- [Narrator] Production of Applause on Idea Stream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(upbeat ambient music) - Coming up, the invasion of Normandy is recreated in Ashtabula County with D-Day Conneaut.

Plus west African dance builds community in Columbus thanks to an OSU Buckeye.

And Akron guitarist, Dan Wilson honors a rock and roll Hall of Famer at the Tri-C Jazz Fest.

It's time for Idea Stream Public Media's Applause everyone.

I'm your friendly neighborhood arts and culture host, Kabir Bhatia.

(upbeat ambient music) Every August, the city of Conneaut on the beaches of Lake Erie hosts a remarkable tribute to history.

More than 20,000 people come out to witness this annual event, which began in 1999.

Let's take a look at the Conneaut D-day reenactment.

(upbeat ambient music) - We are the largest World War II reenactment in the United States, and the largest D-day reenactment in the world.

It started out with a group of like-minded reenactors who just wanted to do something, they didn't have their own event.

So they came out to the bluff one year and decided there was about 20 guys and they decided to run up the beach and a bunch of people came out and watched 'em do it, and next year was 30 people and so forth, and it grew and we decided, wow, we might have something here.

- The Anzio beachhead was actually getting seriously threatened, and if the Anzio beachhead fell, the entire operation would've fallen apart.

- So reenacting is more or less we're doing it trying to give the audience a general broad strokes of what it had generally looked like because a lot of people have really twisted ideas of what history looked like because of media.

It's a more interactive way that people can get interested 'cause not everyone wants to go and watch a two hour long documentary.

Sometimes they're more interested in just what's going on in the small soldier's view and actually seeing it in person.

- This is my second time, so, and my son's second time as well.

My grandfather was actually a vet in World War II, he was with the Army Air Corps.

He was Michael Nastov, he was a machine gunner on a B24 liberator.

So I grew up, you know, with a great appreciation for the greatest generation and for everything that they did for our freedoms.

And I think it's very important that my son understand that because again, you know, they're the future, right?

So it's very important that that greatest generation and those that fought to protect our liberties are remembered so that we can learn from history, right?

History doesn't always repeat, but it sure can rhyme sometimes.

I'm multiracial, so my grandfather, a 100% Caucasian, he actually was escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen and it was really funny, a beautiful thing is, I remember he used to tell me stories about going out on missions and things of that nature and just had such a reverence for the Tuskegee airmen, and he told me, that's how he knew that difference would be it on racial lines or whatever lines was BS essentially because he saw the courage of those men, and frankly, had they not done their job and went above and beyond and protect my grandfather when he was making his bombing runs, my grandfather never would've met my grandmother and I wouldn't be here, his great-grandson, Eli wouldn't be here.

So I think we've got a lot more in common than we do that's different.

- One of the reasons we chose this location is because the bluff area and the beach are about the size of what Omaha Beach were in Normandy.

So it has a lot of similarities to it.

Northeast Ohio and Ohio in general has quite a few reenactments.

A lot of the reenactors participate in multiple time periods, so they may do World War II, they may do civil war, and different time periods like that.

So you really find a lot of history buffs.

A lot of the reenactors are active or former military and they love the time period and they've chosen or they have family members who were in the war or what have you.

So they've chosen to honor them with reenacting and telling the story.

- We do things like protecting downed airmen, hoping to get them all the way across south of, to the south of France, across the Pyrenees into Spain, and then a ship will take them back to England.

We added the farm building about, boy, maybe six years ago.

Prior to that, I was in the camp, but I have never been a person, I have never been a gun person, so I don't do that aspect.

My husband actually started this McKee group.

It's the McKee to Britannia based in Brittany, but prior to D-Day sent to Normandy.

And so he started it, I just came and watched, and then after about 10 years, I thought, "I wanna do this" because I think history needs to be preserved, the real history, what really happened.

- We really have a whole new appreciation for all the coordination that goes into the theater of kind of reenacting these small battles and then the layering on of the historical narrative over top of it.

So it's really nice because in year two, we're really able to, we kind of get the lay of the land and we're able to kind of dig a level deeper which has been a beautiful thing.

- We have over a 1000 reenactors that come from the US and Canada, and some from overseas as well.

But it's an effort, it's a group effort, it takes a year to put on this and it also takes a lot of resources.

So we're a 100% donation driven.

Some people say, "We're glorifying war" but that's the exact opposite of what we're doing, we're trying to tell the story of how the world came together and really worked to fight and put an end to the tyranny that was taking place.

(upbeat ambient music) - I'd like you to meet Keana Simpson from Columbus.

When she was only seven, Keana was introduced to the art of West African dance, which forever changed her life story.

Decades later, she returns the favor as a dance instructor at the Ohio State University.

(upbeat ambient music) - I think I've always loved to move and do rhythm.

My mom says, even when I was little I was like clicking my heels to songs and all of those things.

But really formalized, I guess training, if you will happened when Susan Bradford, which is my mom, is a really, really good friend, I know her as Aunt Susan decided to start a children's African dance company and she needed dancers.

And it was like kind of that your friends help you out by sending their kids to your stuff.

So it's like, "Go be in your aunt's dance troupe" situation.

And that's really how I really got started into African dance.

At home in my living room, dancing, watching videos right before I even joined the troop was always a sense of happiness and joy.

I loved every second of it.

And so moving into a children's company where there are also people around me who also enjoy to dance was definitely a space that was opened up for me to just do really that self-expression and have a good time and make friends.

It really just felt like a normal, another part of life that I just really enjoyed being at and doing.

I think that the learning part was definitely fun, but it felt more like kinship and friendship and being a part of something, but that connector feeling that was like.

(exhales sharply) (dancers singing) I think the performing was the key to me really knowing that I loved it, that I felt a different sense of confidence and excitement and all those things.

I always grew up like shy and timid and people are like, "You know, you're always so quiet."

And then I get on stage and I just like explode.

So traditionally in African dance we wear what's called a lafa, and it ties around your skirt so it would feel very similar to maybe putting on a tutu, seeing it as how you have to wrap it right around.

But it is traditionally worn and so in Africa and a lot of the ethnic groups there, so we wear it as traditional dress for dance, and then it really could be very comfortable on the top but bare feet are very important in African dance specifically for us the way that we use that is it's a connector tube the ground to mother earth, right, to give back into us.

And you can feel those vibrations, right, the drum is kind of pounding and it sits on the floor and so it vibrates the floor, and those same vibrations kind of come right back up through your heels.

And I think that's really awesome too.

I think honestly that's what kind of fueled my passion for live music.

I love dancing to live music.

Jizan specifically does focus on traditional West African dance, that's what we go for.

And it is to present and preserve the culture through music and dance.

And I think it's important for us to do that because it continues to give African Americans a understanding that we had a whole life before slavery, that there were and there still are sisters and brothers of ours who have had freedom this entire time and have been able to practice and support and love each other through these particular cultures and beliefs that really supported the system that they worked in, this communal idea.

And I think that's really where Jizan focuses on presenting and preserving and showing that.

And I think that's why it's important for us to stay into what we consider the traditional form, right, we wanna show the roots of it.

I started hearing about some of the different things that they were doing over here at Ohio State, which is they had some Africanist movement instructors coming in and they were looking at those, celebrating those different kind of works.

And I have to admit and be honest, when I was younger, (drums beating) Ohio State seemed very far away from me.

I didn't see myself there, I didn't see a lot of people who look like me.

I didn't have a problem with it, it just wasn't my path.

I didn't do ballet when little girls were going to class on Saturday mornings and putting ballet shoes on the tutus, I was tying on a lopa and taking my socks and shoes off to hit the floor for African dance.

So for every recital they did, I was in a community doing a performance.

And so yes, I've been able to teach African dance over the past couple semesters and it's been great.

I love it.

I've been able to kind of take what I've been doing in the community, and really add the rigor and the study of it on another level and have the students immerse themselves in that sense.

And that's also been really great for me because I've always just been working in the community.

So it also gave me an opportunity to re-look at how I give information and instruction in this form and what my duties are to really pass that on and make sure I give people a good foundation and information about African dance and how to really study African dance.

And that part has been great.

And so being a part of that movement has been awesome.

I've also been able to be under a new set of like tutelage, if you will about my teachings and how I do the things.

And so it's like twofold, I'm getting to share what I love to do all of this information and love and passion that's already been building up inside of me, I'm teaching that.

And then I'm also learning new ways to do that as well with the instructors that are here.

So I consider myself a community dancer because I understand how much my community has poured into me, and there's this really strong sense of responsibility and importance that I reciprocate that and that I now give that back to the community.

So as much as they've given me, I wanna give right back to them, and to share my gift and passion in the sense that you really have this space, these people, these ideas, these beliefs and systems that we stick together that we hold each other up, that we owe each other a sense of true humanity is where I think kind of like just lives in me.

And the best way I can think about giving that back to those people and to these spaces is to pour it out in my dance and in my passion and what I do.

(drums beating) Part of my research here at Ohio State, and part of what my drive is, is understanding the importance of when children are young, right?

And there's a moment in time or space where pouring into them, having specific leadership and guidance, having a appointed person to kind of usher 'em through those little moments, which are really difficult as you kind of teenager change over.

I think those moments are really important and we need to put a little more focus there so that when you do get to example my age, that again that understanding that you are once supported by someone.

So you may have that feeling or understanding that there's a little responsibility there to carry the next person.

And I think that's where my drive for humanity comes from, and that's really born out of my time with Jizan.

I specifically had somebody guiding me and helping me through those teenage years, and it wasn't that I was perfect, I got suspended from school.

I know, don't tell anybody, some blemish on my record.

(Keana chuckles) But I did, so I got in trouble, you know, I was a follower, I didn't stand up for myself sometimes, some bad decisions were made and I cut school, you know, like, so.

I wasn't perfect, this things happened, but because there was someone particularly in place that could connect to me through dance, but connect to me on this thing we call life that when I got older, I realized I made it through because somebody was holding my hand.

And so we kind of call that a rite of passage, right?

And that's what it turns over to.

And that's where my study is.

My study is here, is about the rite of passage and the importance of rite a passage to assist and help adolescents really make that change from being a child into a young adult, right?

And the difficulty of that, but understanding that if you give 'em that really good foundation and that really good understanding of who they are and whom they belong to and help that hand and that guiding hand to kind of pull 'em through.

Nine times outta 10, you come out on the other end, you make some dumb decisions, but you look back and you say, "Okay, I know I made it because", right?

And then that a lot of times will have that person, one, really want to be a contributing member to their community or to their society, but also feel the need to return and come back and do the same thing for the next person or for the next youth or the next child or whoever that is.

- [Narrator] While Dega is particularly known for painting ballet dancers, he also painted Parisian laundresses throughout his career.

On the next Applause, learn about Dega and the Laundress with a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Plus the Cleveland Arts Prize recognizes a rock and roll icon from behind the camera.

Janet Macoska.

And the Cleveland Orchestra (upbeat ambient music) performs a perennial favorite Dvorak's, new world symphony.

All that and more on the next round of Applause.

You can watch past episodes of applause on the PBS app.

(upbeat ambient music) Glass blowing shops are like rabbits these days, they're everywhere.

Let's hop to Summit County and learn about a hot shop that's been in business since 2006.

- Growing up here in Akron, Ohio, I knew a little bit about glass blowing because my uncle is a glassblower down in Atlanta, Georgia.

So I always knew a little bit about glass blowing and I just sought out Akron Glassworks just to see what it was all about.

Hi, my name is Christian James, and the way that I got started glass blowing here at Akron Glassworks was the owner of the studio, Jack Baker noticed that I was a little bit familiar with glass, so he offered me a job to help out and start working with him.

Akron Glassworks started as a place for artists to have accessibility to the equipment here in Akron.

The owner Jack Baker started Akron Glassworks at a building on the north side of Akron, but it was a little too small so we needed a little bit more space.

So we found this building and we moved over here just so that we'd have a little bit more space for our gallery and a little bit more space for the hot shop.

So we make a lot of functional art glass, a lot of ornaments and bowls and faces, just regular retail items.

Right now we're making a lot of the little bunnies which we just made one in the shop for you guys to see.

So that's just a nice, cute little kind of sculptural item that you can have around the house on a shelf.

The classes that we offer here, we have lots of different items, paperweights, ornaments, even drinking glasses, and they're all one-on-one with an instructor, so we're helping you through the process so that you come up with something really nice.

So it really allows all of our students to get a little feel for the glass and really get to put their own creative spin on their own project that they get to take home with them.

- [Narrator] To meet more northeast Ohio entrepreneurs, check out the Making It series online at ideastream.org.

(upbeat ambient music) It's time to groove on outta here, folks.

I'm Idea Stream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

That said, let's share this groovy rendition of Stevie Wonder's song, "Smile Please" from our friends at the Tri-C Jazz Fest.

♪ The beauty that you are ♪ Here's Akron guitarist, Dan Wilson from his 2023 concert at Playhouse Square, "Seven Decades of Wonder: The Genius of Stevie".

As we wind down this applause, catch you next time.

♪ Uh, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ For you ♪ ♪ Don't mess your face up with bitter tears ♪ ♪ 'Cause life is gonna be what it is ♪ ♪ It's okay, please don't delay from smiling ♪ ♪ There are brighter days ahead ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Love's not competing; it's on your side ♪ ♪ You're in life's picture, so why must you cry?

♪ ♪ So for a friend, please begin to smile, ♪ ♪ Because there are brighter days ahead, ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum, bum, bum, ditti, bum ♪ ♪ Bum ♪ (upbeat ambient music) - [Narrator Two] Production of Applause on Idea Stream Public media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.