- Hi, I'm Christy McDonald.

And here's what's coming up this week on "One Detroit Arts and Culture."

Two friends join musical forces to spread the power of kindness and understanding.

Plus, a professional contemporary dance company, with a new performance called Stomping Ground.

And then, could it be the best slice in the world?

Detroit-Style Pizza makes its case.

It's all just ahead on "One Detroit Arts and Culture."

- [Announcer] From Delta faucets, to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world, experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

- [Announcer] Support for this program is provided by, the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV, the Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan focused giving.

We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEfoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Business Leaders for Michigan, dedicated to making Michigan a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

Also brought to you by, the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation.

And viewers like you.

(upbeat music) - Hi there, and welcome to "One Detroit Arts and Culture."

I'm Christy McDonald.

Thanks for joining me.

It's the new year.

Time to look back on what makes the Detroit arts and culture scene special.

And look forward to all of the exciting arts and culture events, exhibitions, and so much more to come.

Coming up on the show this week, a 30-year-long friendship, combined with entertaining and thought-provoking music, takes the stage to spark some social change.

Plus, a professional contemporary dance company since 1980, DDC Dances works through improv, grounded in topics they're passionate about, the movements are breathtaking.

Then, you love it, I love it.

We take a look at the origins of Detroit-Style Pizza and what makes it so unique and delicious.

It's all coming up on "One Detroit Arts and Culture."

Two friends, a Reverend who grew up in the city of Detroit and a former teacher who grew up in the suburbs of Plymouth, sparked a friendship at a radio station 30 years ago.

Since then, they've been creating music together, performing in cities across the country, Reverend Robert Jones Sr. and Matt Watroba.

They found something special in the way their audience reacted to their comradery on stage.

And the social education behind their music.

That's when they started Common Chords.

It's a non-profit focused on understanding shared values among diverse groups of people.

We caught up with the duo to talk about Common Chord's mission, at the Reverend's church, Sweet Kingdom Baptist.

♪ With this little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪ Lord this.

- Maybe the main underlying messaging for Common Chords, is that we want to tear down the things that separate us.

♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪ Let it shine ♪ Let it shine ♪ Let it shine.

We're more separate than ever coming out of George Floyd, coming out of the election, coming out of the pandemic.

And so there's so little communication that we often talk about, okay, what is the one thing that we say that people don't have pushback?

Among those things, is art, music and stories.

Through your music and your art, I can experience your humanity.

♪ Oh tell me what I say.

♪ Tell me what I say ♪ Tell me what I say ♪ Tell me what I say ♪ Tell me what I say ♪ Tell me what I say ♪ Tell me what I say.

Oh, I think we should do that again.

- Common Chords did not spring out of nothing.

It sprung out of 30 years of traveling around the country with my best friend.

Reminding people that there are more things to celebrate than there are to fight about.

- So we have this friendship.

And you know, it's just our friendship.

But then we start to see that there are people who can't get past their differences, who cannot communicate unless they are carbon copies of each other.

And I think we started to realize that the same love of shared values that made us friends were applicable to other situations in the society.

- One of the things we started to notice about the work we did as a duo, was the stories we told, the educational aspects of the stuff we did, turned out to be the thing that actually makes us unique.

♪ With Bluegrass you had a guitar player ♪ ♪ By the name of Lester Flatt.

♪ And Lester used to play something called the G run.

♪ Mr. Watroba what would you demonstrate the G run?

- Every Bluegrass guitar player at the end of the phrase would go.

(guitar plays) - [Reverend Robert] Oh, that's pretty, won't you do that again?

(guitar plays) - So basically, when we decided to actually formalize it into a like a non-profit organization, the idea was to take what we've already done over three decades, and put it into words and make an organization around it.

- So part of the idea of art is, and storytelling and songwriting, is that I can put my story into that song.

You experience the song, you learn more about me, I learn more about you, and then we can have a conversation.

So this song is for my great grandfather.

His name was William Cunningham.

(guitar plays) ♪ Conecuh County, Alabama, 1925 ♪ ♪ Will Cunningham rode into town to get his week supplies ♪ ♪ Now, Will was a Black man who'd fought in World War 1 ♪ ♪ And he'd face the smoke and powder, ♪ ♪ But he never chose to run.

- You know, when it comes to choosing songs for the performance, sometimes we don't even do full songs.

We'll just do snippets of songs that are examples.

We use the metaphor of a tree.

So we'll say, imagine this big tree out in the middle of the forest.

And on this tree are all these different branches and each branch has a different kind of American music.

New branches off that tree seemed to pop off every time people from diverse places share their music with each other.

- So we get a guy by the name of Son House who's down in Comal County, Mississippi.

And he's doing a song called "Death Letter Blues."

It's like this.

(guitar plays) ♪ I got a letter this morning ♪ How do you reckon it read?

♪ Said, hurry, hurry, call Son ♪ Girl your love is dead ♪ Got a letter this morning ♪ Oh Lord are you really there?

♪ - Rap is old.

Rap goes back to slavery time.

Then it came up through gospel.

People literally rapping.

And then jazz is called scatty.

So Matt and I can show you, that this stuff has a 200 year old plus foundation.

This based in the idea of using the rhythmic word.

And that's just one genre that you can do that with.

♪ You know I packed up my suitcase ♪ ♪ Took off down the road ♪ And I got there she was laying out on the cooling board ♪ ♪ I got up closer and I look down in her face ♪ ♪ I say, hey ♪ You know I love you but I just got to go place ♪ ♪ You see (indistinct) ♪ I didn't know how much I loved her ♪ ♪ Until he put my baby in the ground ♪ ♪ Fold my hands and then ♪ I walked away I said, hey ♪ You know I love you ♪ I have to see another day ♪ I woke up this morning it was about to break a day ♪ ♪ I was hugging on a pillow where my baby used to lay ♪ ♪ And now I'm in Detroit, bow down ♪ ♪ I try to pray but the blues come along ♪ ♪ And they blow my spirit away.

♪ - And for me, that message boils down to, this idea that, if it wasn't for the sharing of different cultures in our country, we wouldn't have the music we have.

And I think we hone that down into a presentation, that has the ability to really have people leave a little different than they were when they got there.

- Hopefully, when you leave, you start to think about how many things that I thought were set in stone, are now fluid.

- One of the things I got really excited about, is this idea of not just saying we hope that this fosters conversation, but will facilitate the conversation.

And what is it that drives fear?

It's the unknown.

You, know, it's, if it wasn't for us meeting, we would have never probably had the courage to do it under any other circumstance.

So I think one we can all do in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King is to step out of that comfort zone.

- One of the ideas is to get to the point, to teach, perhaps like-minded younger artists, that the music is a tool for change.

And that sort of coming off of that seed, we end up growing a garden that everybody can enjoy.

♪ Could you love me, if I don't look like you?

♪ ♪ Is it deeper?

♪ Is it stronger?

♪ Something hidden, something true.

♪ - Use the music for healing.

Use the music for social change.

Use the music to tell a great story.

To create bridges between communities.

- Everything Common Chords does will always have the idea, is how can we bring diverse people together, to get to know each other, to hear each other's stories, to sing each other's songs.

- Common Chords doesn't solve all of those problems.

But hopefully, it causes us to question our answers to the point, where maybe that little germ of a song or that story, or that concert, causes us to rethink some other things and reorder some things in our world.

♪ Oh deep in my heart ♪ A little belief ♪ That we shall overcome someday.

♪ - For more about Common Chords, just head to our website, @onedetroitpbs.org.

Next up, four dancers in 1980 set out to create a professional contemporary dance company in Detroit.

Though Barb Selinger is the only original member in the company, DDC Dances, it still thrives in the beautiful choreography and deep thoughts that go into each performance.

We caught up with DDC Dances as they rehearsed for the show called Stomping Ground.

The performances touch on critical topics, from mental health to climate change.

(soft music) - [Amy] The traditional forms of modern dance continue to speak to an ever-changing world.

- The essence of dance for me is about humanity.

And there's so much in this world today to express.

- DDC is a group of performing artists that bring modern dance throughout Detroit and the greater Detroit area.

And also, we provide outreach education programs throughout Michigan.

- [Selinger] DDC Dances began in 1980.

We were founded at Wayne State University, actually.

The founding members were Paula Kramer, Anita Surma and Sue Ellen Darr and myself.

We focused on a technique that was developed and designed by Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon, pioneers of modern dance.

And really, the genre today still really works.

Because it's based on how human beings like to move in space and time.

So that's what we liked about working in that way.

And so obviously, after 40 years, it's developed into something a little bit different because, those two, Humphrey and limon wanted future generations to develop their technique.

- [Amy] I started out in ballet growing up.

And in college I first discovered modern dance and really fell in love with it just because of the expressivity, the freedom.

Yet its connectedness and roots to ballet and to a strict technique.

It just really allows for expression and a lot of creativity in terms of music choices, choreographic choices, choreographic sites.

- I really like to look not just for technique, but for performance skills.

Who they are as people and what they communicate through their body.

We work a lot through improvisation.

So when I'm making choreography, it's the idea of a breadth and gravity.

It's all natural elements that surround us.

So we work on improv, that's based on ideas that interest me as a choreographer.

There are dances in our upcoming concert that deal with climate change, that deal with mental health, that deal with extinction.

So all of these things are important to society today.

And we're expressing how we feel about these issues through movement.

- So there's a lot that goes back and forth.

As a dancer you're not just simply a dancer, you're a choreographer.

You're innovating with the Artistic Director, which is a really beautiful part of this company.

- She comes in, puts the bench down in black, and she'll sit down and lean forward.

And lights and music go together.

Today, we are doing a tech for each of the pieces.

So you'll be watching us create the lighting.

And then, once the lighting's created, then we will run the piece like a dress rehearsal.

Getting the right lighting design to enhance the dance, and to really be a partner with the dance.

So stage lighting is really very important.

It becomes a marriage between the dance, dancers and the space.

Well, the first piece of the program were excerpts from a whole evening work that we did at Jam Handy last fall, and it's called Rock On.

And I've always wanted to create a concert based on rock music.

So there's some small excerpts from that.

So you will see dancers performing to some of the classic rock music that we all know and love.

One of my young dancers and emerging artists, Liz LeClaire, she choreographed a new solo.

I really like to give young emerging artists an opportunity to show their work.

So her work is actually based on mental health.

It's really interesting the way she communicates those ideas.

There's a piece that I choreographed 30 years ago, it's called Journey's End.

And that's based on environmental change.

And 30 years ago, we were talking about environmental change and this piece is still pertinent today.

It happens to be performed to the music of the Beatles.

The last work is called Absence.

It's a brand new premiere for me.

And it deals with the idea of loss.

What has been lost or gone, may never exist again.

And the dancers all wrote their own stories.

So that was like a jumping off point for the work.

They all created movement based on the idea of that they had written on their story.

And then, you know, we improvise with it.

And then, I take it and I mold it and I change it and I structure it to express the full piece in what we want to say in terms of that particular idea.

Each of the individual dancers in the company bring their own voice to the movement.

So whatever that means to them, they create gestures, perhaps, our entire movement phrases that deal with their story.

- The wonderful thing about it is that, oftentimes there are many interpretations to it.

So it doesn't have to have a certain like one specific meaning, as is the case in many different forms of modern art.

It's really inspiring to dance with my colleagues.

They all have their strengths and we're all unique in our ways.

But we come together and you know, are stronger as a group, I think.

- I'm really proud of the company because I think, we have a variety of ways to communicate the art form.

Our heart and soul really goes into our productions, our classes, our workshops, everything we do with the community has meant so much to us.

And we are hoping it has meant a lot to the people that we serve.

- For more info on DDC Dances, just go to our website, Onedetroitpbs.org.

All right.

Are you feeling a little hungry?

If so, maybe this next segment will help you decide what to have for dinner tonight.

We go back to the beginnings of Buddy's Square, Detroit-Style Pizza.

Why the square?

Where does the cheese go?

Take a look at this clip from Detroit Remember When: Made in the Motor City.

(soft music) - Everybody, square pizza.

- Square, they make a square pizza?

That was weird.

- What, are these people crazy?

- No one even heard of square pizza, it was unheard of.

- You fell in love with it.

It was great.

- But there's purists that will come in and say, nope, cheese and pepperoni, original sauce, that's it.

- Detroit-Style Pizza is gonna be something when every time you take a bite, you're gonna taste every product that's on there.

- [Wesley] It became sort of the Detroit style as they're referred to it now.

But it's actually Sicilian style.

That was, that originated in Detroit.

(jazz music) - [Smith] Detroiters came back from the war and some had acquired, well, a more refined palate.

Some were stationed in Great Britain and so they wanted English food.

- Fish and chips places like (indistinct) where we were at, there was three or four of them in two miles.

- [Smith] On the east side, Gus Guerra own the Tavern at Six Mile and Conant.

- It was a gathering place.

Like, Buddy's Rendezvous.

That's rendezvous at Buddy's.

'Cause the guys would come in and play cards.

- Gus came from San Marino, that little country surrounded by Italy.

And he had married into a Sicilian family.

- And my father said, " You know what?

This is really no pieces here.

We got one piece in this city."

So we started making pizza.

- [Smith] Buddy's Rendezvous was at the front end of what soon would become Detroit's pizza craze.

- Everybody was throwing up pizzerias.

- [Smith] There was lots of pizza, round pizza.

But Buddy's stayed square and thicker.

And they use trays that were supposed to hold small car parts or even catch oil dripping from milling machines.

- It's a labor intensive process to do our pizza.

It requires multiple stretchings.

Where you take a round pizza, you take the dough, you flip it, twist it and it's ready to go.

With us it's got to sit and prove.

That part of it, it didn't maybe appeal to a lot of pizza people at the time.

- [Smith] Buddy's added one more ingredient too, brick cheese, brick cheese from Wisconsin.

Another place with a lot of Poles and Germans, just like over on Detroit seaside.

- The peperoni is underneath the cheese, which is unique.

What it's known for is the blend of the cheese and the flavors of the sauce with the dough, creating this crunchy pizza, that has got a great taste.

- [Smith] Yep, business was going good all right.

But, it wasn't going quite so well for Gus.

- My father left Buddy's in 1953.

There was a little internal problem between the partners, which can happen in any relationship.

- Two guys, both named Jimmy wanted Buddy's.

And so, Gus sold it to him.

- He promised Buddy's, he move it at least two miles away.

And he found a little farm house in East Detroit.

It was called Cloverleaf Farm when he bought it.

- [Smith] While Gus made his pizza north of Eight Mile Road on (indistinct), back in Detroit, these women led by a Sicilian named Connie Piccinato, kept faithful to the original Buddy's recipe.

Wesley Pikula started as a dishwasher there when he was just in high school.

- [Wesley] Whatever Connie tells you, you do, whatever Savina tells you, you do.

And Anna, the one on the left, you could see the size of her arm so, trust me, I listened to her more than anybody.

(chuckles softly) - [Smith] By the 1960s, Buddy's had become an E side institution.

Sports teams that played at nearby Jayne field, held pizza parties there.

Sometimes, hey, they even lined up around the block just waiting for seats.

- [Wesley] Let's put it this way.

In 1970, Buddy's was the story in that area.

They had other places.

I mean, they had other pizzerias on east side.

There was many of them.

But none of them had the reputation that Buddy's had.

- My parents went there, around 1969.

And my parents were just, love the atmosphere.

- [Smith] 1970 was the year that really changed everything.

Buddy's was sold again to Bill and Shirley Jacobs this time.

Who arrived just in time for the great pizza contest, created by the Detroit News.

- We had a good pizza and we thought we'd have a good shot at it.

- [Smith] In a city full of round pizzas, it was between the Cloverleaf and Buddy's for the squares.

But only one of them would get to compete.

- My father called about them, my brother called about it, and they told them that you're excluded.

You can't enter the contest because you're not inside Detroit City limits.

- As the almond was, Buddy's was picked as the best pizza place in this city.

- Buddy's took first place.

And that hurt us I know that.

But there was nothing we could do about it.

- [Smith] By the late '70s, Buddy's was adding another location out in Warren.

- Every story got better by the day.

So at some point it became legendary.

- [Smith] In 1980, Ronald Reagan came to town for the Republican National Convention.

It was big news of course.

And Buddy's decided to feed square pizza to all those hungry reporters down at Cobo Hall.

And aha!

They liked it.

- [Wesley] Every news person you could mention, every anchor, signed that Buddy's book.

Said, better than New York.

I mean, we had Ted Koppel, this knocks anything out of New York.

And we had so many of those quotes.

- [Smith] Now, Buddy's is spread out all over Metro Detroit.

- Maybe now it's a brand.

It's the test of time.

- [Smith] How much time?

Well, almost 70 years.

And Cloverleaf is still going strong too.

And then there's Louis.

Now we've got to mention Louis.

That's Louis Pizza without an E. He made it originally at Buddy's and then he made it at chills.

And well, he decided to do it all by himself right here in Hazel Park nearly 40 years ago.

The tread square pizza is good of course.

But, we haven't talked about Detroit's iconic round pizzas.

Well, maybe more on that next time.

- For more on our arts and culture stories and live performances, just head to Onedetroitpbs.org for more.

And find us on social media, @onedetroit.

That is gonna do it for me this week.

But make sure you get out there and find an arts and culture event to experience this year.

It's 2022, let's renew our view of the arts.

I'll see you next week.

Take care.

(guitar plays) ♪ Could you love me, if I don't look like you.

♪ ♪ Is it deeper?

♪ Is it stronger?

♪ Something hidden, something true ♪ ♪ If I stare a little longer ♪ Will I see myself in you?

♪ Could you love me, if I don't look like you ♪ ♪ Could you love me, if I don't think like you ♪ ♪ Is it deeper?

♪ Is it stronger?

♪ Something hidden, something true.

♪ - [Announcer] You can find more @onedetroitpbs.org.

Or subscribe to our social media channels.

And sign up for our One Detroit Newsletter.

- [Announcer] From Delta faucets, to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers, all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

- [Announcer] Support for this program is provided by, the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV, the Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan focused giving.

We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEfoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Business Leaders for Michigan, dedicated to making Michigan, a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

Also brought to you by, the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, and viewers like you.

(upbeat music)