(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle spirited music) (gentle spirited music continues) (gentle spirited music continues) (gentle upbeat music) - My name is Sunami Monro.

I am a flow artist, hoop dancer.

I've been doing it for, I wanna say, five to seven years now.

It's been a really long time.

It's hard to keep track.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) Some of the places that I've performed in the past as a circus performer, is Diamond Horseshoe in New York, as well as House of Yes, Urban Circus.

I love to perform at parks around the city.

It's one of my favorite things to do, especially Washington Square Park.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) In college, I saw a girl with a LED hoop and I had no idea what it was and she taught me how to do my first vortex.

And then that transitioned into my early 20s where Upstate New York, I met a couple of more girls with hula hoops and they were more in the raving community.

So they were doing all these cool, crazy moves and I loved it.

And then I met some girls in Gainesville who introduced me to the flow community that performs with live music.

(gentle spirited music) (gentle spirited music continues) (gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) So the piece that I'm performing shows me out in the park doing something that I do all the time.

To this day, I love to perform specifically at Washington Square Park.

I love to practice there.

So over the years, I've made some friends that I've learned a lot of different towns there.

So I show that in my piece.

Washington Square Park is a pretty sacred park to me.

My dad would take me there, I don't wanna say every Sunday, but there was a period of our time we went there a lot of Sundays.

And to be there as a child and to choose to go there today and to look around and still see skaters and still see the culture, the authentic New York City culture.

It was probably the most beautiful thing to me.

(gentle spirited music) (gentle spirited music continues) - While at the park hula hooping, Sunami got stopped and searched by the police.

It's crazy because what's legal now in the entire state of New York put her behind bars.

Not for being violent, not for threatening anyone, but for carrying a plant in her pocket the size of a marble.

- At the time, I actually did not smoke weed.

So the fact that they found a nick of weed in my pocket, half of a gram, like a very small nugget, is mind blowing.

The fact that it's legal now is even more mind blowing to me.

I was just given my first opportunity to become a teacher, to be an ASL teacher to babies.

It was very fun.

I really love to teach sign language because I feel like it's all about body language, and as a dancer, I understand body language very well.

When I did get arrested that day, it was maybe two or three days before my first day of teaching.

They ran my fingerprints, which is, like, not good because I was working in a school system and I expressed to the police officers what I had at risk.

Like, "I'm not a bad person.

This is what's going on in my life.

These are my opportunities.

This can really mess me up."

Seeing the jail cells and how we were treated made me realize how easy it would be to lose hope in the system.

I knew I couldn't let this be my reality and I didn't belong there.

So I chose to pass hope around instead.

I was luckier the most because my circle helped me keep and share a positive mindset.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) So I'd say my family is pretty supportive when it comes to my dancing.

Especially my dad.

He is my number one fan.

He is always supporting me through everything in my life.

I even have his music in my show today.

So I'm super excited about dancing to my dad too.

- My name is DiskdaVirus.

I've been rhymin' since '80 and I haven't stopped since.

I came up coming through the street screaming.

♪ Who wanna battle, who wanna battle ♪ ♪ On screamin', I never lost ♪ Who wanna battle, who wanna battle ♪ ♪ I know you remember the voice ♪ ♪ Flows, flows ♪ I am DiskdaVirus ♪ Flows, flows ♪ I am DiskdaVirus And that was my chant.

You know what I'm saying?

And, you know, it's like I take battles that they come.

You know what I mean?

I'm undefeated.

You know what I'm saying?

Still to this day, right?

I did "F*** you, C-O."

"FUCO," however you want to pronounce it when I was 17.

When I wrote that, that was, you know, real trials and tribulations that I went through.

I used to sing that when I was in incarcerated and it caused a crazy response every time.

Like, the COs even loved it.

I'm talking about, like, I was chanting that during riots.

I'm deadass.

Like, literally.

(chuckles) Well, it was actually inspired by f***** up COs, it was inspired by female COs, prostitution rings.

It was inspired by a lot of COs that would set you up.

There's a lot of times they turn their backs on.

You know what I'm saying?

The wrong situations.

A lot of times they instigated situations.

You know what I mean?

Where, you know, unfortunately people ain't aren't able to come home from.

I was fortunate to come home from, but it's like... You know, and you have no rights.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like when they set you up, you got just gotta eat that.

Getting you on everything.

You're deodorant and everything.

You know what I'm saying?

For no reason and you just brought that.

You ain't got no money coming in.

You know what I'm saying?

And you know what I'm saying?

You spending your last on... You know what I'm saying?

You know, what you think is the best for you and they just, you know, extort that from you.

♪ Yo ♪ 15, 24, 34, break ♪ Move on over hits your heart like a strike ♪ ♪ White man's justice is Black rebuke ♪ ♪ When the Statue of Liberty turns her back on your people ♪ You know, the Statue of Liberty turns it back on you.

You know, 'cause it's a reality.

You know, when you're in Elmira and you walk through that mess hall, there's a picture of the Statue of Liberty and you gotta see it.

If you don't see it, it's like you... You gotta see it basically 'cause it's the entire wall.

It's a mural, you know, of her back.

I was out there.

I was, like, the first ones out there breaking the blocks in.

You know what I'm saying?

It wasn't like it was when it was getting money in the '90s.

Like, I was out there before that.

So I was into, like, break dancing and, you know, cartwheels and slow rides.

You know what I'm saying?

Stuff like that.

Like, back in the days.

You know, and graffiti.

You know what I'm saying?

Like in that the birth era of that.

You know what I mean?

But not really birth era, let's call it the teenage era.

I always had my own style.

I never followed anybody's pattern.

I always followed my own.

♪ F*** you, C-O ♪ F*** you, C-O ♪ Come on ♪ Hey, f*** you, C-O ♪ F*** you, C-O ♪ Get a real job, get a real job ♪ ♪ Get a real job, get a real job ♪ ♪ Get a real job, get a real job ♪ ♪ Get a real job, get a real job ♪ ♪ Damn straight down in HDM ♪ Street kids wanna live ♪ Play the ball like the rest of them ♪ ♪ Locked in, attempt 12 sessions ♪ ♪ The flow is every day ♪ To find a way to get outta hell ♪ ♪ Push up, sit up, get your fingers up ♪ ♪ Niggas just hanging up ♪ Got these stressed out like what, what, what ♪ ♪ Put your hands on the belt to be engaged (vocalizing) ♪ ♪ Go out and be like a super human being ♪ ♪ Ain't nothing super about dippin' on a hit spot ♪ ♪ Get up quicker, get down for the streets ♪ ♪ You gotta get it to win, you know that it hurts ♪ ♪ Break your cell, what the hell, they don't care ♪ ♪ Blood on your chin, by a squad who beat it in ♪ ♪ Go on child, ready take the ox to your cup ♪ ♪ Since it's about to happen, so be ready to knock a lot ♪ ♪ Mad cuts, big as a house but still put up ♪ ♪ Short or tall, big or small, watch them all ♪ ♪ Don't sleep even if you think spots are sweet ♪ ♪ Be the nigga that's peace ♪ Just wanna blast your dome piece ♪ ♪ No friends, they think you gonna bend, but it goes deep ♪ ♪ Chance the chance that's the dance that thugs do ♪ ♪ Even COs be plotting against you ♪ ♪ F*** you, C-O ♪ F*** you, C-O ♪ Come on, hey - Hearing her father's story made me realize there's probably generations of amazing artists locked away behind bars.

I asked him as an artist, how does he give advice to other parents on how to nurture a creative child into an empowered adult.

- Support them.

You know what I'm saying?

Listen to them, hear them.

You know what I'm saying?

Be a part of what they're going through.

You know what I'm saying?

Show empathy.

You know what I mean?

It's, like, you don't always have to put your foot down.

You know what I'm saying?

Sometimes take a seat.

You gotta be supportive.

Positive vibes.

You know what I mean?

Bring forward positive vibes.

(lively music) (lively music continues) - My grandmother, God bless her, went through chemo.

One of the nurses gave her a book that said, like, "You are what you eat."

And there was another way, like book that said like, "Eat your way to a healthy life."

And that really started to open my eyes 'cause I also took like a contemporary medicine class that made me realize a lot of the medicine that they're giving us is derivative of plants.

So with all that knowledge, I just...

I devoted myself to learning how to heal.

There's so many healing properties from smelling it, put it on your body, drinking it, and along with all the other plants that surround us.

And it's my life's journey.

It's my life's mission.

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