you all want to just sit back and just not have for exactly succession so for me you have to earn it okay you have to earn it because with a lot of my teachers I had to earn it I didn't get African dance like just I had to earn it I had to sit up all night long with the dudes and the don'ts and he and you did this and so now we're gonna pass this on to you now we're gonna entrust this to you because now we trust you you've learned now so for me I'm the same way I'm the same way everybody that come into my company or come into a class it's some things I'm not gonna give you because you haven't earned it and earn might kind of sound a little rigid or it might sound a little disrespectful but I'm gonna sit back and look at you and say are you really serious or you're just here for your personal gain or you're just here just to be here so you have to you have to earn it from me because I had to earn I had to earn with them African people I had to earn it well it's interesting and you're gonna put your responses that's why you respond one thing so as far as the Indian stuff to me let me just be clear I don't think it's going to disappear but I do think because number one it's a calling it's a calling it's something you just roll into like I think I'm just gonna do this on my bucket list you know it's a calling because it takes such sacrifice it's a self-imposed prison who wants to do that I mean you have to really be dedicated to do this thing right so I don't think it's gonna die in that vein it's just that some of the traditional ways people not holding on to the tradition because I understand that young people want to make their way but I you gotta still stay rooted in the tradition for me that's that's that's what I want to say to that and as far as Manayama you was talking about earning it right so and how people enter right some people get it by birth right like my daughter I danced with her the day before she was born they ever came out jiggling and dancing right all of us we were all pregnant we all carried out kids we danced the whole while and what happened it was interesting because when you hang with a group of women see men y'all know nothing about this men y'all close y'all ears but you know women when women get together your cycles start syncing up together when we got pregnant everybody got pregnant at the same time it's in the water it's just because we was all together so it's no accident that our children came out dancing what I'm laughing at you keep pointing to me but because I'm not but Na'ilah and Na'ilah had her daughter a week before mines or something so we did it it is like we really think I kept like watching oh yeah that's right yeah that week apart and to answer your question or to speak on your question I developed cultural ties dance festival and it's based upon all of the people who touched me even though I came into the circle with my own group I had the pleasure of dancing with dance with Mariana I had the pleasure of watching in Kasa Samba and for me as I was going other places because I'm self taught which means that I didn't stay any one place and learn everything that I've learned I gathered it as I went along but when I would go to different dance conferences that would have black or African labels on them I felt it still was very ballet based they may have had one or two cultural dance classes that were part of it and in great conferences but for me I thought okay well what better place to host a cultural African Diaspora dance conference and it was it's because of the people that touched my life but then I have talking about my daughter I have a daughter if I learn from Mariana if I've learned from Kumbuka if I've learned from Kasa Samba and I am who I am I want them to get it too the way I got it and then some so for me it's about recycling the energy and that they need to be able to experience it at the same level that I got it and then some so we're focusing on yeah there's ballet but in the same right there's denim technique in the same right there's Haitian movement in the same right there's West African movement in the same right there's Brazilian movement and so that's my focus so how do they how do we get into these circles is by exposing them and making sure that they have the opportunities and that the local artists have the opportunity to say we're still here and we're still doing the work even as we you know change the landscape of New Orleans that inheritance still remains oh we're still here yeah and these are the ones who inspired me to do X, Y and Z who poured into me as I was developing I've had my first group was Young African American Dance Ensemble and that was created, Yadi in 1990 it's coming in it's still a long time ago it wasn't 80 something but it was like I had just graduated from 35 and I went to UNO and I tried out for the dancing this is how Yadi got started this is why it has that name too I tried out I out danced it was two of us the other young lady was black as well we out danced everyone there she made and she was a good friend of mine but she was slimmer and I wasn't I was fine I've always been I've always been built yeah and so afterwards I'm shocked I'm like shocked when she said I wasn't on the dance team couldn't find her that's not even my style but that's not the point that's not the point when she saw me coming and she braced herself she knew I was going to act she said I knew you were going to come up after me you're just not built for our outfits that's why I didn't make it because I did not have the outfit I was not built for their outfits so nothing is wrong with their outfits then that they should you know I guess yeah so right after that after I did have a moment because that's not the first time I heard it that was the second time somebody was able to tell me that to my face right first time was at Noka yeah the first time was at Noka I'm making A's they're going to give me my grade that's due to me but will tell my father at the parent meeting that I was not built for dance you know he's a black man so he's upset you know and after a year and a couple of months of hearing that I get pulled out because I'm not built for dance and it's not going to be who you are anyway so don't worry about it but for me when I was told for the second time to my face that I would never be what I'm doing that's what I'm going to go ahead and create my own and it was your African-American dance on top that's the story of a lot of creation for black collectives and art making spaces I do want to pause and make sure people in the audience have a question I have the opportunity to ask you all questions so I don't know how we want to manage this but yes do we need microphones for this? okay my name is Melanie I want to thank you all so much for the work you've done our doing and what you need to do I guess one of my questions touched on it several different ways are there any organizing efforts happening particularly with city council in terms of budgeting especially since budget season is coming up where we can start to like actively start to advocate for more funding for the arts in the city and support for Davis so we need to talk to you after the city does have a fun now the creative cultural there is a fun now I'm a give the Cantrell administration that there are some funds that are available now I don't know the criteria because it's very vague when you go to the website to get it it's very vague on how to get it but there are funds that have been made available to assist but of course it's not going to be enough I have studied, I researched other models the Melanga center in Oakland the city has given them a building they have like 10 companies in one building but they've been there almost 20 years in that building but I just found out that they're just the city told them that all of those companies need to come together and form a 501C3 so they can deal with them first of all and now they're in negotiation with the city to create a cooperative endeavor agreement and to begin discussions on the development so if you've been there for 20 years this is the challenges they've been there for 20 years and they still don't have the building and then you can other organizations people just give them the building Jackson, Mississippi there was a downtown program to give buildings for like a dollar but you have to fix it it's got some serious fix it's about a land in Jackson that they sell them for that's the only thing I know of and I will say this post the pandemic I've never seen so many opportunities given out to artists what they call it bipop I've never seen I was like I'm a bipop I'm a bipop it's just but it's been a lot and I will say this to their credit they relaxed the requirements they relaxed having to have 501C3 it was just yes it was very lucrative I kind of thought it was like reparations for the black artists in New Orleans and stuff because it was definitely very lucrative well not quite but it was so abundant so I have to acknowledge when things do happen and even in my life in my young life I have to acknowledge that I have been blessed I have received many fellowships I've received $100,000 I've gotten that right but it's for the work when I say I got that I didn't get that it's not the way I live it it's never war in the hood I can't take the money and benefit me personally but I know what it is to get funding but it's not consistent it's a one time hit you don't get it on a regular consistent basis right so I am grateful for the opportunities that I've had we always I've been in this 93 that's right that's right and I take my hats off to Tulane because number one I was so humbled by how I got the job I remember the day like it was yesterday I was eating popcorn watching the Golden Girls I remember it and Barbara Hailey called me on the phone hi yes it is who it is this is Barbara Hailey oh hi how you doing we was wondering if you'd like to come and teach I was like that's how y'all do this wow and what she said to me was we've been watching you you don't ever know who's watching your work and seeing how you deal with that and from that one chance that one opportunity decades of teaching over here that I'm grateful for because it has allowed me not just to touch the lives of young people but I have access to space can practice I talk about space challenges that's one thing that happens right I got to hang out with Carol Barbara Pierre teaching at Afro-Brazilian dance Monique Moss was here so that's been good I've been grateful for that but they're saying I do recognize the boy and I'm looking behind me I'm looking where my daughter's going I'm looking for my grandbaby I'm trying to find where they're going to land I'm thinking about generational work I'm thinking about what happens when I'm gone now you know I'm not going to really be gone y'all know that right but I have to think about that you got Nandi, Brie's daughter you have a baby girl with your daughter 9 years old and I'll be focused on this because I don't have time can I just answer because she was talking about organizing so I am a part of the Big Easy Class for the dance committee I think that there are some things that's happening inside of that beyond just the awards that they're going to try to start organizing in terms of criteria standards there was a dance union in New Orleans at one time but then that was in 2011 but then it kind of like I don't know what happened to it so I think there are some working on the efforts potentially and if you want to be in on those conversations we'll love to talk with you after and do all of that I'm sorry I forgot to acknowledge we did have a seat over here space open because I thought about Bada Ringua and how she too would have been a part of this conversation so I want to acknowledge her presence in this space right now because she was also a forerunner as it relates to Haitian dance in this city and then also too I think about in terms of generational wealth, generational knowledge I'm curious to know who is carrying that legacy right now in this city because right now she's gone but who's carrying shock or dance to nobody so again this conversation about generation like who is renewing that body and that's not to say nobody up here is not I'm not saying that at all we all are because I'm a product of her of her company but just thinking of okay who are we rallying who are those people that are going to continue her legacy so I just want to acknowledge Bada Ringua in this space I'm going to be and that's what we have to be mindful of that this moment that we call life we really can't take it for granted you know stuff happens so quickly so the question is what is your mark that you leave how are you going to be remembered how are people going to call your name how are they going to think about you and I think about that that didn't always drive my work when you on the front line working you just working I chose to work with formerly incarcerated formerly incarcerated women that's a hard thing because you talking about women that serve life we were able to get some out but we still got some that's still in so you dealing with them and their families and trying to find ways through your dance that helps them to continue their fight and I'm just so grateful that from their feedback they tell me that the dance changed their lives they were able to cope they was able to serve their senses and not feel like they was in a black hole by themselves right you had something I wanted to say this I just want to make a quick statement my name is Robin Beaver Carson and I want to say I appreciate each one of you because I've worked with most of you on this panel I'm the owner of the story here in Louisiana I do a lot of research and what I appreciate about this is preservation is very important and I'm saying it because even through the work I do and reading history three hundred years ago and looking at some of the contributions of what our African Americans have done here if someone had been documented and wrote it down we would not know so all I'm saying is I like to all love y'all to do and I'll do it in their presentations I can get somebody that are writing to show it to deal with because if not everybody is going to die just like everybody anybody documented her history or the answer that's what's important and I just want to appreciate all of you like how many people know that the first congress festival was held in 1984 in New Orleans with the commemorative poster being done by Curtis Pierre why did it continue funding we didn't get the funding to continue there's so many things that are not known you say don't wait on the funding but after a while you know that gets kind of rough it's only so much red beans and rice you can eat every day but also I think the problem too is and I have conversations with or said to I angry about this and I am going to I am going to I am going to tag the younger generation but no one tells you guys how it all started no one tells you guys no one tells you guys but can I no one tells you guys about no one tells you guys about the Lula Elsie and the Gregor from Mendy's and what was the sister we was dancing over here at Dominican she just had cell van no one tells you guys about her and how it all came up about and so those are the things that's very important that a lot of the younger generation does not know it was before Maria it was before a set to mine it was before but you talking about the historical aspect of it nobody talks about that and a lot of times nobody talks about it and can't pass it down is because you don't know so so I just want to be mindful too at your time I know I feel like we just got to the real panel discussion but in minding our time I do just want to I want to end on this note and I'm sorry we weren't able to get some more questions and comments from the audience yeah bring it back but I do want to end on this note I always like to end on a note of hope and joy so in one or two or three words what is your biggest dream for community and specifically for when thinking about dance community what is your biggest dream in one to three words oh no just do it do it how you want to do it what she just what we were about to get into the knowing and the sharing of information about the past I'm going to go back to culture times again it was developed with the young in mind and my daughter in that concept of connected it makes it a little teary because we need to know I know and so when we invite you into our spaces you need to tell us and be there for that because we do appreciate we do yeah I appreciate it I'm going to go back to this is healing right here remember before women I've always had women I've had two iterations of four women as a performance piece I'm teaching children but I bring them in because I want them to see them because they're inspirational because I can still wear my costume it's time to bring it back but that's what I would leave this concept of making sure we're creating space for that to happen for the sharing to happen intergenerational connection sharing mentorship economic advancement for my people healing well they're going to say everything I want to say so what I'm going to say what I need for my dancers what I need for the dance community I need them to be able to exist in a good space so I need the streets to be fixed I need the crime to go down this is real because if you can't be if you can't live right you can't create so I want my quality of life in New Orleans to be better I just want my quality of life to be better I just want my trash picked up my streets you know I just want those things that I deserve I deserve that and when we all have that then we create better now we do know that creations comes out of stress and frustration but I won't do that because I want it yes I want that I want that in addition to whatever else that they're going to come up and say I want a safe clean environment for us to create support support I think for me it's very important that we support each other's endeavors that we show up to each other's shows a thousand times I've tried to put an organization together and I'm going to go back to this where people who came into the city who felt like there's no dance here wanted to create no dance been here before you got here so I've always tried to put together a organization where I felt like we should be the welcoming committee to these people who felt like I'm going to bring dance here to New Orleans because there's no dance here excuse me it is and that was one thing by the Renoir before she passed we had all the memes black diaspora culture collectives actually do that by the Renoir come on stop I think the word is my art it's balance it's respectability and mutual respect and responsibility when we talk about the dreams and the dreams of Tikrama the organization that I run the current I hope I can maintain the program that we have for youth past 11 past sorry past April are to reinstituted again in September and that program speaks to safety it speaks to economic sustainability and it speaks to the education of our children and passing that knowledge and information on you thank you can we give a round of applause for our panelists can we give a standing ovation for our panelists we're going to be right out of time thank you I'm going to pass it back over to Dr. Proctor ladies and gentlemen everyone it feels just like sitting there unfortunately I have wrote to the point where my job to say we have appointments so I'm taking all the money we have reservations thank you all for being here I want to give thanks to your organization for the both South for you all being here I would love to have you all again and if you are not familiar with our programming please sign up for our newsletter so you can see more great events that we have coming up we actually have one next week about Chinese immigration in Mississippi it's called Far East Deep South there will be a film screening at 6 the Stone Auditorium right across the quad here and we will also have a conversation with the co-producer the protagonist of the film she will be coming down with communication professor Dr. Jerome Dent so whenever you're ready bring us back this is the date time there are two other dates that I mentioned today at the end of the month between February 23rd and February 26th the Tulane University Department Theater and Dance in conjunction with the Folger Theater the Folger Shakespeare Theater out of Washington DC is hosting the Racing Shakespeare Festival where we look at the intersection of Race and Shakespeare and then I will need to mention that we will Dream Festival that will be happening in the future Ma'am just a quick question before I'm done sorry round two too but who else would you all like to see with you Monique Moss shall we be here shall we thank you all so much show that in your organization because that's what each of you deserves I'm sorry it's just in the works yeah it's in the works so be on your own and people will be coming to New Orleans seeking you out this is the full auditorium we should be there thank you