- [Announcer] Financial support for this program provided by Sacramento County's Transient Occupancy Tax Grant Program.

- [Narrator] Coming up on "KVIE Art Showcase," we celebrate arts from around the world and right here at home.

A renowned dancer whose work is a blueprint for future generations.

- I find that artists are in the vanguard of where we're going in terms of humanity and its development and evolution.

- [Narrator] A painter who puts women in the spotlight.

- [Braighlee] I try to include a lot of symbolism and a lot of authentic motifs from each person and each woman.

- [Narrator] An inspiring chamber orchestra.

- It's constant laughter.

We love each other, we take amazing care of each other, and happens on stage and off.

(bright orchestral music) - [Narrator] A conservatory that empowers students.

- We want those young people who have participated and those who continue to participate today and will participate in the future to understand their sense of worth.

- [Narrator] It's all up next on "KVIE Art Showcase."

(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music continues) Meet world-renowned dancer, scholar, and choreographer Halifu Osumare, who continues to reveal the true power, knowledge, and self-expression of dance.

(upbeat jazz music) (gentle music) - Well, I think I kind of stumbled into dance.

It wasn't that I always felt like I was going to be a dancer.

As an African American, I loved to dance to the latest social dance music and would go to parties on Saturday nights as a teenager.

But it wasn't until I started taking modern dance in high school that I realized that dance could actually be a profession.

I had to get better technically and in all styles of dance, ballet, modern, Caribbean.

And I started also studying African dance and the Dunham technique.

- [Narrator] With a career that spans over 40 years, Halifu Osumare is an internationally-renowned dancer, choreographer, scholar, and researcher whose work and contributions are noted as defining moments in dance history.

- I think my dance career reflects my sense of independence and rebelliousness.

Because I actually left the United States as a young 21-year-old in the late 60s and lived in Europe for three years, all on my own.

My mother thought I was crazy, but through dance, I was able to move through Spain, France, and then ended up in Scandinavia for a year, in Copenhagen, where I started one of the first modern dance companies.

And then ending up also in Stockholm, Sweden, where I taught in one of the main ballet academies jazz dance.

- [Narrator] Halifu's world travels would set the tone as she returned to California with a broader portfolio of experiences, including dancing with the Rod Rogers Dance Company, where she performed at some of the top venues in New York.

- Please have your tickets ready.

Let me read them, then your (indistinct).

- Starting in four minutes, folks, please take your seats.

- So I had all of that wealth of experience, but I still felt like there was something missing, and it was my self-funded trip to West Africa, particularly Ghana, West Africa, in 1976, that kind of really solidified my path.

So when you put the idea of how Blackness has been perceived with the dancing body, you're talking about layers of marginalization, but also layers of a kind of knowledge base that we are just beginning to understand.

(upbeat drum music) The idea that I am in search of a kind of truth about culture and society because I've experienced it in the act of dancing, that I am sharing knowledge.

And for me, that is a part of how African Americans in particular have survived our experience here in the United States, is through the dance and the music as a survival tool.

I feel that dance is a synthesis between mind, body, and spirit.

And so, when I dance, I am sharing my deepest truth, my deepest knowledge base.

So my first memoir, "Dancing in Blackness," published in 2018, and the current one, "Dancing the Afrofuture" in 2024, I'm trying to look at my life as a microcosm in relationship to the larger macrocosm of the constantly shifting, churning social, political, and historical scene.

- [Narrator] As Halifu looks back over her extensive career, her many books, her teachings as a professor, her work as a choreographer, she hopes that, through the power or the language of dance, that she can give people a solid blueprint for the future.

- The young people who have studied with me and who are going to pass on what I gave to them, and I found, and through doing my book tours, that a lot of my past students come to those tours.

And that is so fulfilling.

So fulfilling.

And I'm hoping that my legacy also lasts just through personal memory and people teaching their kids what I gave them, not just about me, but about the principles that I have tried to inculcate.

I find that artists are in the vanguard of where we're going in terms of humanity and its development and evolution.

Artists are always maybe one step ahead of everybody else, letting us see the possibilities of what we can grow into as human beings.

Dance has brought me to myself and who I am as a human being on this planet.

And so, for my limited time here, I feel like I have found my true self through dance and I have been able to embody that wisdom.

(gentle music) (upbeat jazz music) - [Narrator] We head to Sparks, Nevada to meet emerging artist, Braighlee, who captures the power of femininity from inspiring women in her life, while ensuring their voices are heard through every painting she creates.

(upbeat jazz music) (gentle piano music) - When I'm diving into each painting, it's like this puzzle to solve.

I think colors really excite me.

I think the way people's faces and the way the light hits your face is really interesting.

(gentle piano music) There's something about painting that there is no limitation between colors and values and compositions, and it is all really exciting and you can create anything that you want.

(gentle piano music) Hi, my name is Braighlee, and I am an oil painter and artist living and working in Sparks, Nevada.

(gentle piano music) I like to say that I paint abstract realism feminine figures and portraits.

I do love the puzzle piecing of putting a portrait together, but I also love the freedom that abstract painting allows me to do and kind of dive into larger brush strokes and kind of have this ethereal vibe alongside the portraits and the figures that bring everything together.

(gentle piano music) I'd like to think that I create poetry, but based in a series.

I love to have pieces that all work together to create a larger storyline.

(uplifting music) So the series that I'm currently working on is a collection of 10 paintings showcasing women in my life that are inspiring to me, my friends that have beautiful yet traumatic stories, and showcasing a lot of themes and motifs in their life that are reoccurring as women.

(uplifting music) All of the paintings together are going to be the entire color of the rainbow and I'm doing black, brown, white.

This one is blue, as you can see.

I'm hoping that all of them together create this harmony of voices of each woman individually.

(gentle piano music) (soft guitar music) I try to include a lot of symbolism and a lot of authentic motifs from each person and each woman that I'm painting.

(soft guitar music) - Hi, my name is Ren, and I was a model for one of Braighlee's artworks.

(soft guitar music) I haven't been painted before or been part of something like this so closely.

- [Braighlee] I did not have the series in mind at all when I painted her.

She was the first and she had this beautiful blue hair and I put her in a beautiful blue dress.

I took her outside and there was a beautiful blue sky behind her, and it kind of all came together in the way that those ideas don't really come from me.

(soft guitar music) - Blue is very significant to me.

Blue being everywhere in nature, reflected in the sky and water that's all around, but also really hard to find in nature, like finding blue flowers or foods.

The idea that two things can be true at the same time is, I think, necessary for finding peace.

- [Braighlee] The blueness is a representation of the vastness and the beauty, the boldness, but it's also such a soft element in our day to day.

(gentle music) - Another significant element of the painting is butterflies.

That's something I connect with, and having them in the painting makes it a little more personal, a little bit more symbolic for me.

(gentle music) (gentle piano music) - The reason I choose art every day is because it's a place where I can feel safe.

It's a place where I can explore safely, be curious about like, "What if this color and this drip meet each other, what's going to happen?"

(gentle piano music) - It's an honor, really, to have that image of me preserved by hand.

It started out as a photo, but has evolved into so much more.

It becomes not just me.

It's super fun and it makes my heart happy.

(gentle piano music) - I paint womanhood and femininity because it's something that I'm still processing.

There's a duality in men and women.

There's this duality of trying to be like a soft feminine figure and also be this strong, courageous woman.

My voice as an artist comes from a place of balancing the boldness and the softness, and you can be both at once.

That's what I'm trying to do, is marry the two in a way that is not coming from the masculine point of view.

It's coming from a feminine eye.

(gentle piano music) - I find that subject-matter important, especially as a woman myself, having this feminine perspective that is a little bit different from what's been done in the past.

It's a little bit rebellious and also something that I'm not sure there's enough of yet.

- And it's not that I don't want to paint men.

I do.

I think I'm still just processing being a woman.

I love my husband so much and I want to paint him eventually and I want to paint the wonderful men in my life and people, 'cause I do love painting people and t's like a little puzzle that I get to put together.

But I think for now I'm focusing on women so that their voices can be heard, so that my voice can be heard, so that we can kind of speak collectively.

(gentle piano music) (upbeat jazz music) - [Narrator] Based in Detroit, Michigan, The Sphinx Virtuosi is a professional self-conducted chamber orchestra that inspires and uplifts, it recognizes the power of diversity in the arts, and transforms lives in the process.

(upbeat jazz music) (bright orchestral music) - The Sphinx Virtuosi is an 18-member ensemble of musicians of color and Latinx, and they speak the language of today's composers.

(bright orchestral music) When the opportunity came along, we thought absolutely it made great sense for us to be a host presenter because of the wonderful tradition of the arts here in Sarasota.

- The Sphinx Organization was founded in 1997 by Aaron Dworkin.

At the beginning it was just the strings competition, the Sphinx competition.

- It was really the first to showcase African American and Latinx string players in this country.

It was always an opportunity for these musicians to be heard, to network, to be able to meet other musicians of color, which is huge because, in this industry, you stand out.

- We were looking at the idea of founding Sphinx and beginning this work in this field, which didn't really exist.

It was, how can we bring about systemic impact?

- [Bill] Some of the statistics that we've seen from the League of American Orchestras have shown that there's 1.8 to 2.5% representation of Black and Latinx musicians in American orchestras.

- I think that a lot of the ways music has been presented has turned it into a bit of a closed off sort of medium, when in fact the communicative power of the music is quite vast.

(bright orchestral music) - I don't think I realized how much I stood out until going to Sphinx.

Because you're just kind of conditioned this is just how it is, nine times out of 10.

So to find that one time out of 10 where all of a sudden it's like, "Oh, you look like me," that's great.

(bright orchestral music) - [Bill] A performance by Sphinx Virtuosi is not like any other orchestra performance.

For one, we are a self-conducted string ensemble.

We use that word intentionally, "self-conducted," not "unconducted," 'cause each one of us is our own conductor.

It's a hyperdemocratic process, our rehearsals.

- Are we ghosting that one?

- Every single person shares something.

I never played in anything like that.

I was very shy in the beginning.

They said, "Thierry what do you think about this?"

And I was like, "Really?

They really want to listen to my opinion?"

- Balancing 18 ideas and personal opinions can be tricky, but I think what's so amazingly unique about this group is that we do it.

It's peaceful, it's respectful, and, in return, the performances we give, they're live.

And the audience, I think, really enjoys to see the way that we communicate on stage.

- [Bill] When we get together at the beginning of our tours, there's no real icebreakers.

When I perform with other groups, other orchestras, other places, you kind of have to have small talk.

You talk about the weather, you talk about traffic, all that kind of boring stuff.

Here we drop all of that because we already know why we're here.

- It is truly a family.

I mean, you'll hear everybody say that, like, "la familia," but it's true.

We are the crazy family.

We are the Thanksgiving that gets out of control every night, and it's just because it's constant laughter.

We love each other, we take amazing care of each other, and happens on stage and off.

(bright orchestral music) - It means a lot having this group come to our Sarasota community and bring their passion and their love for the music and their love for all people.

- That's really the key, is really making sure that we bring organizations like the Sphinx Organization to these communities so they can see what is possible.

- For me, I have a mission with music, to encourage people from my country, that they can pursue what they dream.

By Zoom, I teach students that are very far from the big cities.

And my goal in life, actually, it's to do a similar organization in Brazil.

- Our community is not just Detroit or Michigan.

We've embarked on this global mission that is the entire world that identifies with our goals.

So if the Sarasota Orchestra or whomever can identify that there are people who can be impacted by having a more global reach and effort in our goals of inclusion, then you shouldn't just stop at your town or your neighborhood.

You should be able to go all the way.

(bright orchestral music) (audience applauding and cheering) (upbeat jazz music) - [Narrator] We traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to meet Alex Harris, a singer, actor, philanthropist, and the CEO and co-founder of Arts Conservatory for Teens.

(upbeat jazz music) (reel clicking) - I'm from a little small town, Manchester, Georgia, and one of eight children, five boys, three girls.

I'm in the middle.

And music, faith, education, family were the four pillars of our family.

♪ Take me to heaven every time - I see the gift of music beyond entertainment, but also something that is part of our human experience.

All of us, we are creative beings, we are sound, we are rhythm, we are a melody.

Therefore, we're easily influence or impacted and can be healed by that which makes part of our existence.

I want to leave that stage, place that microphone in its stand with a feeling that I seized this moment, and utilizing my gift to facilitate an experience for someone that's listening to feel the best they've ever felt in that moment.

That they are in touch with their inner self.

(sultry funk music) I think that I should also share that experience, and the experience can be shared in so many different ways, and for me it comes through the sharing and development of a curriculum that we call the Arts Conservatory for Teens that help others who are looking for that platform to develop that discovery as I discovered it.

So we started the Arts Conservatory for Teens, the team and I that I assembled to launch this, in 2012, and with the focus to help these students that was in the neighborhood and to pursue their dreams and to become successful.

What I desire for students to gain who participate in the Arts Conservatory for Teens curriculum.

Number one, I want them to gain confidence, two, resilience, and three, a conscious of hope.

That there is hope for achieving their highest dreams, is when it comes to success.

What is an opportunity if there isn't a bridge to get to it?

When there is a bridge presented to get to it, there needs to be accessibility to resources to help me cross that bridge, right?

And we do all of that.

We not only provide the opportunity, but we provide accessibility.

We provide the resources through the generosity of those who believe in our vision to help those students cross that bridge that we have been so grateful to create for the students.

- I remember the exact day that I met Alex Harris.

We walked into the Royal Theater and there is Alex Harris, big as life.

And I'll never forget, he just was an amazing presence and I knew right away, just chatting with him and what his vision was to help young people in the south side of St. Petersburg to finish middle school and high school and go on to college with the support of the arts.

I look back on the 10 years of what Alex has created, the number of students who might have run into a dead end, ACT was their opportunity to continue to pursue their dream, to go to college, to attend college through the arts.

So it's an extraordinary program, and one that resonates with a whole lot of young people today.

He's a great inspiration and role model.

- My experience in this program has been amazing.

I've been open to many new genres and I've met many new people and teachers as well.

I've grown as an artist and I'm just so excited to return to college with all the things that I've learned.

- My experience in ACT has been amazing.

We've gotten to learn from people who have been in Broadway about acting, dancing, and singing.

(student singing) - 100% of our students throughout the past, almost 11 years, have graduated from high school with a diploma.

90% of our students have gone on to higher education institutions, college, universities, trade schools.

(gentle jazz music) - When you're involved in the Arts Conservatory for Teens, you might be a dancer, but you also might be a videographer.

You might be working on set design, you might be working on clothing design, and so you realize the number of people that are involved in creating this business of the arts.

Alex is able to harness all of that to bring it all together, and the impact that he has had through the Art Conservatory for Teens and the inspiration and the perspiration that he has brought to this.

And Alex Harris, I believe, is one of the greatest creators at St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay area has ever seen.

♪ I said that change is gonna come ♪ ♪ To (indistinct) all the way ♪ Yeah - [Frank] I'll never forget the first time I heard Alex sing Sam Cooke's "Change is Gonna Come."

♪ I know a change is gonna come ♪ - And you recognize the passion that Alex brings, and its infectious.

- With great community and family, and it doesn't have to be biological family, but those who believe, those who love, those who support you genuinely, you can achieve and be the best human being that you can be.

At the end of the day, we want those young people who have participated and those who continue to participate today and will participate in the future to understand their sense of worth.

♪ When the world's going wrong ♪ We stay strong ♪ I got you - It's about what I'm doing with my gifts beyond the stage, lifting up the consciousness of humanity, to raise our human vibrations to vibrate really strongly and really loudly, amplify hope, love, and peace for all.

♪ 'Cause, baby, I got you (soft upbeat music) (upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music) - [Announcer] Episodes of "KVIE Art Showcase," along with other KVIE programs are available to watch online at kvie.org/video.

Financial support for this program provided by Sacramento County's Transient Occupancy Tax Grant Program.