[Narrator] "Art Loft" is brought to you by the# Friends of South Florida PBS.

"Art Loft."

It's the pulse of what's happening in our own backyard,# as well as a taste of the arts across the United States.

In this episode, generational artists.

The# Pioneer Winter Collective putting dance elders in the spotlight, an Alvin Ailey dancer teaching the# next generation, a sonic exploration with artist Gustavo Matamoros at the Deering Estate, and in# Ohio, a sculptor marrying art, science, and sound.

The Pioneer Winter Collective brings# its performance of "Apollo" to life at the Broward Center.

Here,# we meet the dancers and hear how this intergenerational performance is# reimagining what an artist's body can be.

I started dancing because of my mom.

I# remember like one of my best memories or first memories of dance is her putting me# on her feet, while she practiced the step called the shim sham.

I see dance as# the cycle of becoming that, you know, the body that we're born with is not the body# that stays the same throughout our lives.

We're constantly knowing ourselves better, and I think# that's why I make dances is to learn myself.

Pioneer Winter Collective is physically integrated# and intergenerational, which is very uncommon for a lot of dance companies that are believers# that the body has sort of an expiration date.

That technique can only be defined one way,# that virtuosity can only be shared in one way, that only certain body types should be visible# on stage, and I push back against all of that.

I dance with three other dancers, all queer# elders between the ages of 60 and 68, and they have been dancers their entire lives.

This# work is looking at potential and how potential is not tied to youth, but we can have emergence# at many different points in our life.

That story is something that is meant to be passed on and# not just something that you keep to yourself.

That legacy is not about maybe what you've left# behind, but what you've left someone to remember you by and continuing the work that you've# started.

You know, in "Apollo," it starts off kind of contentious.

I'm this incoming Apollo and# then there are these three former manifestations, fragments of Apollo and they all have very# different ideas of what it means to be an Apollo, what it takes.

The sort of trials and things# I have to go through in order to be ready.

I'm talking about transformation, baby,# ascension, about opening yourself up so wide, so wrong that the only thing anyone's gonna see# from now on is you.

My name is Octavio Campos, and I am a choreographer, a mover, a community# organizer, and general kind human being.

And I've been dancing for 40 plus years.

Oh my god, it's# even so hard to believe that.

This project came up a few years ago and I had already kind of given up# on my performance body already in about 2016.

So this production is kind of like a comeback piece# for me after not having performed for a long time, almost seven years not performing.

And the process# has been just glorious, has been really important for me to recapture what I used to be as a younger# dancer, to be able to see that and perform now with my performance body with Pioneer.

It's# just this very profound experience to get to see evolution and development and legacy.

And I think# that that's the most exciting part I think for me, for the community, especially the Miami community# that knows my work, that will be able to see what they saw 20 years ago and see me with it# on stage and where I am now in my body.

And I think that's probably the most unique part# of the Pioneer Winter Collective is that everybody dances and that the bodies we# usually don't want to see on stage, like maybe mine because I'm older, we are getting to# see them, we're getting to see these bodies, and I think that's a special treat for our audiences# to see dance through a different point of view.

I have been a dancer since 1980.

I# have danced with over 90 companies, well over 150, maybe 175 choreographers'# works.

This is right now the strongest, most impactful piece that I have been# involved in.

We spent a good solid two years just in a good deal of dialogue,# getting personal stories from each other, hearing each other's responses and reflections to# various different challenges in our upbringing and careers.

And then we synthesized all of# that into the dialogue that you'll hear.

[Speaker] You're one of many, A dime a dozen.

There are a lot of isms that are embedded# in this production.

Probably the largest of them is ageism.

I have had experiences at# opposite ends, extreme ends of how ageism works.

And that has impacted me because I# am reliving things that I have had happen to me.

I am also remembering and recollecting# the responses that my castmates have had and then embodying that in the actual performance.# So it's a collaboration and a marriage of all of our lived experiences brought together# in this piece.

And so it carries a weight, a duty, a responsibility, the trauma, as# well as inspiration and love and respect.

[Frank] I started when I was seven years# old and I .. [Speaker] Devin.

I stopped doing classical ballet in# 2005, and for about four to six .. I didn't dance.

I had no connections.

And then# I met Pioneer Winter and our friendship became very embracing and I started working with him in# 2016.

And here I am doing "Apollo."

I am Apollo, and I'm passing on my legacy, my memories,# my stories, hoping that he will accept where I'm giving my gifts, my body, myself.

I love# Pioneer Winter and I love the collective and the community that we build and what we do for# the community.

And I feel blessed and I'm truly grateful to be able to share this experience that# means so much to me because I remember before the premiere of this piece in Miami, Pioneer said to# me, "Frank, you're the oldest dancer here.

You have more experience on stage than any of us.

This# is your chance to show people, to show everyone, show them who you are."

This is about life and# about, you know, our life, you know?

And life as a dancer, you know, and it's the way that I can# share everything that I've done with everyone.

[Narrator] Next, we travel to Norfolk, Virginia, where .. He's a former principal dancer for the# Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, who's now sharing his love of# dance with the next generation.

It's the best freedom to be on stage# performing, start taking flight.

Here at Norfolk Academy, I'm the Dance Master,# this is my title.

One of my goals when I first came here was to make dance an integral part of# life.

And so I've made dance a corporate part of the whole lifestyle of school.

I teach race grades# through 12, creative dance, classical ballet, modern dance, hip hop, ballroom, musical theater.# I'm also the wellness coach for some adults here.

I do private lessons.

I'm the pliability coach for# every team on campus.

I think for the children's point of view to see a dance teacher and# a football coach together in the same room communicating for the same thing says a lot about# education.

You see a leap on stage, it takes hours to practice.

How can I make that leap apply to# your track team?

As a little kid, I always loved dancing.

I loved moving.

And I remember my parents# whenever guests would come over would say "Junior, come on, come on, show them the ladies dance# whatever."

So dance is always a part of my life, but more as a hobby kind of thing.

I know that# you could dance professionally.

So we're doing my late teens, early twenties at Epiphany, I'd heard# these elderly people say, "If I could do it all over again, I wish I could have done this.

And I# said, "I don't ever once say I wish I had a done."

What do you really want to do?

You should really# go to New York.

And the first time I did it, they said to me, "You're really, really good, but you# need some ballet class, you have no technique."

So okay, I went home and studied for two years,# take as many ballet class as I and get ready, which paid off, my second audition, I made it.# Alvin Ailey knew that I wanted it, he could depend on me and became a principal dancer within# a year, which is unheard of.

And they worked me incredibly.

I mean I was rehearsing all night# long days to put my standard up to the level.

Now it wasn't fun, but it was good, because I# realized this principal dance, you're representing the company, not just the person in the back.# You're the person who is like the brand name.

What was always exciting was every season I got# a new part, but then you sort of get typecast, and then suddenly it wasn't exciting anymore.

Give# that to Elbert, he can do that.

And I thought, "What?"

That means I didn't have to work for it.

I# felt like time was going by and I was like locked.

So I went to a place called New York Conservatory,# this Russian teacher, he saw me totally different, which was great.

Then I left there and went# to Germany and he saw me totally different, which is great.

I would be in all# these parts I wouldn't normally do.

The company in Germany was very unique in that# you had a ballet company that was separate from the theater and opera.

That particular theater# decided that they wanted to get rid of the ballet company and only have the opera only.

I decided# to come home.

I was here for about a year and a half waiting.

And in that time, I was teaching the# Richmond Dance Center and then went off to academy summer camp.

And when the letter finally came# for me to go back to Germany, I realized I was a different person.

I really like teaching children.# Dancing can be a very sort of self-absorbed kind of career because you're really working on your# body and yourself personally.

And suddenly I was giving back to children.

That was a exciting# thing for me.

So then I told myself, "If you go back to Germany, you're gonna be a dancer only.# But what about the teaching part?

What about the choreography part?

What about the directing part?

"# So I decided not to go back.

So that's how I wound up in Norfolk.

Went over a person in class and# they have like no idea about what to do.

Me trying to find that way to communicate does a lot for me.# And everybody's different.

We come from different backgrounds.

I mean some people are more visual# learners, some are much more images, whatever.

Once they get it, I've empowered them.

You become# a role model, and with that comes responsibility.

Do you do what you say you do?

Are you personal# integrity?

How are you gonna do that?

And they sort of expect something from you.

They expect if# I do something, they expect certain quality.

Just teaching the good students is not it.

It's the# ones who are like introverted who just knows raw material and all they need is somebody to say "You# can do it."

I think I was just sort of awkward.

I always loved reading.

You know, I'm the kind of# guy who would sit up in the tree and watch birds or I'm gonna be catching bugs all day.

I told# myself every day I wanna see something beautiful, I learn something new.

It keeps life fresh and# exciting.

There to be an old guy at my church.

He said, "When you're green, you grow.

When# you're ripe, you die and fall off the tree."

Dancing has been my identity.

It's# my purpose.

I always tell people, "Once you find your purpose, life is# great."

You know I'm doing what I love doing and getting paid for it and my life# is an adventure.

When it's time to move on, I'll do something serving somebody somewhere.

I# always know when the season's over what to do now.

[Narrator] The Deering Estate's artist residency# prog.. estate this year to share studio space# and their work with the public.

Here we meet resident sound artist Gustavo# Matamoros and his sonic explorations.

My parents used to, when they have people coming# over, they say, "Oh Gustavo, why don't you go play with the radio?"

And I'd be there so they# could entertain while I was just messing around.

There it is.

The origins of my interest in sound started very# young.

In my house, there was a console with a shortwave radio.

I used to find myself sitting in# front of this radio for hours, at first, perhaps listening for stations.

But the fascinating# thing for me became the actual sounds in between stations.

So my history with sound and art has# been based on personal discovery of something that grasps my attention, and what my career# as an artist has been is a exploration of that.

I think sound is magic only because we can't# see it.

We live in a visual society, and for us, what's visual is actually simple to understand.# With sound, we kind of enter in this psychological space where we are all of a sudden in a realm# where we don't totally understand what's going on.

Time is a particularly important element of sound.# Sound does not exist in a still image.

So sound is about events.

And if we could teach ourselves to# understand the sound, we could just tell what's happening around us.

That renders sound a tool# for understanding the world.

And so in order to manage that large of a universe, I focus on a# very detailed event or certain something that I want to understand until I come up with what I# call audibles.

Its equivalent in language would be like a word or a phrase.

And then the pieces# that I make, they're like more like paragraphs.

One of my most recent pieces is called "Quail# Roost Sanctuary."

It's a sound installation permanently installed at the Quail Roost Transit# Village.

It's 320 feet long, about 32 speakers hidden inside modules that are built of aluminum.# And so when you look at it, it looks like a light fixture, but there's no light coming out.

It's# sounds of quail, but also sounds that are found where quail are found.

Ultimately, I hope that# for people, this becomes their shortwave radio, like a tool they can use to connect with sound the# way that I connected with sound when I was a kid and became interested in sound through those# tools, unusual tools.

As an artist, you sort of need infrastructure that can allow you to be# who you are.

The Deering Estate is particularly equipped to serve as support for somebody like# me.

They encouraged me to apply for a residency.

And when I discovered they had a theater,# I said, "Well, let's do the festival here, let's do this and that."

They got it right# away.

In other words, it's been a symbiotic relationship.

My presence in the Deering Estate# has been as good for the Deering Estate as for me.

[Narrator] We head to Columbus, Ohio with# WOSU public media to meet Environmental Artist Marcia Armstrong.

Her work explores# the relationship between art and science, and her studio becomes a lab where# observations and discoveries are made.

If you wanted to put me into some kind of a# niche, I would be considered an eco-artist.

My work right now integrates the natural world# with the fine arts.

I use a lot of horticulture and the knowledge of horticulture.

I also use# geobotany in my work.

So it really is kind of an integration of science and the arts.# Primarily I use a lot of bamboo and a lot of willow.

I'm researching materials.

There's# not really a playbook in what I'm doing or the visual art form that I have.

I kind of think# of my studio as like a little science lab, which I love.

I observe a lot of things.

I would# just like to bring to attention some of the things that are in the natural world that we cannot see.# That is how I come up with my visual expression.

They're not planned out, they are just what# they are as they grow into a form.

Each of the bird nests hold an infrared sensor and a# soundboard.

As you walk and approach each one, there will be music that's activated.

What I# have done is I have taken the sound of five birds that actually do inhabit and make use# of the willow grove.

And from that point on, what happens is that I have sent this to a# musician to translate that music into bird songs.

So the flautist has gone ahead and# she has listened to each of the bird songs and then done her own interpretation# of those bird songs with the flute.

When you pass by all five of them,# there will be this, hopefully, cacophony, which I can never say of music.

I am not one that can plan out pieces.

I have# to do them spontaneously.

And so much of it has to do with finding out what the materials can do# and where does that lead me, and I feel like if there's an answer and articulation for where the# inspiration is.

After I start a piece, it almost becomes a conversation within itself where I'll# say, "This is a good starting point.

Where does it go from here?"

And I think that motivates# me to find out how to put that piece together.

I have always, always thought there was more than# just what we see.

You know, it's under the ground.

[Narrator] "Art Loft" is on Instagram @artloftsfl.# Tag us on your arts adventures.

Find full episode segments and more at artloftsfl.org# and on YouTube at South Florida PBS.

"Art Loft" is brought to you by# the Friends of South Florida PBS.