Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

LOS DIAS IS A BEAUTIFUL CENTURIES-OLD TRADITION IN NEW MEXICO THAT WELCOMES THE NEW YEAR WITH JOY AND MUSIC.

AWARD-WINNING STAGE AND SCREEN ACTOR LESLIE ODOM JR'S VOICE IS A POWERFUL FORCE FOR CHANGE.

DIRECTOR OF FLAMENCO MUSIC AND DANCE COMPANY "ABREPASO" ALICE BLUMENFELD, EXPLAINS HOW FLAMENCO IS BOTH A DANCE OF EMPOWERMENT AND HEALING.

WITH EACH PIECE OF POTTERY MADE AND SOLD, ARTIST TROY DRAKE GIVES TO THOSE IN NEED.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR >>Jerry Sandoval: I remember when I was small we used to wait for the musicians.

My mom and my dad and all the people from the community, they would stay up and wait and wait for the, for the Dias, and I remember we always used to open the door for the musicians you know, for the Dias.

>>Happy New Year!

>>Jerry Sandoval: The Dias is a new year tradition welcoming the new year.

That's what it means.

And try to help the people get into the spirit of New Year's and that's what the Dias really means.

[Singing in Spanish: Los Dias] A BIG VOICE [Music] >>LESLIE ODOM JUNIOR IS AN AWARD-WINNING STAGE AND SCREEN ACTOR WITH A VOICE MEANT FOR THE BROADWAY STAGE.

Leslie Odom Jr.: Broadway music covers so many different styles.

You know, I made my Broadway debut in a show called "Rent", which in a lot of ways, you know, reminds me of the "Hamilton" phenomenon in that it was kind of pop and rock music being made to work in this new form, you know, in this Broadway storytelling form.

It sounded like music off of the radio put on stage.

And "Hamilton", of course, does that with hip hop and R&B.

I was very nervous the first, you know, those first few months of "Hamilton" because I cared about it so much, I cared about the piece so much.

I tried to introduce the show in the way that I wanted you to receive it.

You know, I thought that the material was just so fresh and exciting and vital and funny and entertaining, you know, all that stuff.

And so I wanted, I just wanted "Hamilton" to have its best foot forward as we put it in front of you.

So you know, "Hamilton" is, for me as an example, I had been preparing for a moment like that for my whole life.

I didn't know if it would ever I didn't know if I would ever get the chance to show what I could do on the big stage, but it came.

The most surprising thing for me: I remember after my first couple performances, I was like "oh, wow, nothing's different".

What I mean is, you know, you think when you get a Broadway show, you can think, I thought, that I don't know, like pixie dust is sprinkled on you or something at the stage door on your way in and you suddenly become a different performer than you ever were.

But you're not.

You know, the same integrity, the same fearless heart, and, you know, courage that you develop in your hometown, and the same big-watt smile that you have in Wisconsin or, you bring that with you to the Broadway stage.

And that's what we see.

So it was just this wonderful realization of it doesn't matter the stage.

The stage is a great honor.

The stages that I get to perform on are a great honor to me but I would be performing in the same exact way whether it's at the White House or at your mom's house.

EVEN WITH THE INCREDIBLE SUCCESS OF "HAMILTON", AND WINNING THE TONY AWARD, THERE IS ONE MOMENT FOR LESLIE ODOM JUNIOR THAT STANDS OUT ABOVE ALL THE REST.

Leslie Odom Jr.: The White House.

Getting a private audience with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, to be invited, I mean what does it mean to get 40 minutes of this person's attention, 40 minutes of his undivided and her undivided attention.

You know, the fact that you maybe can leave an impression that, you know, makes a difference.

You know, that's how you can affect change, you know, in small ways.

It was, and I'll say we as a company really did bring the same integrity anywhere we went.

I mean this in that, you know, we performed like we were at the White House every single day on Broadway.

You know, the only thing that made it different was like, you know, we're at the White House and so you have to get those nerves and stuff out of the way so that you can do your job the way you always do it, does that make sense?

But um, yeah, you know, that we can say something this afternoon that lodges somewhere in his heart, in his spirit that changes a conversation that he has, that he remembers, you know, 2 weeks from now.

That, you know, that was an awesome moment.

The best, the height of the whole thing, the best, the best.

SINCE LEAVING "HAMILTON", LESLIE ODOM JUNIOR HAS RECORDED 2 ALBUMS, AND SOME FANS MAY BE SURPRISED AT HIS PERSONAL MUSICAL STYLE.

Leslie Odom Jr.: Part of my training as a singer and an actor was to be able to credibly get over, you know, to get different types of music over the footlights.

Sometimes when people find out that I recorded jazz albums, they're like, "oh, not hip hop albums" because they know me from "Hamilton".

In choosing the type of music that I wanted to record, we explored a lot of the different types of music that I grew up singing.

We explored R&B, we explored pop, and we explored jazz.

Broadway's always a nice fit for jazz.

You know, a lot of the standards, a lot of the jazz standards came from Broadway shows and Broadway composers, "Hello Dolly" and you know, the rest.

So, it's a good fit.

We said we wanted to make the kind of music that Nat King Cole might make today.

In the show, in my live shows, sometimes I say that we didn't really know what that meant but it got us the money.

What I mean is, you know, we really didn't know what that meant, but that was the bar.

I was probably 13, 12, 13 when I really heard that voice, you know, it's a ubiquitous voice and so I'd heard it my whole life but when I really heard what he was doing and saw what he looked like, and it just left such an impression of grace and class.

My bar became, you know, I was really thinking about those performances that have stood the test of time, you know, those performances that have stayed with me for 20+ years.

And so I wanted to, that was my bar.

Whether we, whether I hit it or not, you know, I didn't know but that's what I was trying to do, trying to make a performance that would sear into people's brains like that.

So we wanted to make music that was as, that had the integrity and the grace and the style that Nat might make today.

We didn't want to be throwback so much.

We wanted to do it for today.

LESLIE ODOM JUNIOR HAS ALSO WRITTEN HIS FIRST BOOK, TITLED "FAILING UP: HOW TO TAKE RISKS, AIM HIGHER, AND NEVER STOP LEARNING".

HE HOPES TO INSPIRE READERS OF ALL AGES WITH LESSONS FROM HIS EXPERIENCES SO FAR.

Leslie Odom Jr.: I think intention takes you a long way.

What I wanted, what kept me going was the fact that I wan--, believed that, that art could be a powerful force for change.

If you are pursuing something with your whole heart, if you are going after a dream and it's tripping you up, and there are times when you are falling on your face, that you should keep going.

And really the major growth in my life, in my creative life, in my professional life, that did not start until I gave myself the permission to fail.

I gave myself the permission not to get it exactly right.

And if I was trying my very best, even if I failed, it was all right, you know.

All the good stuff in my life happened when I gave myself the permission to fail.

The best stuff.

[Music] THE LANGUAGE OF FLAMENCO Speaker: Flamenco is expressive.

It's percussive and it's powerful both for the audience and the performer.

Alice Blumenfeld: One of the things that I think makes it so empowering and powerful and intense is the rhythms and in just the posture itself.

The chest is always lifted.

There's a sense of tension in the way, in the sort of the way we use our hands.

There's always a sense of resistance.

And then it's very much grounded in, into the earth the way that we hit our feet on the floor.

Speaker: The dancing fuses with music, often singing and guitar.

Performing here in Northeast Ohio, Blumenfeld says, she's introducing many people to what it's all about.

Alice Blumenfeld: Flamenco, first of all, comes from Spain.

It comes from the southernmost region of Spain, where there was a really interesting mix of cultures over the last several thousand years.

Flamenco itself is a very young art form, so its roots are very old, but it's very young.

Speaker: She was drawn to flamenco in her youth, growing up in New Mexico, where there's an annual flamenco festival and a national institute dedicated to the art form.

Blumenfeld ended up trading in her ballet slippers for flamenco heels.

Alice Blumenfeld: And I just became enraptured in the rhythm and had what in flamenco we call an experience of, of duende, sort of an out-of-body experience, and I just knew in that moment that this was it.

This is what I would dedicate my life to.

Speaker: She went on to tour with national companies and even studied flamenco in Spain for a little while, but as time went on, she says she realized she wanted to find a way to tell her own stories through flamenco.

Alice Blumenfeld: I felt a lot of flamenco outside of Spain was just perpetuating the stereotype of the woman in a red dress and it's an image that sells.

It sells tickets to shows.

And there wasn't really a company that had space for the American artists to tell their stories.

So a lot of companies bring in artists from Spain to set repertory and I was, I was just like, there's so many artists here that have so much to say.

Why isn't there a company that's emphasizing that?

And then it was like, well, duh, I can, I can be the one to start that company.

Speaker: She started a small, pre-professional company called Abrepaso, which means opening a pathway.

Abrepaso dancers performed flamenco recently at Cleveland Public Theater's annual community arts event Station Hope.

Alice Blumenfeld: An explosion.

Splash.

So the beginning and end of the piece is movement to a poem that I wrote as part of a project called The Soleá Project.

So soleá is a flamenco form that comes from the word for solitude or loneliness in Spanish.

Push me aside.

Dignity takes my hand and leads.

Speaker: This performance mixed poetry and choreography centered around dignity.

Alice Blumenfeld: I walk with dignity.

So I was thinking about that word and the way that flamenco allows for dignity and sort of re-empowers the individual to find dignity if they have been dehumanized in some way.

Speaker: The language of flamenco has helped Blumenfeld since she was first introduced back in middle school.

Alice Blumenfeld: I think every middle schooler is going through a lot and trying to figure out who they are and, you know, being inundated by society with lots of ideas and just trying to search for oneself.

And so flamenco really helped me in that moment of my life and has helped me in other challenging moments in my life to find an outlet and also to have community as well.

So one of the really cool things about flamenco is that it attracts people from all different walks of life, different economic backgrounds, different ethnic backgrounds, and I think that's because flamenco is a hybrid form to begin with.

It drew from many different cultures and histories, so it still welcomes people from just so many different backgrounds and experiences.

And so I just want to give people the opportunity to, when they need that expressive outlet, that flamenco is here for them.

Speaker: While some people in Northeast Ohio may just be learning about flamenco for the first time, Blumenfeld says she finds this to be a great arts community.

Alice Blumenfeld: And it takes a community of people to have flamenco.

So that act of witnessing when you're expressing something very personal, I think is so important to healing and to building community.

BREAKING THE MOLD - Do you like this color?

- Mm-hmm - It's perfect with the bird, the hummingbird.

- Do not break it.

- I won't break it.

This one doesn't have a bird.

You're afraid I'm gonna drop it, aren't you?

They are pretty that is.

Troy you did a really good job on these.

Troy Made It was started for our son Troy who makes pottery.

And we came up with the name because he would make pottery and people would say, "Who made that?"

And we would say, "Troy made it."

And so we were trying to think of a name for his company, and we just kept thinking Troy Made It, and that's kind of how we ended up with his name.

Troy I was born with down syndrome, and he's always loved to draw, and he just has a sense of space.

He can see something and he can just draw it, I can't do that, he'll draw for hours in a day, so he's always loved art, and then from there it just kind of progressed into pottery.

My husband and I we just sold our company, and so we were newly retired, and we'd always wanted to do ceramics.

So, there was a new pottery studio in Carson City called Ogre-Holm Pottery, so we've called them, and signed up for a wheel throwing class, and then asked if we could bring Troy with us, and they said absolutely, so we brought him.

And they said, "Well, why doesn't he do hand building while you're throwing, he can take the class as well?"

So Troy took a class, he really liked it.

And then that Christmas, we decided to make some ornaments Troy and I for family and friends, and we had extra, so I thought I'll put these on Facebook and see if anybody wants to buy them and we'll donate the money.

And so they sold out in 20 minutes, and then everybody was asking for more ornaments, so we made more, and then they all started asking to buy his pottery.

Holly, my daughter's girlfriend, said, "I wanna start an Instagram account for Troy," and I was like, "No, don't wanna do that, I don't want them out there, I don't want anyone saying mean things about him, I don't wanna do it."

And so she convinced me that by putting him out there you're showing other families the capabilities of people with down syndrome, that they can do a lot of different things in this world, so then I was like, "Okay," but I really didn't expect it to do much, and then it just snowballed from there.

- I'm making plates, making bowls, I am making hearts, making Christmas ornaments, making trinket trays.

- First he gets a bag of clay, then he cuts the bag of clay, and then we have a slab roller, and he rolls the chunk of clay out in a slab.

And then he has forms or he has real leaves that he gets out in our yard, he has slump molds, it all depends on what he's gonna make.

And then he cuts out whatever he's gonna make, and then he puts it on the form, he has a dry, and then we put it in the kiln to bisque fire, then we take it out, he glazes it and then it goes back in the kiln, and then it's ready to go.

- One coat, and two coats and three coats, and we put in a kiln, comes in minutes, comes to dry, then comes to be very nice.

- And he just can't keep up with the demand of people wanting his pottery, we wish we could but he's only one guy .

100% of choice pottery, the profits from choice pottery are donated, and this year we donated $18,000, in total he's donated almost $30,000 to different nonprofits.

- I like to help people making money for charities, that makes me proud.

- When Troy posts a new video and we get comments from people on how much they appreciate his videos, they just say the nicest things about how good he is, and how proud they are, and how awesome his work is, and how inspirational he is, and so we read all of these comments to him.

Wow, look so great.

I hope by people seeing him doing what he's doing, that they're seeing that people with down syndrome have value, that they can contribute to society, and that his life has meaning.

- I say to mom, and say thank you about helping me with pottery.

TO VIEW THIS AND OTHER COLORES PROGRAMS GO TO: New Mexico PBS dot org and look for COLORES under What We Do and Local Productions.

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"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.