[Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by, The L and L Nippert Charitable Foundation, The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation, The George and Margaret McLane Foundation.

Additional funding provided by... and viewers like you.

Thank you.

In this edition of "The Art Show", classical dance from India.

(upbeat music) Murals that reimagine the past, (upbeat music) meet the angel of New York, (upbeat music) and learn the secrets of award-winning sneaker design.

(upbeat music) It's all ahead on this edition of "The Art Show."

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to "The Art Show," where each week we provide access to local, regional and national artists and arts organizations.

Padma Chebrolu began learning dance at the age of three in India.

Over the years, she's perfected her art form, training in different styles and performing for audiences of all ages.

Today, she owns and operates her own dance studio in Cincinnati.

Padma is a 2021 Ohio heritage fellowship award winner, and believes her art form can be learned by anyone, regardless of their background.

Here's her story.

So, I was born in a city called Guntur and I was youngest of the three.

I had a beautiful childhood growing up there, and that's where my dance training had started.

So, my dad was into performing arts a lot, so, he wanted me to be an artist.

I loved attending the dance studio there.

(upbeat music) My heavy training is in the classical dance styles.

Classical dance styles use classical literature, classical composition, classical music and they happen in different languages.

India is very rich in different languages.

So, you need to be knowledgeable in all of that, to be able to take what's available in music, and put that into the context of the dance, and also do the storytelling and entertain the audience who might not be familiar with what's happening, (Padma laughs) with the dance and the music.

And then when I teach, I need to be able to discuss with the student and help them understand, so they can project that story and music very well.

So, within the one genre of style, there's different variations to it.

So, this is very common in classical dancing.

So, I learned Kuchipudi, Bharata Natyam, other Natyam, Mohini Attam, and also dabbled into other styles.

(classical music) There's a lot of storytelling in our dances.

The stories are about some mythological stories.

So, our mythology's extensive and as you know, this art form comes from Indian culture, and in Indian culture, we have a lot of mythological figures and they each have their own stories, and the poetry and the composers come up with these stories.

So, as a choreographer or as a performer, what you do is, you take that basic standard poetry and composition, and you input all the intricate stories within that.

We, as dancers, we don't talk.

We have to express the story.

In the same one person, one performer, has to do a multitude of characters.

Costuming is extremely important, and Indian costuming comes from ancient times.

So, for females, we wear something called "sari" and the "sari" weaving is a very ancient tradition and even the British colonized for 400 years, we never let go of our culture.

Our clothing is a representation and identity of our culture.

And also, we have something called temple jewelry that we wear.

These pieces are, again, we have the master artist, master jewelry artist, who create this jewelry.

In our family, women go through high school and then they usually get married and become homemakers.

In my case, I was always interested in higher education.

So, I came to University of Cincinnati and pursued graduate studies.

The community here is very open-minded, so Cincinnati became home.

When I started this Cultural Center for India years ago, it was about passing on what I know as an art to others.

Cultural Center for India is about bringing the culture of our heritage arts to the Ohio community.

So, we teach, perform, do workshops where people want to learn more about diversity, inclusion, equality and all through art, through music, through dance, through expressing ourselves.

I like both being a performing artist and a teacher.

And teaching is so much fun because I have students who are three to adults.

But the teaching processes, you are making a difference in a person's life.

Padma, as an educator and an artist of classical Indian dance, has transmitted her culture through the community.

She loves what she does and she treasures the art form.

Padma is one of those exemplary artists and I think something that's different about her is that she really goes to the community, goes to college dance programs and schools, and one of the things is when people think about dance, they think about ballet, modern perhaps, and they may not think about classical Indian dance, which has been around for thousands of years.

When kids are growing up here, they go to school and they understand the mainstream American culture and they enjoy it and they celebrate it.

But at home, their parents are helping them to learn their own heritage.

So, we're not a commercial dance studio where hundreds of kids come and go.

That's not what we do.

We're not commercialized.

We go for true artistry and lot of our students win many awards, many scholarships, regional to Ohio level, to national level recognition because it's a total development.

So, my job is, once I identify their inner artist, I need to unlock that.

These kids are prodigies and they have the talent already built in.

I just have to bring it out.

I'm constantly demonstrating to my students of how the art should be done and how it should be pursued, how it should be celebrated, and how it should alleviate the spirits of the audience.

In every performance, there's audience education.

(audience clapping) we hear on the news so many things, that people are not getting along, they disrespect each other, but when we go perform or when we are asked to come and perform, I never see that.

The minute we walk in, we are artists.

So, that respect for the artist is there regardless of where I go in Ohio or beyond Ohio.

So, it just, I would say, diminishes all the barriers people have in their mind.

(classical music) If you'd like to learn more about this or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org, or thinktv.org.

Our next story takes us to Oklahoma, and art that addresses the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.

The it's been a hundred years since a mob terrorized black residents and destroyed the prosperous Greenwood district of Tulsa, but the trauma remains.

Inspired by a poem, the artists of the Greenwood Imagined Project ask visitors to contemplate a world where the massacre never took place.

A word of warning; This story contains material you may find upsetting.

(feet thudding) My biological father came from Somaliland.

And literally like when the civil war broke out, bombs are being dropped on your house by the government, so it reminded me of what happened in Greenwood.

One minute, everything is fine, and then the next moment it's all gone.

My name's Ebony Iman Dallas, and I'm an artist.

I love to tell stories through my work.

I would definitely say a lot of my choices are influenced by my background.

(dramatic music) In 2008, I went to visit my family in Somaliland.

We were getting henna done and my art just kind of lent itself to that.

(dramatic music) My art since then has definitely become a lot more free.

(dramatic music) Close to a year and a half ago, Tony Brinkley got in touch with me because he had this idea called "Greenwood Imagine."

Tony, he's a poet, amazing, phenomenal award-winning poet.

And his grandson, Derek Tinsley is a filmmaker, and so they were looking for a painter to create a series of murals that would go along with the poem.

And so I just proposed to him that I create the murals solely out of wood.

This is where you have to make sure not to cut your hand off.

(Iman laughs) (machine roaring) (slow pop music) So the very first scene is like the past.

So it's like, let's show what Greenwood was like before destruction.

(slow pop music) So it's this beautiful scene of the little girl with her father, walking through town with an ice cream cone.

(Tony and Derek mumble) The second scene was pretty much created after reading through a series of interviews.

But this one specifically talked about, it was a survivor.

I believe she was about five years old when the massacre occurred, and she talked about these reoccurring dreams that she would have.

And to me it sounded like PTSD.

She talked about the smoke and she talked about the smells, and she talked about the fire and it was just so vivid, her description, I immediately was able to create a sketch for it.

(gunshot bangs) I guess in some ways I may have went that direction because my father was murdered by police officers.

And so that idea of this father-daughter relationship and loss resonated with me.

And then reading these stories about people who lost parents in Greenwood definitely resonated.

(slow piano music) The third scene is let's imagine what it could have been like.

What would it be like had the massacre never occurred.

(slow piano music) There'll be some puzzle pieces missing.

And so then we'll have someone from the audience come up and place it into the piece.

Let's imagine, a what if.

What if, the massacre never happened?

What if Tulsa residents had enjoyed free reign to flourish into the future, and Greenwood never lost that "yes we can" mindset?

Can you imagine this?

But basically it's like we have the power to recreate a new Greenwood.

(slow piano music) We just need to believe in it and just go for it.

(slow piano music) (upbeat music) "The Art Show" is going to be traveling around Southwest Ohio.

You might see this logo in your neighborhood.

Follow the travels of "The Art Show" on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at thinktv and cetconnect, and check out "The Art Show" hashtag.

Singer Martina Bruno is known as "the angel of New York."

As part of ""MUNY"," the Metropolitan Transportation Authorities Music under New York program.

She goes underground the sing for the city's subway writers.

Let's have a look and listen.

(sings "Habanera" from "Carmen") I know how it is to work in the morning, in the hustle and bustle.

One day, I heard a little girl sing, and it really touched my heart.

It made a difference in my day, and so I was like maybe I could do that for other people.

I'd just graduated college and I was like, "What am I gonna do with my life?"

Let me help people out while I figure it out.

And so one day there was this lady.

She came up to me really, really upset.

"You know, you have a beautiful voice, honey.

It sounds just like an angel!

What are you doing down here?"

(Martina laughs) And I was like, "I want to be an angel."

♪ How precious did ♪ ♪ That grace appear ♪ I decided to take this seriously at some point and not just moonlight.

I was tired of getting harassed by the cops, and becoming part of MUNY allowed to me to have a schedule, and then I could really keep that schedule, that structure.

So right now I am at Yale Divinity School where I will be getting my M.Div.

I work as a chaplain, I gig a lot, and so that's how I kind of balance everything.

I don't think I would have ended up at divinity school if I didn't sing in the subway.

People are crying and telling me all their issues, in the subway!

And I wanted to be able to be of service.

I tend to like do the goodies, oldies but goodies.

I like to tap into the collective consciousness of New Yorkers.

(Martina sings "O mio bambino caro") So it's like Laden in your subconscious.

And people usually react to things that are very familiar.

(Martina sings in Italian) Ave Maria is a big one.

Listen, I can sing Ave Maria all day.

♪ Ave Maria ♪ Whether it's Carmen or opera or sacred music, I give my all.

I sing it because it's a communion with you, with the person who's listening.

It humbles me, cause I sing, I worship.

(Martina sings in foreign language) I love the shuttle.

I do the grand central shuttle.

It's just less interference basically.

And I guess my comfort zone, I'm used to being there.

I like the energy.

Every subway has its own culture.

Appreciate it.

Which is kind of weird but it's true when you're in Grand Central, there's a lot of business people, but then people transiting, and it's a very interesting mix.

(Martina sings "Panis angelicus") But I just want them to know they heard a angel and they're not alone.

I'm not saying my personality is angel but at that moment that's what I'm wanting to channel.

(Martina sings in Latin) Singing in the subway, it could be very chaotic but very beautiful at the same time.

That's New York city.

(Martina sings in Latin) [Reporter] Did you miss an episode of "The Art Show?"

No problem.

You can watch it on demand@cetconnect.org, and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes as well as current episodes and links to the artist we feature.

When Nike announced the contest for sneaker designs that represent a city, US coast guardsman Kenny Jones grabbed his color pencils and went to work.

He hit the big time when his design won and went into production.

Let's check it out.

(slow upbeat music) My dad was in the Navy, so we moved all over the country and finally settled here in Virginia Beach.

I immediately fell in love with the ocean, and the waves, and the boardwalk and the beach.

The vibrancy and the people and all the colors.

The Pharrell's, the Timberlands, the Clipse, all the people who made it from here.

I mean, how could you not be inspired by this place?

(pop music) I've always been amazed by skateboarding.

It's a beautiful thing.

When I was getting into the skate scene, Nike SB Dunks were coming into popularity.

I fell in love with trying to figure out what these designs are based off of, 'cause it wasn't just some random color where they thought was cool.

There's stories for every single shoe.

(pop music) I love Pharrell, so then I find out he had a skate team and then he had his own shoes.

And then I found out about BBC and Ice Cream.

All the stuff that I liked, kind of came together.

I had a clothing brand right out of high school called "X Society."

It was me trying to get my creativity out there a little bit.

I joined the Coast Guard and at that point I wasn't really putting designs out on paper, but I was always designing stuff in my head.

Everything changed when I got the opportunity to design my first sneaker.

(pop music) Just scrolling through Instagram, and I see NikeSBorNothing post something about a contest.

It's about your city and you can win your own shoe.

I was like, "Dang this is made for me."

'Cause any shoe design I ever thought of was always based off of where I'm from.

I wanted to do the waves, cause that's like the first thing I think of is the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and the King Neptune statue as well, which is such an iconic thing at the beach.

I knew I'd wanna give ode to the military 'cause I'm in the military, and also my dad was in the military.

And then the swoosh, not only was it a nod to Nicky Diamonds who designed my favorite SB Dunk of all time, it was also that big Navy ships that are steel.

Wanted to obviously give note to the music because that's one of the things that kept me excited about living here.

I put it out there just like any other post you're hoping a whole bunch of people to see it.

After that first day I had like a thousand likes on 'em.

I was like, "Dang!"

way more people were sharing it than I ever thought.

Virginia Beach and all Virginia backed me so hard with the whole contest it was almost surreal.

I never really thought I was gonna win.

I just wanted to put something out, 'cause I haven't put something out and this is my dream.

Once I actually won, the ReverseLand people hit me up like, alright, we're gonna get started as soon as you can.

It was the longest couple of months of my life.

It was just like a waiting game.

I knew they were coming at some point.

I just didn't really know when.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ When the shoes finally came, it was actually on my birthday so that was even cooler.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday dear daddy ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Thank you.

Do you like the cake?

Yeah, where'd you get it?

This is cool.

I like the cake too.

You do?

My friend Samantha made it.

To have the box in hand was an unbelievable feeling.

(slow piano music) Look, daddy's surprise is here.

Look, I think I know what it is.

Come sit over here.

You ready to see it?

Aha.

Look.

What are those?

Your shoes are cool.

Dang.

It was just crazy to see my design on a sneaker and not just any sneaker, my favorite sneaker of all time, the Nike SB Dunk.

They look like the picture.

I like the waves on it.

You like the waves on it?

ReverseLand did such a great job of putting the shoes together.

The manufacturing, the colors pop, the attention to detail.

It was amazing to see how it all came together.

Even the sneaker box was dope.

Can you find daddy?

That's daddy.

Yeah.

As soon as I signed off on the design, it went into manufacturing and since they were custom, there wasn't a whole lot of pairs that were going to be made and the process takes a little bit longer.

But once the day came to put them on sale, I got notification and it said they sold out in 15 minutes and I was like... dang.

To sell out and to sell out in less than 30 minutes is a dream come true.

(pop music) I'm a religious person.

So I feel like God didn't give me this opportunity just for me to go back to posting pictures of my family and the shoes that I'm wearing that day.

As soon as I won the contest, it really rejuvenated me to be able to let that creativity out.

And now that I have like a platform to do it, it's almost like I don't wanna buy clothes from anybody else.

I'll just make my own shirts.

So if I can actually live out my dream of becoming a designer or working in the industry in any way, I need to jump on it and do as much as I can, as quick as I can.

This opportunity's not gonna always be there if I just rest on my laurels.

You got to strike while the iron is hot.

And that's exactly what I'm trying to do.

I have a lot of eyes on me and the attention of a lot of people that I've always wanted to work with and looked up to.

There's a lot of pressure on myself but I also feel like I'm on top of the world.

(hip hop music) [Reporter] If you wanna see more from "The Art Show", connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

You'll find us at thinktv and cetconnect.

And don't forget to check out "The Art Show" channel on YouTube.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "The Art Show."

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) [Reporter 1] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by, The L and L Nippert Charitable Foundation, The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation, The George and Margaret McLane Foundation.

Additional funding provided by... and viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has been made possible through a grant from The Bahmann Foundation.

Thank you.