- [Announcer] Next on "Curate".

- I've made Wing Chun a part of my life because you love what you do.

You love the art, you live and breathe it.

- [Emma] That's what music does.

It's helped me become who I am.

Music's my life and without Soundscapes I wouldn't be here.

- [Brodrick] I really look up to anyone that has a strong passion in what they do.

- [Heather] This is "Curate".

- Welcome, I'm Jason Kypros.

- And I'm Heather Mazzoni.

Thanks for joining us on "Curate".

This season, we've been working our way around Hampton Roads arts and cultural spaces.

This week we come to you from a truly special space.

The Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk's Ghent neighborhood.

- The Naro has anchored the Colley Avenue business district for more than 85 years now.

And it remains one of the most beloved institutions in Hampton Roads.

- It's the perfect spot to introduce you to our 757 featured artist.

With some 32 movie credits to his name, Darren Leung has traveled a highly unusual path from Virginia Beach to Hong Kong and China using a unique set of martial arts skills that he learned from his father.

- [Jason] And it's led to a multifaceted film career.

Working as an actor, a producer, a technical advisor and a trainer.

Darrell Leung is our 757 featured artist.

(bright upbeat music) - Any kind of martial art style in China, you would call it the name of the style and then add Kung Fu because it's basically, you can consider it to mean martial arts.

So it's Wing Chun Kung Fu.

(bright upbeat music continues) My father learned Wing Chun and from Yip Man but he was brought to him by Bruce Lee.

They were both kids around the same time in Hong Kong so they would hang out.

They would fight in the streets all the time and Bruce was always looking for something fresh and something new and he came upon Wing Chun.

And he started learning from Yip Man and then sort of showed off to my dad, beat him up.

My dad was like, okay, I gotta check this guy out.

So they went to Yip Man and then he started taking lessons as well.

(bright upbeat music continues) My dad almost always had a Kung Fu school in the US except for the last 15 or so years.

So I always heard his fight stories growing up so I thought, yeah, Wing Chun sounds awesome and I just...

I wanna learn it.

So I just joined classes at nights after school.

Well, it definitely looks like a smaller building when I was here, but started here when I was 12.

This is industrial area in Virginia Beach.

I was just one of the two, maybe three little kids that was working out.

My dad was tough on everybody just because he was a real stickler for details and how to do things right.

(bright upbeat music continues) So I decided to keep the sign from the old office.

Thought it was pretty cool because it had a snake and the crane on there and double knives.

So you can prepare those around for training.

What I love about Wing Chun is it's efficiency, because that really goes to my personality.

Something simple, something efficient, something that makes sense.

It's gotta make sense.

When I was a kid, I was always taught that the snake is just capable of striking directly and that was a bad thing.

Went on and found out that it's actually a good thing.

You wanna be able to be direct.

So Wing Chun we are very direct in our strengths.

The crane represents being able to do two things at one time.

In his case, he's using a wing to cover.

What we call covering some people might call it blocking and using his beak or his talents to attack the snake.

So we do a lot of simultaneous covering defensive work with offensive attack work.

(bright upbeat music continues) When I was sort of encouraged into musical theater in high school, there was a buzz backstage and all the prep work that goes into just two, three days of performances, that really got me.

Albert Watson, who's the dance instructor at academy, I had known him since I was in fifth grade, sixth grade.

You're like, Darren Leung, and then you're like, hey, how's it going?

Da, da, da.

You're like, what do you think about auditioning for the musical?

I was like, no way.

(both laugh) And you just kept pushing me.

You're like- - Yeah.

- Just do it.

And I was super shy- - You were amazing 'cause you were very agile.

- I couldn't dance but I could flop around a lot.

And that was perfect 'cause that was the first role I had, which is scarecrow in "The Wiz".

- You could sing a little bit too.

(indistinct) The Scarecrow sings.

- I know, but I know I missed plenty of notes.

(bright upbeat music) - I wanted realness.

Some of the best actors are the ones who don't know it.

- That would be the first bit that really got me through the acting side.

(orchestral music) Right out of college I was working as an engineer for a couple of years.

That switched IT.

The economy was no good.

The environment was no good.

So I quit.

Back to Virginia.

I would go down to the Kung Fu school and just work out here and there.

One of the students doing Wing Chun, he came up with this idea when he was training and he said, hey, do you wanna be involved in the movie?

It's all this buzz, all the actors doing their thing and then crew doing their thing.

And then when everybody's got to go silent, it's just like everything is focused on at one point in time to get it right.

And then you could hear the film, run it the camera and it's just like, oh, this is so cool.

(Darren laughs) The fact that everybody can just move together and just get that little bit down, was the best.

I was hooked.

Dead hooked.

(bright upbeat music) My dad was spending tons and tons of time out in Asia.

He hooked me up with a guy named Frankie Chan who was starting up a TV series in Shanghai called (speaks foreign language) but we just call it "TaeKwonDo Kids" 'cause it was about two competing TaeKwonDo schools.

And so he said, okay, I'll write you a role in there.

And I was like, wait a minute (laughs).

I don't know about...

I just wanna do a walk on.

So I was one of the best fighters in one of the outfits.

And so I got a pretty important role.

After we finished the TV series, I got introduced to main Eunyong Choi who is an independent producer making films for the Chinese market.

Over two years we did four pictures until the call finally came.

I was like, okay, we're ready to start "The Grandmaster".

(dramatic music) Wong Kar-wai had specifically planned to make a movie about Grandmaster Yip Man, who was the guy who taught my father and my father taught me.

So, it's sort of a perfect timing to get involved.

I'm a nobody, but my dad, he's one of the, what they call closed door disciples for Grandmaster Yip Man.

And so Kar-wai being somebody who wants something authentic, goes to my dad and he's like, I want you to train the lead actor for this, Tony Leung.

And my dad said, I'll teach him, but Darren's gonna help train him.

When it came time to shoot the scenes, they would just sort of come to us for reference so that we would have our authenticity of the motions.

And then what Kar-wai wanted cinematically and what you want Jacky Pang Yee wanted action-wise.

(Upbeat music) That work on "The Grandmaster" would eventually lead to "Ip Man 3" because we had now established a working relationship with (indistinct).

I was gonna help out officially assistant choreographer because they still needed me there to train the actors.

And then when they do the choreography, they get stuck in something.

Well, what do you have in mind for an action that will sort of get us out of this situation?

(bright upbeat music continues) Martial arts is what?

It's an art of fighting.

In a real fight, you don't know the punch is coming.

You don't know the kick is coming.

In a movie, you do know.

It's all choreographed because I know that one's coming so as soon as you come in, I grab you and twist you around, et cetera, et cetera.

So it becomes a dance.

(bright upbeat music continues) (plane engine roaring) (bright upbeat music) My father no longer teaches in Virginia Beach.

He's in Zhuhai, Southern China.

It's just over the border from Hong Kong.

And has a bunch of students still.

Oh, there's a term we use generally across Chinese Kung Fu it's called (speaks foreign language) A (speaks foreign language) is another way of calling somebody a master or a teacher really.

(background chatter) Everything for our style and actually for a lot of styles is just mouth to ear.

It's not like in the movies where there's a secret book and somebody goes to steal.

For the first time in a long time I had the chance to actually sit down with my father and go through some techniques to sort of deconstruct things.

Found out a lot of things that he hadn't been teaching because of the way he teaches.

Not because he was holding it back, but just because he does things at hawk and so there's no structure to it.

And I just have been trying to structure it and so it's been a great trip so far.

(bright upbeat music continues) If you love to paint, it's part of your life.

I've made Wing Chun part of mine because you love what you do.

You love the art, you live and breathe it.

(bright upbeat music continues) - You can see Darren Leung story again on our website.

It's whro.org/curate.

Now that's the place to go to find any 757 featured artists from our nearly six years of "Curate" as well as every broadcast episode and other great "Curate" content.

There is an organization on the peninsula that's looking to make profound differences in the lives of students.

Soundscapes uses the power and discipline of music to provide opportunities to kids who might not have much in the way of life chances.

They believe their work will change lives and better communities.

(band music) - Soundscapes is a youth development program.

We use music as a vehicle for helping students to develop life-changing skills.

- Most of our student musicians are from historically marginalized communities.

One, two, ready, clap.

Because of that, we offer all of our Summer camps and our daily program for free to all participants.

And our peninsula youth orchestra is on a sliding scale so some students pay nothing at all.

- I really wanna get into Soundscape, oh, it costs money.

I think it's good that it's free so no one has to pay for it.

And not just the teachers just saying, oh, I'm just doing this to get money.

I'm doing this because I wanna do it.

- We start usually around second or third grade and it goes clear through high school.

We have students who are coming to the program now who have literally been with us since they were in elementary school.

And we have one student that's graduated from high school and he still comes and plays and helps out and volunteers.

- I've been involved in Soundscapes since 2009 and I was seven years old when I started.

I'm a recent graduate from Menchville High School.

I've been accepted to Virginia State University.

I plan on majoring in engineering and then music.

What I learned from the Soundscape is you have to keep doing the work and you'll accomplish something.

Don't give up.

Even if it looks hard and if it looks impossible, keep trying.

(smooth music) - We are more than just a music program, we're a family.

At Soundscapes, I get to see my crew 10 hours a week.

And with that frequency and consistency, you become families.

And that's what I love the absolute most about our program.

(smooth violin music) - Through music and Soundscapes you learn about empathy, social skills, how to think for yourself.

I like that.

Really just how to think for yourself and be your own individualistic person.

That is a huge thing that being a musician has taught me.

- It's very rewarding because they grow not only as musicians, but they grow as leaders.

It's amazing because we are seeing them develop of life skills.

It's not just a musical development, we want them to grow to be people who really make a difference in their community.

- I think having that music and having that community within my school and being able to hang out with people at school in a safe environment, really taught me that there's things that are better out in the world.

There isn't just the scary.

(background chatter) (smooth music) - Soundscapes is a gateway to also keep kids out of trouble.

It helps you get a sense of discipline and it helps you stay busy.

- I'm so fortunate to have soundscapes, honestly.

Starting when I did and still continuing with my music, I'm lucky to have it.

The community, the family and the learning and just helping create who I am and taking me out of any dark spiral I was going down 'cause that's what music does.

It's helped me get out of bad places and to become who I am.

Music's my life.

And without Soundscapes, I wouldn't be here.

(band music) - Now I've been in a Soundscapes since first grade.

I've had a couple of breaks, 'cause of family issues.

It happens.

But I've always came back.

- [Interviewer] What made you come back?

- Music.

Is where my heart at.

(smooth music) The way I see it, I may not get this chance again so, take it while I can.

(bright upbeat music) - Muhammad Ali continues to influence the world, even though he died more than five years ago.

Appropriately enough, the man once called the Louisville lip is the inspiration for Tampa, Florida poets, as they battle to be the greatest spoken word artists.

(bright jazzy music) - So tonight is a super combination of athleticism and also literature and poetry.

We got four of the best poets in the city who are gonna be competing head to head.

They wanted to stage to voice their love or Mohammed Ali and his principles and things like that.

- The way that the entire event is going to be organized, it's almost like a boxing match.

(bell dings) - Please clap it up for your first sacrificial poet, Charles Hines.

(group applauding) - So I focused my poem on resilience and overcoming obstacles.

And so I spin it into just kind of fighting against depression and those everyday things that prevent you from being your best self, from seeing the light.

Every word they say, just stings, like, like will I ever be all right?

I am not a champion In this moment you may not feel like a champion or your best self, but always standing up again and just staying in the ring until one day you look and you're like, hey, I'm the champion.

- How am I going to put my socks on today and walk a mile in everyone else's shoes while I stay stuck in cement still trying to sooth I know...

Someone like Muhammad Ali, even he got tired and exhausted on days, I'm sure because it's all just so much sometimes.

So, the poem that I wrote is just kind of saying that it's okay to have bad days.

That it's okay to have days where you focus on yourself and do things for yourself and you're still a great person.

- I miss the days where we pulled out boxing gloves instead of hand guns.

Before fists became semi-automatic pistols and double action revolver.

- In 2017, I started Growhouse because I wanted to do something different.

The idea was to take the elements of slam poetry and the competition structure and use it for other forms of art.

- Nosy shipwrecks resurface to watch dolphins ornament black braids with gold.

She pulls Mt Everest out of her breasts and each nail lines up for it's turn at getting even.

- 2019 is when I partnered up with Dennis, he's an excellent host and he's a great just people person.

He's a lot more outgoing than I would say I am and so we're definitely a great partnership in that I'm more reserved and he's great at just being a people person.

- One of the most prolific and profound poets that I personally know, Walter Wally B. Jennings.

(group applauding) - Wally B is kind of like this tree trunk.

And he's kind of brought poetry as spoken word down from Tallahassee.

When he brought it here to Tampa, from that just blossomed all a lot of everything that you see today.

- This earth was not built by brick and mortar.

What you do may make you important, but why you do it will make you immortal.

The poem that I have was really about the whole aging process and how it's important for us to really recognize the totality of our life as one cohesive experience, rather than these fragmented parts, where we fall in love with one and we hate the other.

And so with Muhammad Ali, a lot of people kind of are able to segment his life into various sections.

When you talk about him as a young champion and then when you talk about the attention that he got as an activist.

And then in his latter years, as he dealt with Parkinson's and a lot of medical challenges.

So most people they experienced or know him and they really... His life resonates with him heavily, usually in one of those three areas.

And remind everyone that greatness is always just over the horizon.

- Ali's actually one of the few people that can be, oh, that is one of my superheroes.

- I just look at him as someone who is so dedicated to getting what he wants.

- Just going back and watching old footage of him and just seeing how he was able to just come out on top against some of the biggest fighters.

And then of course outside of the ring, he was just an artistic person overall.

- He was one of the first, I would say one of the first well known spoken word kind of poets.

- Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

(indistinct) - That's the best type of poetry to me is the authentic genuineness and that's all Muhammad Ali is.

- The fact that he crafted himself as his own character and chose to be true to that come hell or high water, with all of the weight that each one of his decision was made, not just for himself, but as a representative of his people here in America.

- He got something that he had been training for basically his entire life and he decided to give it up for the good of other people.

- I loved him as being a black man who was completely confident in who he was.

At that time, that was very not okay to do that.

- He became the first in my eyes, the first athlete that was more than his sport.

I wish I would have had the opportunity to actually meet, see, be in the presence of Ali.

Worthy of all praises most high.

The poem that I wrote for this event, I was trying to take some of his core talents and expound upon them and find how I am trying to exemplify them in my life.

Just as a small homage to Muhammad Ali.

And conviction, spirituality and dedication, he was respect and giving.

- We want Tampa to be a city that people think of when they think of really dope spoken word poetry.

Oh, we've got to go to Tampa to go to Growhouse.

And we really believe in building community and working together with other people in the community who have the same goals as us.

- Tampa as a whole outside even just poetry is really blossoming in a beautiful way in the art scene.

So we want to be a part of that.

- We're all trying to get to the same place.

We all want Tampa to be known as this awesome city.

And there's a whole bunch of talent here in Growhouse just wants to be a platform to show that and put Tampa on the map basically.

(jazzy music) - [Heather] Watch "Curate" anytime.

It's online whro.org/curate.

You can also follow us on social media for additional content.

Get "Curated" through the WHRO social media stream.

Look for WHRO public media on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

(bright upbeat music) - I'm Brodrick Antoine and I created this mural.

(bright upbeat music continues) Tony, the owner of the shop, he called me up and asked if I would be willing to create a mural for him.

Portraits, 'cause that's what I specialize in.

It was the owner's choice who to put on the wall.

Well we kind of bouncing ideas, came with our final five after putting some thought into it.

I did the portraits.

Another artist came in and filled in the background so it was a collaborative piece between the both of us.

(bright upbeat music continues) It was my first experience with a mural this size.

It was something that I experimented with at first, but it came out to came out pretty good.

(bright upbeat music continues) I work with graphite.

Mostly 18 by 24 size portraits not this scale at all.

(bright upbeat music continues) Actually started with paint at first.

Pencil kind of grew on me, but I've been bouncing back between the two.

(bright upbeat music continues) It's a little different dealing with the media 'cause of pencil.

It has a point.

This is a lot messier, a lot grittier.

(bright upbeat music) Someone contacted me on Instagram.

I think he saw this mural and they wanted to do a mural on their basketball court.

He had a very strategic layout of how he wanted it placed.

Where he wanted it.

What else the (indistinct) the court.

Knowing he had it everything spelled out exactly how I wanted it.

It's magic after that.

I really look up to, well not just athletes, just anyone that has that strong passion in what they do.

I would like to speak to inspire other people and other artists to get out there and explore and do what it is that you're passionate about.

(bright upbeat music) - Follow Brodrick's work via his Instagram account @Brodrickantoine.

- And follow Colleywood cuts.

They're on Instagram as well @Colleywoodcuts.

Thanks for joining us.

We're going to leave you with more music from Soundscapes.

I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- [Jason] And I'm Jason Kypros and we'll see you next time on "Curator".

♪ We are the ones who determine if this was meant to be ♪ ♪ Virginia's legacy and unknown destiny ♪ ♪ And mama ain't raising no fool ♪ ♪ So y'all better pay attention and play by my rules ♪ ♪ This is your story you determined the narrative ♪ ♪ Every step you take will be imperative ♪ ♪ All I ask of you is do right by me ♪ ♪ And continue to plant the seed ♪ ♪ Plant the seeds add the H2O ♪ ♪ Near the sunlight ready watch it grow ♪ ♪ Plant the seeds add the H2O ♪ ♪ Near the sunlight watch it grow ♪ ♪ We are alive ♪ ♪ We are tide water flows ♪ ♪ The creation of a life ♪ ♪ We a life collecting as one ♪ ♪ We're deep-rooted and we live to take the sun ♪ ♪ Plant the seeds add the H2O ♪ ♪ Near the sunlight ready to watch it grow ♪ ♪ Plant the seeds add the H2O ♪ ♪ Be in the sunlight ready to watch it grow ♪ ♪ We are life ♪ (audience cheering)