August 27, 2025 • 41 mins
Bernard Brown is a performing artist, choreographer, filmmaker, educator and arts activist working at the crossroads of Blackness, Queerness and belonging. A first-generation college graduate, Brown earned an MFA in choreography from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. He is an Asst. Professor at UC San Diego.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, bla talk fifteen to eighty. Good morning, Good morning,
and God bless I've Dominique DePree with. The show is
called first Things. First of my very first thing given,
thanks giving, praises and asking for blessings from God, asking
for the blessings of the ancestors and the elders. And
let's go press play. We got a lot to do,
We've got a lot to talk about. So the way
(00:24):
we do things on a wealth building Wednesday, Yes, every
day now has a name, Thank you Quamel. The way
we do things on a wealth building Wednesday. Our one
we look local, what's going on around here, left coast,
side of town. Our two we go national, international, and beyond.
But we kick off the hour with the focus on
(00:44):
a business or business opportunity that's building in the space,
whether that's based as small and local business is so
important in the age of Amazon, whether it's black owned, bipop,
women owned, or socially innovative, those are the businesses we elevate.
We'll do that in the top of the hour, and
then the phone lines are open as USU to talk
(01:07):
about all the things and unpack the headlines. Then hour
three we do a deep dive kind of get to
know somebody or hot topic type situation, and today is
no exception.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Ami tav Rau will be joining us in the studio.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
She is a Moroccan jazz singer who has got her
debut album out right, this very second and very innovative,
kind of new school. Well, I'll let her tell you,
but looking forward to that conversation, I told you we
were immersing ourselves in arts and culture and all the
(01:48):
goodness that we need to stay blessed to stay courageous,
to stay plugged in, but not scared to stay part
of the solution and not part of the problem. I
e epidemic of fear that seems to be gripping a
(02:11):
lot of folks. Although I feel like we're shaking it off,
we're kind of, you know, we're kind of waking up.
Some folks were able to go through this whole thing
from November to now and just stay and stride, And
I admire that. I'm you know, I fake it till
I make it on the air because I know that
(02:35):
it's my responsibility to show up and be here and
be part of the solution all the time. But you know,
I had a few moments here and.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
There freak out.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
But then there's folks I know who you know, just
have to be talked off the ledge every moment because
it's a lot. So the art is the culture that
keep us courageous.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You can get in the conversation by calling me at
eight hundred and nine to oh fifteen eighty anytime. I'm
always taking your calls. And then you can also tap
in on YouTube YouTube dot com. Then you type KBLA
like black without the C in the k KBLA fifteen
eighty and boom you will see the conversation going on
(03:23):
in the comments section, which is always fun to be
part of. And you can become part of our regular
delegation that's in there chiming in making sense every single morning. Okay,
So that's what we got going on and welcoming a
new voice into the conversation this morning. By conversation, I'm
(03:46):
talking about the KBLA conversation. The first things first one,
so yeah, I am welcoming in from the City of
l A Department of Cultural Affairs. Well, it's actually they're
(04:07):
presenting something that he's doing. It's a choreographer, educator a
little different for us for our start of the morning
and researcher. He focuses on black, brown and queer artists,
he says, who have created spaces that feed music, dance, fashion,
(04:29):
and the creative heartbeat of underground Los Angeles. He's got
a show coming up, we'll hear about that, but also
get his thoughts on where we are in this moment.
He is artistic director of Bernard Brown B Moves, which
(04:49):
is an LA based performing arts group. He's a choreographer, filmmaker, activist,
and educator. So welcome to the show, Oh Bernard Brown.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Hello, Good morning, Dominique, Good morning KBLA.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Welcome in, Welcome in. So tell me a little bit
about B Moves. You know, typically this time of morning,
we're talking what's going on in the world of LA,
and what you've got going on is part of what's
going on in the world of LA. So let's start
with that. Like, what is it that you do with
your group?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yes, of course I love talking about the work that
my company does. Bernard Brown BB Moves was started in
twenty fifteen, so this fall will be celebrating ten years
of making impactful art using the medium of dance to
convey the stories of black people. Both here in the
(05:50):
United States and also die sports stories from across the globe.
I am a native Los Angelino born and raised in
Central I'm a student and a mentee and a dance
son of Lula Washington. Based on Prenshaw, I dance with
her company for over twenty years, and following her model,
(06:14):
it felt important to make a space based in Los
Angeles or black and brown, queer men and women and
immigrants to bring light to our stories. I feel that's
especially important now looking at how this current administration and
(06:37):
other folks across the globe in the country are trying
to erase our stories. And when we erase our histories,
it's hard to move forward if we don't know what
we've been through. If we lose sight of who we are,
we can get duped, we can Our narratives really are
a guide post of how we can move forward. Knowing
(06:58):
that I come from really strong stock people that have
survived many things, I need to know where I've been
to know where I can go. And so with my
company Bernard Brown bb moves, we continue to highlight and
remind the world of our visibility, of our resilience, of
(07:19):
our strengths, and so next week. We were invited by
the city, the Department of Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Division,
in particular to represent South Los Angeles in the Western
Arts Alliance conference, which will be in Los Angeles September
second through fifth, downtown at USC and across the city.
(07:45):
And so I'm really honored to be here, to be
sharing about the work that we do, and also to
be respected by our city enough to represent them, especially
in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, well, the lot to unpack their first of all,
congrats on that invitation to represent the city.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
The lit La Washington being a spawn of Lula Washington,
they're celebrating a big anniversary this year, so that's also
a powerful thing.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Right, yes, forty five years as a cultural hub of
our city and a beacon across the nation about how
we can center Black stories and have that be a
universal lens through which we can see our American history.
It's kind of amazing. Both Lula and Irwin and also Tamika.
(08:46):
I consider them my family, and so we celebrated them
this weekend. Actually, they had a huge celebration and performance
at the Ford Theater with guests like Kamasi Washington and
Maxine Waters, and Holly Mitchell all were in attendance. Kamasi
actually performed on stage. It was great to be a
(09:06):
part of that historic moment.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, that is that is amazing, and I think, you know,
it's also encouraging to think about you have your own group,
but you're still connected to Lulu Washington. To think about
how we have the capacity in South LA, which has
a lot of stereotypes about it, to create a group
(09:34):
just like yours, just using the resources that we have here.
In other words, you didn't nothing, no shade to go
into Alvin Ailey or you know, American Ballet Theater or anything.
But the fact that we have the resources right in
South LA to create another powerful group like yours out
(09:56):
of a Lula Washington says a lot, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, I thank you for bringing me up this idea
of legacy and also like where resources are, we don't
have to outsource to get the things that we need.
We have a lot. We have most of these things
at our command and that's one of the things that
I continue to like ingest as a progeny of Lula
Washington Dance Theater and also sharing with my students what
(10:23):
I didn't share is that I'm the first in my
family to go to college, and I thank you successfully
graduating and getting my master's degree, my MFA from UCLA
and I'm now an assistant professor of Dance at UC
San Diego. I'm based in Los Angeles. I split my
(10:45):
time sharing my work across the SoCal region. But I
got ninety percent of everything that I have now from
Los Angeles, from South Central and I'm a proud resident
and I'm a pro out. How do you say ambassador.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like that?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Of the goodness that we have? And you know, I've
gone around the world. I've studied in New York, I
studied at Aley the a Ley School, I studied at
Dance They to Haarlem. But I know because of my
my rootedness at places like Lula Washington Dance Theater, that
I have the responsibility to return home and to plant
(11:29):
the seeds that were planted in me, to continue to
pour and to water the soil and the fruits that
are about to be born in the place that I
came from. And that to me is really important to
continue to think about how do we return and pour
back into so that our legacies don't end with us
(11:50):
or they go elsewhere, they can continue to be rooted
in the communities that supported us to get where we are.
And so I learned that lesson. I share that lesson,
and I hope to continue to do that with the
company that I'm building in the image of Catherine Dunham,
in the image of Lula Washington, so that we can
(12:11):
know that with our own might and grits, that we
are worthy and our stories are worthy to be told,
and that their strengths in our collective understanding of that power.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, speaking of Kamasi Washington, there's through a line. Here
are our guests today in the eight am Our family
co produced her album, her debut album, which we'll hear
today with Kamasi Washington. So the arts, culture and the
richness of this region are on display this morning, folks.
(12:49):
Eight hundred nine two oh fifteen eighty. If you want
to weigh in Bernard Brown as my guests, we're talking
all things Left Coast on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You're back to me.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And I invite you in always you can call eight
hundred and nine to fifteen eighty. Eight hundred nine to
fifteen eighty. You're also back to Bernard Brown, and I
love Jerry's comment. Jerry Anderson in our YouTube comment says
the community has the resource for greatness in everything.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think that's right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
That's wildly underreported, though, especially if you look at still
the Hollywood version of our city, particularly black, LA is
very sad. The reality of it when you come here,
and I say that kind of tongue in cheek because
it's how the President.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Would describe La. Sad sad, But.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
If you come here, it's actually great. There's a lot
going on. I think the political consciousness of Los Angeles
is wildly underreported. I'm from northern California, so when I
came here, I expected a bunch of beach bunnies and
crack dealers, and what I got was a bunch of
people with anks and you know, African gear, and protesters
(14:08):
and entrepreneurs and creatives. It's I don't It's weird to
me because LA is still the cultural hub for much
of the world, and Black people.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Drive a lot of that culture everywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
So why is it that somehow in LA it seems
like they pretend we're not part of that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Oh well, you know, you've gotten me thinking, and it's
to me. It's about narratives, right, And so because the
narrative is often that we are living up to these stereotypes,
and the stereotypes that are portrayed by the media are
often not driven by people that have lived the life
(14:55):
that I've lived. I grew up in Los Angeles in
the a eighties in the nineties, and while some of
what folks are portraying are true to some extent, that
was not the holistic experience of a person like me
growing up on Normandy and Slosson in South Central, right.
And to be plucked out of the life that I
(15:21):
could have had by a person like Lula Washington, really
lets me know that we are community driven, as you're
talking about, we are leading with a higher consciousness and
when we continue to tell the truth, like I got
the truth every day going to dance class about who
my people are, not just this idea of black excellence,
(15:44):
but everyday people living their best lives, supporting one another.
So this weekend at some of the alumni activities, I
got to see people that no longer dance, but got
instilled with good values about community care, about how to
(16:08):
move with integrity, how to be a conscious person, and
see injustice and speak up. We learned all that through
the act of dance sucsimmingly at the place that Lula
Washington built. But she built that on an etho that
she was living in already, right, and so it's not
(16:31):
an anomaly. It is something that's commonplace, as you're talking about.
And so the people that I know that are from
Los Angeles are some of the best people that I've
met in this lifetime. And those are not transplants. Those
are people that are homegrown. And so I'm here to
say that Los Angeles is not what the media portrays.
(16:51):
It's actually quite the opposite. We are full of life,
We're full of culture, full of history. We know where
we come from and we live and we share with
this edict, this ethos. And so that's the type of
work that I like to do with my dance company.
I like to remind people that yes, we may have
come from this challenge place, but that is not all
(17:15):
that we are. There is joy within us. And as
you said, we are the drivers of the culture. We
changed the trends. We are the trends in music, in dance,
in fashion, in art, in history, you name it. We
are the blueprint of the zeitgeist, and so I try
(17:35):
to live that and share that wherever I go. Over
this summer, my company went to for the first time,
we went to Japan. We were in residence in a
theater there and we shared our newest work, Cissies, something
perfect between ourselves, showing that through music, from disco through
(17:56):
electric music, now that we have been driving the culture
and it celebrates the queer aspect that's often left out
of a mainstream understanding of what we do. It's the
totality of black people that provide the whole sense of
the pie that we all eat from every day.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I mean the you know, you talk about stereotypes
or perceptions even of South LA and LA in general.
I think the narrative is that an LGBTQ plus person
would not be welcome or wouldn't do well in South LA.
(18:40):
Certainly that hasn't been my experience. That hasn't been my
experience of the culture here.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Correct. While as a young person I may have experienced
some of that homophobia, by and large, like my life
has been supported and loved. I'm not going to cry
this morning by the people of my community. First, I
am loved. I'm accepted. My husband is accepted in my community.
(19:15):
We are accepted together, and so the stereotypes that I
think persist are not based in truth. Holy right. I
know in most of the families that I interact with
in my community, there's at least one or two or
three of us, and we are accepted, if not the
(19:38):
leaders of those families. And so every day I get
to wake up and walk in this truth and refute
the lives that may try to permeate the airwaves the
mainstream about who is loved and accepted in our community.
(19:58):
And that's not to say that it's like all rainbows
and unicorns and sunshine. Like I'm grounded in reality, and
at the same time, it is through this community lived experience.
You know, my grandma came from Mobile, Alabama, born in
the late twenties, early thirties. I don't want to give
her exact age, and she was the first person to
(20:22):
love me fully right, a whole black woman loving her
queer fem grandson. She said, you are wholly made and
you are loved, and that's how I am able to
go into the world. And so as a call to action,
we should do more of that to everybody in our community, right.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Daniel Samir Sarhan says that people who have no connection
to the land or to the people seem to drive
the negative stereotypes and prejudices. I think that is correct,
and that's one of the reasons why I do my
best to push back on that stuff every single day
because we One of the blessings that we have with
this radio station being independent, not part of the mainstream,
(21:11):
not connected to any behemoth, but owned by one person,
Tavis Smiley, is that we're not beholden to the invisible
chains that force us to tell other people's narratives. We're
talking with Bernard Brown. We've got news, traffic, and sports
right here. Then more of this conversation which you are
cordially invited into at eight hundred nine, two oh fifteen eighty.
(21:33):
I'm dominiqu duprima for KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. Yes, indeed,
I appreciate you being here. It's not just me though
it hardly ever is. It's always me, you, the microphone,
the telephone, and our special guests. You're invited in eight
hundred and nine two oh fifteen eighty or tap in
on the chat, hit me up on any.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Of our socials.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
We're everywhere at KBLA fifteen eighty. I'm everywhere at Duprima Radio.
That's dipri and then radio and Bernard Brown.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Are you everywhere? How do we tap into your social
media profile?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Oh? Yes, I'm everywhere on Instagram, I'm BB dot move.
You can also find me on Facebook at bbmoves and
my website is bbmoves dot org. Try to keep it
simple for myself so I can remember all the things. Yeah,
so I'd love to hear from folks, and I update everything.
(22:30):
I teach classes. I'm a Catherine Dunham Technique certified and structure,
so I'm one of five men on the planet that
teach this legendary technique. So I should have some classes
in Los Angeles coming up in the fall, and I'd
love to see folks there.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, that's funny because my godmother, Blanche Brown, is
a dancer and she's a choreographer with the Dunham technique.
So even though I'm not a dancer, I am familiar
with the technique and that the whole legacy of Catherine Dunham,
which I think is very understudied in this country.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
For all the Black history stuff we talk about, right.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Exactly. Katherine Dunham was a bad, bad woman man, Oh
my gosh. She understudied for sure, and she has a
great legacy in her commercial dance like in movies and film,
concert stage. She was an anthropologist. She wrote so many books,
and she could help a lot of us understand how
(23:33):
to be entrepreneurs, how to be community centered, community oriented,
and how to continue to elevate our stories in a
way that's respectful and full of integrity. And as we
were talking about before, dispelling those stereotypes about who we are,
she lived that way and I like to model myself
(23:53):
after the work that he does or has done. It
is a great legacy, and as you said, it is
hitting us in all places. Folks that may not even
be connected to dance will find their way connected to
this great legacy. I teach about her everywhere I go.
I try to mention her name or wherever I am,
(24:15):
because she is the queen mother of black dance.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And I mean, to your point, an anthropologist, a glamour girl,
an innovator, just somebody that was so far ahead of
her time that I think that's why we don't know
more about her. But she was because she was so
so far ahead of her time, but lovely to hear
(24:41):
that you have that technique. And the dance technique is
an interesting combo, right, it's kind of I don't know
how to characterize it, but it definitely has sort of
modern and African elements.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Correct, Correct, It is based in.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
African American freaking diasporic movement, so movement from the Caribbean,
movement from Africa, and also movement from the American South,
as we were talking about. She's an anthropologist, so she
wanted to understand how we moved this way, and so
she went through the pathways of taking us back to
the continent. And there is an infusion of European aesthetics,
(25:22):
like there are some elements of ballet, but it is
based and grounded in a Black experience. And I am
over the moon to be able to share this everywhere
and let folks know through an experience how rigorous our
bodies can be through this Black movement experience, the amount
(25:44):
of isolation and articulation that we have in relationship to
the very complex rhythms, but all centered and rooted in joy.
So when I leave a gunumplast, I've worked hard. I'm sweating,
But also I know that I'm a part of this immense,
deep legacy that is beyond and inclusive of all of
(26:08):
the things that we do here as Black Americans, from
the isolation of the pelvis to the spine and the neck.
My God, we can do it all. We have it
within our body, in our DNA, and the Dunham technique
helps me get there through body, mind and spirit.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So now we talk about the arts. Well, the whole
Black Arts movement was centering art as a tool of
change and transformation, as the means of liberation and furthering
our own upliftment elevation of our communities. And I feel
(26:44):
like we think of poetry and theater and essays and novels,
but sometimes we don't include dance as a revolutionary art
form or a transformative political art form.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You laugh, Why you're laughing, Why you're laughing?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
When I frown, I laugh. I laugh because we all
start one place in our body. Yeah, and so our
movements create the movement. When you think about the Civil
rights movement, what were they doing. They were marching, They
were moving in a choreographic way, right like we're gonna
(27:26):
meet here we're gonna walk, we're gonna link arms, we're
gonna move forward. And that in its basic sense is dance, right,
organized movement with the rhythm. We're singing the songs, we're
creating the rhythm, so that's our music that we're moving to.
And so at that very foundational level, we're always activated, right.
(27:48):
And so when you think about activism, it is about movement.
It's inherently movement forward. And so building on the choreographic
legacies of folks like Cast Dunham, we can name Alvin
Ailey and a contemporary of Catherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, also
also an anthropologist. They were making dances about the black
(28:11):
experience before it was a trend, right. They were literally
changing folks' minds about what black bodies could do, what
stories about their lives that were relevant. And through the
movement of these bodies and who was actually on stage,
we got to see the elevation of our community through
(28:34):
this work. And so in one of the works by
Pearl Primus called Strange Fruits, which was a poem before
we knew it as a song by a Billie Holliday,
it talks about lynching in a way that elevates the
black experience, and it's a legacy work. Catherine Dunham made
(28:55):
work about lynching that was ultimately the demise of her company.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
The US government thought it was so powerful that they
sent in aidens to divert audiences from the theaters to
seeing this work. They cut off her money right because
they knew how powerful this work is.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And as we see.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Work's happening right now, works like minds that are calling
forward our history so that we can remember. Also, folks
on the street using dance to enliven these protest sites.
We are dancing to enliven this space. We are not
dead when we're moving. We're moving in joy, we're moving
in protests. We're moving to let them know that we
(29:35):
are here, we're not going anywhere, and we are alive.
And when we are alive, we're fighting with our bodies.
Our bodies are first, right, And so I'm here to
say that movement is the movement. And I learned that
from my teacher Low Washington, who moves in the lineage
of Alio Pomare, who was a black radical who also
(30:01):
is in conversation with Catherine Dunham, with Donald McHale, all
of these people are using their platforms to let us
know that the black stories about where we've been would
not be viable without our bodies talking to. Our bodies
tell the story.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Our bodies tell the stories. We're talking to Bernard Brown.
His company is B Moves and they've got a big
performance coming up to let you know how to tap
in with that and more when we continue on KBLA
Talk fifteen to eighty. Yes, indeed, and we're talking with
Bernard Brown. He's the artistic director of Bernard Brown BB Moves.
(30:40):
It's his company. He's an LA based performing artists, choreographer, filmmaker, activists, educator,
and a professor at you See at San Diego. So
you started off letting us know you were selected to
represent Las Angels at this conference coming up in actually
(31:04):
in LA this coming week. And you it's the twenty
twenty five Western Arts Alliance Conference. So you'll be performing
at the opening ceremonies.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That is correct? Yes, I am thrilled and excited to
share an excerpt of a new work that I've been
working on at this conference. So through this invitation, I'll
be representing South LA, in particular Black South LA specifically
(31:40):
at this conference. At the opening ceremonies, we will actually
open the show, which is a great honor, will be
the first thing that folks see on stage. So we'll
be black and brown queer men, a live DJ and
choreography that is exposing a bit of hard our history,
(32:01):
especially in light loss of a person who is who
I've only met once, but it is so near and
dear to my heart Jewel, says Williams, the founder of
Catchwan Crenshaw and Pico. So the work that we're doing
is going to highlight the black underground club scene here
(32:22):
in Los Angeles, which Duel was very much a part
of sending out into the world making space for everyone,
specifically a young person like me. It was one of
the first places I went and saw people like me.
And so this work will feature music of a queer icon, Sylvester,
(32:43):
who is also from South La originally, and on September second,
we will be a part of this monumentous event bringing
folks from across the country and indeed the globe to
our fair city. Yeah, hopefully folks can come and partake
(33:04):
in that.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, I'll see you got your your performers listed. Malachi Middleton,
Alejandro Perez, Jon Santos, John Swapshaw Diedrich Gray, Ramon Vargas,
and De Facto X. I want to give them a
shout out since I feel like dancers don't get as
much glory and love.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
As some other artist. And I'm not quite sure why dance.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Is scene as the lowest part of the arts ecosystem,
the lowest place on the totem pole. Up until very recently,
dancers were not listed in credits and movies or music videos,
and I think it's because folks see dance as frivolous
and something that isn't necessary. But it's the first thing
(33:52):
we do when we go to a party, it's the
first thing we do when we come out of the womb,
we start moving our bodies. And so I want to
thank you for uplifting the individuals that are doing the
hard work. Dance is so hard, y'all, and people train
for decades to be able to do what they do,
and so thank you for lifting that up. And we're
shifting that narrative right now.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know, it's interesting because I know I have a
lot of friends that are dancers, but I'm not quite
sure why, But I feel like it's so crazy, because
we are inspired by dance. People copy it, like you said,
whether it's on the runway or just fooling around in a.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Club or at a party.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
But to do it at that level, it's one of
those things like radio that's much harder than it looks.
And so I commend you and you know the discipline
and just consistency that is demanded of.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
The artists in order to be a dancer on the
level that you're working.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yeah, and we're working to thank you for that. We
are working to honor all of the decades of work
that one has to do to become a professional dancer,
the tens of thousands of dollars that go into the training.
And so one of the ways that we honor and
respect our dancers as a sort of activist lens is
(35:15):
paying them what they're worth. Often in commercial settings and
nonprofit settings, dancers get paid the very least. Sometimes it
getting paid in exposure. And it's like I've been training
for twenty years to do this thing, and so you
should pay me what I'm worth. And so one of
the ways that we are working to write that is
to pay folks a living wage or respectable wage a
(35:39):
waste that's full of dignity, so that we can continue
to do this work, so that our ethos is aligned
with what we're actually doing. Walking the talk and talk
people a lot, as they say, and yeah, honor and
respect to all the people that do.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Figures work as goofy it as it is.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I'm always happy to see, whether it's La La Land
or you know, these big tours of Beyonce and other folks,
that dance is alive and well, whether it's in Hollywood productions,
music videos, concerts, and I'm glad you're doing that piece
about the living wage, because i mean, come on, people,
dancers are artists. They have they don't they don't get
(36:23):
a dancer's skinny light built.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
They don't get you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
They don't get dancers prices on groceries.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
That's not how it goes so exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
And I wanted to shout out, just you know, reading
your bio, we're not gonna have time to talk about
all this stuff. But Dances through Prison Walls and many
of the other projects that you've done are blatantly political.
It's not like a subtle thing that you pick up.
Your activism as an artivist is is centered in your work.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Right absolutely censor So very briefly, I work as a
core collaborator with dancing through prison Walls. We go inside
of prisons, we work with people outside of prisons. We
do a sort of merging of that. We have a
recent book you can find us online, Freedom Time, where
(37:21):
we have entries from folks that are currently incarcerated both
on the continent of US and in Puerto Rico. We
work with them, We bring their stories to life through movements,
and we also they get portions of the proceeds from
the books. I am a core collaborator with street Dance Activism,
(37:42):
which is spearheaded by visionary doctor Schamuel Bell. I want
to shout her out, another South Central native. We met
at UCLA and we use the power of street dance
to go into different spaces and to remind people that
they have a collective power that they can tappen to
you at any time. My freedom dreaming using dances and
(38:04):
memories to bring forward positive action and the present and
also the future. And you're right, every act that we
do already is overtly political, and why not be conscious
and intentional about how we use our bodies in space?
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I mean I got that from my dad. Let me
not try to take credit.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I'm my dad of Mary Baraka, the founder of the
Black Arts movement, made sure we were clear that every
all artists political, so you may us might as well
be mindful about what you are saying.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Yes, yes, I am inspired by your father. I make
work based on some of his poetry. So I want
to say thank you to being a living legacy of
that and bringing all of this work forward and forward
and forward. We need to be reminded that none of
this begins with us. We are part of a long legacy.
(38:59):
Even if we are things, we are part of a continuum,
and we want to honor that.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I didn't do anything but get born, but thank you.
I'll take credit for that. What would you encouraged? Or
We've got a couple of minutes here, and there's so
much we could talk about, Bernard Brown, But I'm gonna
just kind of hand you the mic and let you.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Lead us where you would like us to go.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
These last couple of minutes, I want us to return
to our breath. I want to remind us that each
day is a day to be grateful and also a
day to find something to change, be that in your
own life, or something in your neighborhood, something in your city,
(39:47):
or even something in the world. I am grounded in
this idea that each day I have something to offer
this world, be it through a dance step, through a
kind act, through calling out injustice, and so I urge
us to return to that, to that community ethos, and
(40:12):
also find a way to get your hands in the dirt.
I'm trying to learn a survival skill. Maybe that survival
skill is planting something in the ground. How do I
use my body in ways that maybe isn't so intensive
but also is intentional and root it in an ancestral practice.
My family killed the earth in mobile and it's something
(40:37):
that I want to honor my family lineage, in honor
my grandmother who did so much for my family. And
so as I think about honoring ancestors, I don't have
to jump to the Urasha or to some great figure.
I can look to my family and know that through
my lineage, I am of good stock because I am here.
(41:00):
They did so much to get me here, and I
can honor them by doing so much to pushing our
family lineage forward.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I love that we are here a Well, it's been
a pleasure talking with you, Bernard Brown. Western Arts Alliance
is that the Westarts dot org. There you can find
out about going to that conference there and bbmoves dot org.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Thank you, have a great day and you as well.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Wealth Building Wednesday is next only right here
Okay, bla talk fifteen to eighty. Good morning, Good morning,
and God bless I've Dominique DePree with. The show is
called first Things. First of my very first thing given,
thanks giving, praises and asking for blessings from God, asking
for the blessings of the ancestors and the elders. And
let's go press play. We got a lot to do,
We've got a lot to talk about. So the way
(00:24):
we do things on a wealth building Wednesday, Yes, every
day now has a name, Thank you Quamel. The way
we do things on a wealth building Wednesday. Our one
we look local, what's going on around here, left coast,
side of town. Our two we go national, international, and beyond.
But we kick off the hour with the focus on
(00:44):
a business or business opportunity that's building in the space,
whether that's based as small and local business is so
important in the age of Amazon, whether it's black owned, bipop,
women owned, or socially innovative, those are the businesses we elevate.
We'll do that in the top of the hour, and
then the phone lines are open as USU to talk
(01:07):
about all the things and unpack the headlines. Then hour
three we do a deep dive kind of get to
know somebody or hot topic type situation, and today is
no exception.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Ami tav Rau will be joining us in the studio.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
She is a Moroccan jazz singer who has got her
debut album out right, this very second and very innovative,
kind of new school. Well, I'll let her tell you,
but looking forward to that conversation, I told you we
were immersing ourselves in arts and culture and all the
(01:48):
goodness that we need to stay blessed to stay courageous,
to stay plugged in, but not scared to stay part
of the solution and not part of the problem. I
e epidemic of fear that seems to be gripping a
(02:11):
lot of folks. Although I feel like we're shaking it off,
we're kind of, you know, we're kind of waking up.
Some folks were able to go through this whole thing
from November to now and just stay and stride, And
I admire that. I'm you know, I fake it till
I make it on the air because I know that
(02:35):
it's my responsibility to show up and be here and
be part of the solution all the time. But you know,
I had a few moments here and.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
There freak out.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
But then there's folks I know who you know, just
have to be talked off the ledge every moment because
it's a lot. So the art is the culture that
keep us courageous.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You can get in the conversation by calling me at
eight hundred and nine to oh fifteen eighty anytime. I'm
always taking your calls. And then you can also tap
in on YouTube YouTube dot com. Then you type KBLA
like black without the C in the k KBLA fifteen
eighty and boom you will see the conversation going on
(03:23):
in the comments section, which is always fun to be
part of. And you can become part of our regular
delegation that's in there chiming in making sense every single morning. Okay,
So that's what we got going on and welcoming a
new voice into the conversation this morning. By conversation, I'm
(03:46):
talking about the KBLA conversation. The first things first one,
so yeah, I am welcoming in from the City of
l A Department of Cultural Affairs. Well, it's actually they're
(04:07):
presenting something that he's doing. It's a choreographer, educator a
little different for us for our start of the morning
and researcher. He focuses on black, brown and queer artists,
he says, who have created spaces that feed music, dance, fashion,
(04:29):
and the creative heartbeat of underground Los Angeles. He's got
a show coming up, we'll hear about that, but also
get his thoughts on where we are in this moment.
He is artistic director of Bernard Brown B Moves, which
(04:49):
is an LA based performing arts group. He's a choreographer, filmmaker, activist,
and educator. So welcome to the show, Oh Bernard Brown.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Hello, Good morning, Dominique, Good morning KBLA.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Welcome in, Welcome in. So tell me a little bit
about B Moves. You know, typically this time of morning,
we're talking what's going on in the world of LA,
and what you've got going on is part of what's
going on in the world of LA. So let's start
with that. Like, what is it that you do with
your group?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yes, of course I love talking about the work that
my company does. Bernard Brown BB Moves was started in
twenty fifteen, so this fall will be celebrating ten years
of making impactful art using the medium of dance to
convey the stories of black people. Both here in the
(05:50):
United States and also die sports stories from across the globe.
I am a native Los Angelino born and raised in
Central I'm a student and a mentee and a dance
son of Lula Washington. Based on Prenshaw, I dance with
her company for over twenty years, and following her model,
(06:14):
it felt important to make a space based in Los
Angeles or black and brown, queer men and women and
immigrants to bring light to our stories. I feel that's
especially important now looking at how this current administration and
(06:37):
other folks across the globe in the country are trying
to erase our stories. And when we erase our histories,
it's hard to move forward if we don't know what
we've been through. If we lose sight of who we are,
we can get duped, we can Our narratives really are
a guide post of how we can move forward. Knowing
(06:58):
that I come from really strong stock people that have
survived many things, I need to know where I've been
to know where I can go. And so with my
company Bernard Brown bb moves, we continue to highlight and
remind the world of our visibility, of our resilience, of
(07:19):
our strengths, and so next week. We were invited by
the city, the Department of Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Division,
in particular to represent South Los Angeles in the Western
Arts Alliance conference, which will be in Los Angeles September
second through fifth, downtown at USC and across the city.
(07:45):
And so I'm really honored to be here, to be
sharing about the work that we do, and also to
be respected by our city enough to represent them, especially
in this day and age.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, well, the lot to unpack their first of all,
congrats on that invitation to represent the city.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
The lit La Washington being a spawn of Lula Washington,
they're celebrating a big anniversary this year, so that's also
a powerful thing.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Right, yes, forty five years as a cultural hub of
our city and a beacon across the nation about how
we can center Black stories and have that be a
universal lens through which we can see our American history.
It's kind of amazing. Both Lula and Irwin and also Tamika.
(08:46):
I consider them my family, and so we celebrated them
this weekend. Actually, they had a huge celebration and performance
at the Ford Theater with guests like Kamasi Washington and
Maxine Waters, and Holly Mitchell all were in attendance. Kamasi
actually performed on stage. It was great to be a
(09:06):
part of that historic moment.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, that is that is amazing, and I think, you know,
it's also encouraging to think about you have your own group,
but you're still connected to Lulu Washington. To think about
how we have the capacity in South LA, which has
a lot of stereotypes about it, to create a group
(09:34):
just like yours, just using the resources that we have here.
In other words, you didn't nothing, no shade to go
into Alvin Ailey or you know, American Ballet Theater or anything.
But the fact that we have the resources right in
South LA to create another powerful group like yours out
(09:56):
of a Lula Washington says a lot, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, I thank you for bringing me up this idea
of legacy and also like where resources are, we don't
have to outsource to get the things that we need.
We have a lot. We have most of these things
at our command and that's one of the things that
I continue to like ingest as a progeny of Lula
Washington Dance Theater and also sharing with my students what
(10:23):
I didn't share is that I'm the first in my
family to go to college, and I thank you successfully
graduating and getting my master's degree, my MFA from UCLA
and I'm now an assistant professor of Dance at UC
San Diego. I'm based in Los Angeles. I split my
(10:45):
time sharing my work across the SoCal region. But I
got ninety percent of everything that I have now from
Los Angeles, from South Central and I'm a proud resident
and I'm a pro out. How do you say ambassador.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like that?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Of the goodness that we have? And you know, I've
gone around the world. I've studied in New York, I
studied at Aley the a Ley School, I studied at
Dance They to Haarlem. But I know because of my
my rootedness at places like Lula Washington Dance Theater, that
I have the responsibility to return home and to plant
(11:29):
the seeds that were planted in me, to continue to
pour and to water the soil and the fruits that
are about to be born in the place that I
came from. And that to me is really important to
continue to think about how do we return and pour
back into so that our legacies don't end with us
(11:50):
or they go elsewhere, they can continue to be rooted
in the communities that supported us to get where we are.
And so I learned that lesson. I share that lesson,
and I hope to continue to do that with the
company that I'm building in the image of Catherine Dunham,
in the image of Lula Washington, so that we can
(12:11):
know that with our own might and grits, that we
are worthy and our stories are worthy to be told,
and that their strengths in our collective understanding of that power.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, speaking of Kamasi Washington, there's through a line. Here
are our guests today in the eight am Our family
co produced her album, her debut album, which we'll hear
today with Kamasi Washington. So the arts, culture and the
richness of this region are on display this morning, folks.
(12:49):
Eight hundred nine two oh fifteen eighty. If you want
to weigh in Bernard Brown as my guests, we're talking
all things Left Coast on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You're back to me.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And I invite you in always you can call eight
hundred and nine to fifteen eighty. Eight hundred nine to
fifteen eighty. You're also back to Bernard Brown, and I
love Jerry's comment. Jerry Anderson in our YouTube comment says
the community has the resource for greatness in everything.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think that's right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
That's wildly underreported, though, especially if you look at still
the Hollywood version of our city, particularly black, LA is
very sad. The reality of it when you come here,
and I say that kind of tongue in cheek because
it's how the President.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Would describe La. Sad sad, But.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
If you come here, it's actually great. There's a lot
going on. I think the political consciousness of Los Angeles
is wildly underreported. I'm from northern California, so when I
came here, I expected a bunch of beach bunnies and
crack dealers, and what I got was a bunch of
people with anks and you know, African gear, and protesters
(14:08):
and entrepreneurs and creatives. It's I don't It's weird to
me because LA is still the cultural hub for much
of the world, and Black people.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Drive a lot of that culture everywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
So why is it that somehow in LA it seems
like they pretend we're not part of that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Oh well, you know, you've gotten me thinking, and it's
to me. It's about narratives, right, And so because the
narrative is often that we are living up to these stereotypes,
and the stereotypes that are portrayed by the media are
often not driven by people that have lived the life
(14:55):
that I've lived. I grew up in Los Angeles in
the a eighties in the nineties, and while some of
what folks are portraying are true to some extent, that
was not the holistic experience of a person like me
growing up on Normandy and Slosson in South Central, right.
And to be plucked out of the life that I
(15:21):
could have had by a person like Lula Washington, really
lets me know that we are community driven, as you're
talking about, we are leading with a higher consciousness and
when we continue to tell the truth, like I got
the truth every day going to dance class about who
my people are, not just this idea of black excellence,
(15:44):
but everyday people living their best lives, supporting one another.
So this weekend at some of the alumni activities, I
got to see people that no longer dance, but got
instilled with good values about community care, about how to
(16:08):
move with integrity, how to be a conscious person, and
see injustice and speak up. We learned all that through
the act of dance sucsimmingly at the place that Lula
Washington built. But she built that on an etho that
she was living in already, right, and so it's not
(16:31):
an anomaly. It is something that's commonplace, as you're talking about.
And so the people that I know that are from
Los Angeles are some of the best people that I've
met in this lifetime. And those are not transplants. Those
are people that are homegrown. And so I'm here to
say that Los Angeles is not what the media portrays.
(16:51):
It's actually quite the opposite. We are full of life,
We're full of culture, full of history. We know where
we come from and we live and we share with
this edict, this ethos. And so that's the type of
work that I like to do with my dance company.
I like to remind people that yes, we may have
come from this challenge place, but that is not all
(17:15):
that we are. There is joy within us. And as
you said, we are the drivers of the culture. We
changed the trends. We are the trends in music, in dance,
in fashion, in art, in history, you name it. We
are the blueprint of the zeitgeist, and so I try
(17:35):
to live that and share that wherever I go. Over
this summer, my company went to for the first time,
we went to Japan. We were in residence in a
theater there and we shared our newest work, Cissies, something
perfect between ourselves, showing that through music, from disco through
(17:56):
electric music, now that we have been driving the culture
and it celebrates the queer aspect that's often left out
of a mainstream understanding of what we do. It's the
totality of black people that provide the whole sense of
the pie that we all eat from every day.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I mean the you know, you talk about stereotypes
or perceptions even of South LA and LA in general.
I think the narrative is that an LGBTQ plus person
would not be welcome or wouldn't do well in South LA.
(18:40):
Certainly that hasn't been my experience. That hasn't been my
experience of the culture here.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Correct. While as a young person I may have experienced
some of that homophobia, by and large, like my life
has been supported and loved. I'm not going to cry
this morning by the people of my community. First, I
am loved. I'm accepted. My husband is accepted in my community.
(19:15):
We are accepted together, and so the stereotypes that I
think persist are not based in truth. Holy right. I
know in most of the families that I interact with
in my community, there's at least one or two or
three of us, and we are accepted, if not the
(19:38):
leaders of those families. And so every day I get
to wake up and walk in this truth and refute
the lives that may try to permeate the airwaves the
mainstream about who is loved and accepted in our community.
(19:58):
And that's not to say that it's like all rainbows
and unicorns and sunshine. Like I'm grounded in reality, and
at the same time, it is through this community lived experience.
You know, my grandma came from Mobile, Alabama, born in
the late twenties, early thirties. I don't want to give
her exact age, and she was the first person to
(20:22):
love me fully right, a whole black woman loving her
queer fem grandson. She said, you are wholly made and
you are loved, and that's how I am able to
go into the world. And so as a call to action,
we should do more of that to everybody in our community, right.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Daniel Samir Sarhan says that people who have no connection
to the land or to the people seem to drive
the negative stereotypes and prejudices. I think that is correct,
and that's one of the reasons why I do my
best to push back on that stuff every single day
because we One of the blessings that we have with
this radio station being independent, not part of the mainstream,
(21:11):
not connected to any behemoth, but owned by one person,
Tavis Smiley, is that we're not beholden to the invisible
chains that force us to tell other people's narratives. We're
talking with Bernard Brown. We've got news, traffic, and sports
right here. Then more of this conversation which you are
cordially invited into at eight hundred nine, two oh fifteen eighty.
(21:33):
I'm dominiqu duprima for KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. Yes, indeed,
I appreciate you being here. It's not just me though
it hardly ever is. It's always me, you, the microphone,
the telephone, and our special guests. You're invited in eight
hundred and nine two oh fifteen eighty or tap in
on the chat, hit me up on any.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Of our socials.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
We're everywhere at KBLA fifteen eighty. I'm everywhere at Duprima Radio.
That's dipri and then radio and Bernard Brown.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Are you everywhere? How do we tap into your social
media profile?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Oh? Yes, I'm everywhere on Instagram, I'm BB dot move.
You can also find me on Facebook at bbmoves and
my website is bbmoves dot org. Try to keep it
simple for myself so I can remember all the things. Yeah,
so I'd love to hear from folks, and I update everything.
(22:30):
I teach classes. I'm a Catherine Dunham Technique certified and structure,
so I'm one of five men on the planet that
teach this legendary technique. So I should have some classes
in Los Angeles coming up in the fall, and I'd
love to see folks there.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, that's funny because my godmother, Blanche Brown, is
a dancer and she's a choreographer with the Dunham technique.
So even though I'm not a dancer, I am familiar
with the technique and that the whole legacy of Catherine Dunham,
which I think is very understudied in this country.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
For all the Black history stuff we talk about, right.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Exactly. Katherine Dunham was a bad, bad woman man, Oh
my gosh. She understudied for sure, and she has a
great legacy in her commercial dance like in movies and film,
concert stage. She was an anthropologist. She wrote so many books,
and she could help a lot of us understand how
(23:33):
to be entrepreneurs, how to be community centered, community oriented,
and how to continue to elevate our stories in a
way that's respectful and full of integrity. And as we
were talking about before, dispelling those stereotypes about who we are,
she lived that way and I like to model myself
(23:53):
after the work that he does or has done. It
is a great legacy, and as you said, it is
hitting us in all places. Folks that may not even
be connected to dance will find their way connected to
this great legacy. I teach about her everywhere I go.
I try to mention her name or wherever I am,
(24:15):
because she is the queen mother of black dance.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And I mean, to your point, an anthropologist, a glamour girl,
an innovator, just somebody that was so far ahead of
her time that I think that's why we don't know
more about her. But she was because she was so
so far ahead of her time, but lovely to hear
(24:41):
that you have that technique. And the dance technique is
an interesting combo, right, it's kind of I don't know
how to characterize it, but it definitely has sort of
modern and African elements.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Correct, Correct, It is based in.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
African American freaking diasporic movement, so movement from the Caribbean,
movement from Africa, and also movement from the American South,
as we were talking about. She's an anthropologist, so she
wanted to understand how we moved this way, and so
she went through the pathways of taking us back to
the continent. And there is an infusion of European aesthetics,
(25:22):
like there are some elements of ballet, but it is
based and grounded in a Black experience. And I am
over the moon to be able to share this everywhere
and let folks know through an experience how rigorous our
bodies can be through this Black movement experience, the amount
(25:44):
of isolation and articulation that we have in relationship to
the very complex rhythms, but all centered and rooted in joy.
So when I leave a gunumplast, I've worked hard. I'm sweating,
But also I know that I'm a part of this immense,
deep legacy that is beyond and inclusive of all of
(26:08):
the things that we do here as Black Americans, from
the isolation of the pelvis to the spine and the neck.
My God, we can do it all. We have it
within our body, in our DNA, and the Dunham technique
helps me get there through body, mind and spirit.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So now we talk about the arts. Well, the whole
Black Arts movement was centering art as a tool of
change and transformation, as the means of liberation and furthering
our own upliftment elevation of our communities. And I feel
(26:44):
like we think of poetry and theater and essays and novels,
but sometimes we don't include dance as a revolutionary art
form or a transformative political art form.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You laugh, Why you're laughing, Why you're laughing?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
When I frown, I laugh. I laugh because we all
start one place in our body. Yeah, and so our
movements create the movement. When you think about the Civil
rights movement, what were they doing. They were marching, They
were moving in a choreographic way, right like we're gonna
(27:26):
meet here we're gonna walk, we're gonna link arms, we're
gonna move forward. And that in its basic sense is dance, right,
organized movement with the rhythm. We're singing the songs, we're
creating the rhythm, so that's our music that we're moving to.
And so at that very foundational level, we're always activated, right.
(27:48):
And so when you think about activism, it is about movement.
It's inherently movement forward. And so building on the choreographic
legacies of folks like Cast Dunham, we can name Alvin
Ailey and a contemporary of Catherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, also
also an anthropologist. They were making dances about the black
(28:11):
experience before it was a trend, right. They were literally
changing folks' minds about what black bodies could do, what
stories about their lives that were relevant. And through the
movement of these bodies and who was actually on stage,
we got to see the elevation of our community through
(28:34):
this work. And so in one of the works by
Pearl Primus called Strange Fruits, which was a poem before
we knew it as a song by a Billie Holliday,
it talks about lynching in a way that elevates the
black experience, and it's a legacy work. Catherine Dunham made
(28:55):
work about lynching that was ultimately the demise of her company.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
The US government thought it was so powerful that they
sent in aidens to divert audiences from the theaters to
seeing this work. They cut off her money right because
they knew how powerful this work is.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And as we see.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Work's happening right now, works like minds that are calling
forward our history so that we can remember. Also, folks
on the street using dance to enliven these protest sites.
We are dancing to enliven this space. We are not
dead when we're moving. We're moving in joy, we're moving
in protests. We're moving to let them know that we
(29:35):
are here, we're not going anywhere, and we are alive.
And when we are alive, we're fighting with our bodies.
Our bodies are first, right, And so I'm here to
say that movement is the movement. And I learned that
from my teacher Low Washington, who moves in the lineage
of Alio Pomare, who was a black radical who also
(30:01):
is in conversation with Catherine Dunham, with Donald McHale, all
of these people are using their platforms to let us
know that the black stories about where we've been would
not be viable without our bodies talking to. Our bodies
tell the story.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Our bodies tell the stories. We're talking to Bernard Brown.
His company is B Moves and they've got a big
performance coming up to let you know how to tap
in with that and more when we continue on KBLA
Talk fifteen to eighty. Yes, indeed, and we're talking with
Bernard Brown. He's the artistic director of Bernard Brown BB Moves.
(30:40):
It's his company. He's an LA based performing artists, choreographer, filmmaker, activists, educator,
and a professor at you See at San Diego. So
you started off letting us know you were selected to
represent Las Angels at this conference coming up in actually
(31:04):
in LA this coming week. And you it's the twenty
twenty five Western Arts Alliance Conference. So you'll be performing
at the opening ceremonies.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That is correct? Yes, I am thrilled and excited to
share an excerpt of a new work that I've been
working on at this conference. So through this invitation, I'll
be representing South LA, in particular Black South LA specifically
(31:40):
at this conference. At the opening ceremonies, we will actually
open the show, which is a great honor, will be
the first thing that folks see on stage. So we'll
be black and brown queer men, a live DJ and
choreography that is exposing a bit of hard our history,
(32:01):
especially in light loss of a person who is who
I've only met once, but it is so near and
dear to my heart Jewel, says Williams, the founder of
Catchwan Crenshaw and Pico. So the work that we're doing
is going to highlight the black underground club scene here
(32:22):
in Los Angeles, which Duel was very much a part
of sending out into the world making space for everyone,
specifically a young person like me. It was one of
the first places I went and saw people like me.
And so this work will feature music of a queer icon, Sylvester,
(32:43):
who is also from South La originally, and on September second,
we will be a part of this monumentous event bringing
folks from across the country and indeed the globe to
our fair city. Yeah, hopefully folks can come and partake
(33:04):
in that.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, I'll see you got your your performers listed. Malachi Middleton,
Alejandro Perez, Jon Santos, John Swapshaw Diedrich Gray, Ramon Vargas,
and De Facto X. I want to give them a
shout out since I feel like dancers don't get as
much glory and love.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
As some other artist. And I'm not quite sure why dance.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Is scene as the lowest part of the arts ecosystem,
the lowest place on the totem pole. Up until very recently,
dancers were not listed in credits and movies or music videos,
and I think it's because folks see dance as frivolous
and something that isn't necessary. But it's the first thing
(33:52):
we do when we go to a party, it's the
first thing we do when we come out of the womb,
we start moving our bodies. And so I want to
thank you for uplifting the individuals that are doing the
hard work. Dance is so hard, y'all, and people train
for decades to be able to do what they do,
and so thank you for lifting that up. And we're
shifting that narrative right now.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know, it's interesting because I know I have a
lot of friends that are dancers, but I'm not quite
sure why, But I feel like it's so crazy, because
we are inspired by dance. People copy it, like you said,
whether it's on the runway or just fooling around in a.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Club or at a party.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
But to do it at that level, it's one of
those things like radio that's much harder than it looks.
And so I commend you and you know the discipline
and just consistency that is demanded of.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
The artists in order to be a dancer on the
level that you're working.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yeah, and we're working to thank you for that. We
are working to honor all of the decades of work
that one has to do to become a professional dancer,
the tens of thousands of dollars that go into the training.
And so one of the ways that we honor and
respect our dancers as a sort of activist lens is
(35:15):
paying them what they're worth. Often in commercial settings and
nonprofit settings, dancers get paid the very least. Sometimes it
getting paid in exposure. And it's like I've been training
for twenty years to do this thing, and so you
should pay me what I'm worth. And so one of
the ways that we are working to write that is
to pay folks a living wage or respectable wage a
(35:39):
waste that's full of dignity, so that we can continue
to do this work, so that our ethos is aligned
with what we're actually doing. Walking the talk and talk
people a lot, as they say, and yeah, honor and
respect to all the people that do.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Figures work as goofy it as it is.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I'm always happy to see, whether it's La La Land
or you know, these big tours of Beyonce and other folks,
that dance is alive and well, whether it's in Hollywood productions,
music videos, concerts, and I'm glad you're doing that piece
about the living wage, because i mean, come on, people,
dancers are artists. They have they don't they don't get
(36:23):
a dancer's skinny light built.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
They don't get you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
They don't get dancers prices on groceries.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
That's not how it goes so exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
And I wanted to shout out, just you know, reading
your bio, we're not gonna have time to talk about
all this stuff. But Dances through Prison Walls and many
of the other projects that you've done are blatantly political.
It's not like a subtle thing that you pick up.
Your activism as an artivist is is centered in your work.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Right absolutely censor So very briefly, I work as a
core collaborator with dancing through prison Walls. We go inside
of prisons, we work with people outside of prisons. We
do a sort of merging of that. We have a
recent book you can find us online, Freedom Time, where
(37:21):
we have entries from folks that are currently incarcerated both
on the continent of US and in Puerto Rico. We
work with them, We bring their stories to life through movements,
and we also they get portions of the proceeds from
the books. I am a core collaborator with street Dance Activism,
(37:42):
which is spearheaded by visionary doctor Schamuel Bell. I want
to shout her out, another South Central native. We met
at UCLA and we use the power of street dance
to go into different spaces and to remind people that
they have a collective power that they can tappen to
you at any time. My freedom dreaming using dances and
(38:04):
memories to bring forward positive action and the present and
also the future. And you're right, every act that we
do already is overtly political, and why not be conscious
and intentional about how we use our bodies in space?
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I mean I got that from my dad. Let me
not try to take credit.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I'm my dad of Mary Baraka, the founder of the
Black Arts movement, made sure we were clear that every
all artists political, so you may us might as well
be mindful about what you are saying.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Yes, yes, I am inspired by your father. I make
work based on some of his poetry. So I want
to say thank you to being a living legacy of
that and bringing all of this work forward and forward
and forward. We need to be reminded that none of
this begins with us. We are part of a long legacy.
(38:59):
Even if we are things, we are part of a continuum,
and we want to honor that.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I didn't do anything but get born, but thank you.
I'll take credit for that. What would you encouraged? Or
We've got a couple of minutes here, and there's so
much we could talk about, Bernard Brown, But I'm gonna
just kind of hand you the mic and let you.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Lead us where you would like us to go.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
These last couple of minutes, I want us to return
to our breath. I want to remind us that each
day is a day to be grateful and also a
day to find something to change, be that in your
own life, or something in your neighborhood, something in your city,
(39:47):
or even something in the world. I am grounded in
this idea that each day I have something to offer
this world, be it through a dance step, through a
kind act, through calling out injustice, and so I urge
us to return to that, to that community ethos, and
(40:12):
also find a way to get your hands in the dirt.
I'm trying to learn a survival skill. Maybe that survival
skill is planting something in the ground. How do I
use my body in ways that maybe isn't so intensive
but also is intentional and root it in an ancestral practice.
My family killed the earth in mobile and it's something
(40:37):
that I want to honor my family lineage, in honor
my grandmother who did so much for my family. And
so as I think about honoring ancestors, I don't have
to jump to the Urasha or to some great figure.
I can look to my family and know that through
my lineage, I am of good stock because I am here.
(41:00):
They did so much to get me here, and I
can honor them by doing so much to pushing our
family lineage forward.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I love that we are here a Well, it's been
a pleasure talking with you, Bernard Brown. Western Arts Alliance
is that the Westarts dot org. There you can find
out about going to that conference there and bbmoves dot org.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Thank you, have a great day and you as well.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Wealth Building Wednesday is next only right here
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