October 30, 2025 • 9 mins
🎙️ Insight — Part 1
Guest host Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati talks with Swati Chaturvedi, founder of the Community Bollywood Dance Project, about leading interactive Bollywood movement workshops at the Barnes Foundation PECO Free First Sunday—a day of free admission, family art activities, and access to Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets. Workshops celebrate rhythm, joy, and community for all ages and abilities.
📅 Sunday (First Sunday of the month)
📍 Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia
🖼️ Event info: barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/…
🌐 Barnes: @barnesfoundation (IG) • barnesfoundation.org. Barnes Foundation+2Instagram+2 💃 Community Bollywood Dance Project (CBDP)
🌐 Website: communitybollywooddanceproject.com • IG: @bollywooddanceproject. Community Bollywood Dance Project+1
🎙️ Host Feature: “What Is Philadelphia Reading?”
Vanesse chats with City Councilmember Jeffery Young, Jr.
🌐 Council page: phlcouncil.com/jefferyyoungjr • IG: @councilmemberjyoungjr. Philadelphia City Council+1
👤 Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati
🌐 African American Children’s Book Project: theafricanamericanchildrensbookproject.org • IG: @aacbookproject. theafricanamericanchildrensbookproject.org+1
Guest host Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati talks with Swati Chaturvedi, founder of the Community Bollywood Dance Project, about leading interactive Bollywood movement workshops at the Barnes Foundation PECO Free First Sunday—a day of free admission, family art activities, and access to Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets. Workshops celebrate rhythm, joy, and community for all ages and abilities.
📅 Sunday (First Sunday of the month)
📍 Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia
🖼️ Event info: barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/…
🌐 Barnes: @barnesfoundation (IG) • barnesfoundation.org. Barnes Foundation+2Instagram+2 💃 Community Bollywood Dance Project (CBDP)
🌐 Website: communitybollywooddanceproject.com • IG: @bollywooddanceproject. Community Bollywood Dance Project+1
🎙️ Host Feature: “What Is Philadelphia Reading?”
Vanesse chats with City Councilmember Jeffery Young, Jr.
🌐 Council page: phlcouncil.com/jefferyyoungjr • IG: @councilmemberjyoungjr. Philadelphia City Council+1
👤 Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati
🌐 African American Children’s Book Project: theafricanamericanchildrensbookproject.org • IG: @aacbookproject. theafricanamericanchildrensbookproject.org+1
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow, and as we do once
a month, every month, we have the fantastic, the Fabulous,
the fashion icon Vaness Lloyd's Gumbadi, the founder of the
African American Children's Book Fair. She is a publicist for
some of the biggest and best African American authors and illustrators,
(00:22):
particularly children's authors and illustrators, and she's here with her
segment we call VLS Journeys. Well, Vness, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I'm hanging in there. Most people get sad at this
time of the year. I'm getting excited because you know,
the Zummer is my mom.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I own that month, right.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
But before we get down to business, I just want
to mention a dear friend, Michael Days, who passed away
a couple of weeks ago, and I knew him for
his many jobs at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquire.
He was West Philadelphia to the core and worked really
hard to make sure diverse stories were featured in the newspapers.
I was not a friend but a poptus for his book,
(01:03):
Obama's Legacy, and I just spoke to him a couple
of weeks ago about his new book with his wife,
Angela Dotson called We've Been Here Before, How Rebellion and
activism have always sustained America and it's coming out in June.
One thing about Angela and Michael, they showed you what
black love was and some of the things did with
(01:26):
adopting for children who were a family, just wonderful things
that they did in life. And he will be missed,
but he has left the footprint for us to remember
who he was.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And finally, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I got to give a shout out to somebody in
my family's birthday and so that's my sister Michelle. Many
of you know her working with me and my brother Gregory.
But it is the first Sunday end of the month,
and that's Pico is doing something fantastic at the Barnes.
I'm happy to have soa T Charter VT on my
(01:59):
pro this morning. She's the founder of the Community Bollywood
Dance Project and they're the feature guests at the Barnes
Pico Family Friendly event this Sunday. So you got something
to do today, go down there is free. Thank you
for taking time out of your busy schedule to tell
(02:20):
us about Bollywood dancing.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So when is Ballyywood dancing.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Hi Vaness a pleasure to join you. Bollywood dancing is
the dance done to the soundtrack of movies made in Mumbai, India,
and it's a fusion form of dance. It leans heavily
in Indian classical, a lot of Indian folk styles of dance.
(02:45):
It's a fusion form and it's become this fun, joyful
way of bringing people together for me.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Now, do you need a special attire? For example, I
studied ballet, so you need to choose to do that.
Is there a special is it aerobic or is it
like sort of like yoga?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You just like kind of chill when you do it.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
So my programs are for all ages, all abilities, all
skill levels, and I try to make it a fun,
chill place Vaness, So no special attire, no special shoes needed.
And in fact at the Barns, it's.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
We create this routine together and I teach things step
by step so that even for someone who's completely new
to Vollywood dancing, they're able to participate. They're able to
learn simple basic steps and perform a whole dance routine together.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So the Community Project which I love the whole concept
of what this organization is all about, and I know
that would be showcased at the Barns event. So give
us all the details so we get some folks there.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
So we have on the day off the event, we've
got two workshops coming up at one pm and at
two thirty pm. And it's again, it's meant for everybody.
If you've done Bollywood, if you've never even heard of Bollywood,
just come try. It's meant for joyful self expression. It's
(04:15):
meant for getting some movement in as you take a break,
perhaps from walking through the galleries, and it's meant to
create memories together with your friends and family who are
there at the Barns with you.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We will start very simple.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
We will work through some basic concepts and then just
like building legos, block by block, we will create this
routine together. We'll connect with other people on the dance
floor and by the end of it we will have
a joyful, fun performance.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
And once you've taken your break, you get to go back.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
To the Barns and enjoy some more gallery time, or
perhaps stop buy with your family at the craft table.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Sounds like a lot of fun, now, do you have
to REGISTERI sure.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think there's no registration, but perhaps time you're a
visit to the barn so that you can attend at
least one or if not both, of the workshops again
at one and two thirty pm.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Well, thank you so much for taking time out of
your busy schedule. I'm a dancer and I'm looking forward
to doing some Bollywood dancing. But how can we find you?
Because I know you do a lot of community programs,
and you have so many schools, libraries and just churches
that are looking for something fun for the families to do.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And I know you do a lot of outreach.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
Thank you, Vanessa.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
I'm very passionate about doing community outreach work with Bollywood
and I do work with all of these organizations and
more so, if you are a community organization looking to
do a holistic, fun, joyful movement and wellness program that
is culturally informed, you can find me at Community Bollywood
(05:55):
b l L y Wood, Community would Dance project dot
com and right on the website you can send me
a note and I look forward to connecting with you.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We've come to one of my favorite parts of this segment,
VLS Journeys and it's what is Philadelphia reading. And I've
had so many wonderful people, counsel people, celebrities, authors, etc.
And someone who I've been trying to get for a
long time is council member Jeffrey Young, and he has
(06:32):
been working in politics forever and doing some.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Really great things.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Thank you for being on the program.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So how does it feel to be in the newly
elected class of city council?
Speaker 7 (06:43):
It feels wonderful. It's been a dream of mine since
I was a teenager to represent my community. So I
just tell folks every day I'm living a dream.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
The good thing.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
About what you do is that you worked in city
council before you took on the job as council person,
so it meant a lot to your constituents.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
You knew the job going in.
Speaker 7 (07:06):
Yes, I'll say I knew what the job and tell partly.
But once you get in, you know there's a whole
different realm of things that we have to learn and
figure out. You know, how to do as the you know,
actual elected official.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
You have a very unique job because your demographics go
from soup to nuts and everything else in between.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Yes, yes, I represent you know the neighborhoods of North Philly,
Center City, Fishtown. Uh so, yes, literally, you know the
most challenged communities and you know some of the most wealtheous.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
News flash, everybody says you're doing a great job. So
let's get down the business. We want to get in
your business. Now, you literate business. So what is throwing
off you're reading? What book are you reading?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Misunderstood?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
It's the memoir of Alan Irison. First book, Green Eggs
and Ham, Doctor Seuss's book Red Up from Slavery Booker
T Washington Words, Spooky Red Faraheight four fifty one, Ray
Bradberry your.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Go to author, Shakespeare buyer or borrow buyer.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
What books should everyone have in their library?
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley, Fiction and nonfiction
nonfiction for the most part, you have.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
A literary dinner named three people you must.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
Have Shakespeare, James Baldwin and Michelle Alexander.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Wow, if you wrote a book about your life, what would.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
The title dreams Do Come True?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Well, I know that title is going to translate into
a finished product, So thank you so much, and you
got the patrons of Jove.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
I'm gonna put that.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
In the Stars, also member.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Jeffrey Young and where can we find you?
Speaker 7 (08:52):
You can find us on all socials and council member
Jeffrey Young Junior. We're also in room five eighty six
at City Hall. Come see us. Thank you so much,
of course, thank you Vanessa, Thank you Lorraine as well.
It's a pleasure and.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Thank you for supporting the African American Children's Book Project in.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
A most important way.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
So as always, folks continue to read by a book
and of course have a blessed.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
That was Vanessa Lloyd's combody with VLS Journeys. I'm Lorraine Ballad.
Tomorrow we'll have more insight after these messages
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow, and as we do once
a month, every month, we have the fantastic, the Fabulous,
the fashion icon Vaness Lloyd's Gumbadi, the founder of the
African American Children's Book Fair. She is a publicist for
some of the biggest and best African American authors and illustrators,
(00:22):
particularly children's authors and illustrators, and she's here with her
segment we call VLS Journeys. Well, Vness, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I'm hanging in there. Most people get sad at this
time of the year. I'm getting excited because you know,
the Zummer is my mom.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I own that month, right.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
But before we get down to business, I just want
to mention a dear friend, Michael Days, who passed away
a couple of weeks ago, and I knew him for
his many jobs at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquire.
He was West Philadelphia to the core and worked really
hard to make sure diverse stories were featured in the newspapers.
I was not a friend but a poptus for his book,
(01:03):
Obama's Legacy, and I just spoke to him a couple
of weeks ago about his new book with his wife,
Angela Dotson called We've Been Here Before, How Rebellion and
activism have always sustained America and it's coming out in June.
One thing about Angela and Michael, they showed you what
black love was and some of the things did with
(01:26):
adopting for children who were a family, just wonderful things
that they did in life. And he will be missed,
but he has left the footprint for us to remember
who he was.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And finally, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I got to give a shout out to somebody in
my family's birthday and so that's my sister Michelle. Many
of you know her working with me and my brother Gregory.
But it is the first Sunday end of the month,
and that's Pico is doing something fantastic at the Barnes.
I'm happy to have soa T Charter VT on my
(01:59):
pro this morning. She's the founder of the Community Bollywood
Dance Project and they're the feature guests at the Barnes
Pico Family Friendly event this Sunday. So you got something
to do today, go down there is free. Thank you
for taking time out of your busy schedule to tell
(02:20):
us about Bollywood dancing.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So when is Ballyywood dancing.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Hi Vaness a pleasure to join you. Bollywood dancing is
the dance done to the soundtrack of movies made in Mumbai, India,
and it's a fusion form of dance. It leans heavily
in Indian classical, a lot of Indian folk styles of dance.
(02:45):
It's a fusion form and it's become this fun, joyful
way of bringing people together for me.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Now, do you need a special attire? For example, I
studied ballet, so you need to choose to do that.
Is there a special is it aerobic or is it
like sort of like yoga?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You just like kind of chill when you do it.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
So my programs are for all ages, all abilities, all
skill levels, and I try to make it a fun,
chill place Vaness, So no special attire, no special shoes needed.
And in fact at the Barns, it's.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
We create this routine together and I teach things step
by step so that even for someone who's completely new
to Vollywood dancing, they're able to participate. They're able to
learn simple basic steps and perform a whole dance routine together.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So the Community Project which I love the whole concept
of what this organization is all about, and I know
that would be showcased at the Barns event. So give
us all the details so we get some folks there.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
So we have on the day off the event, we've
got two workshops coming up at one pm and at
two thirty pm. And it's again, it's meant for everybody.
If you've done Bollywood, if you've never even heard of Bollywood,
just come try. It's meant for joyful self expression. It's
(04:15):
meant for getting some movement in as you take a break,
perhaps from walking through the galleries, and it's meant to
create memories together with your friends and family who are
there at the Barns with you.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We will start very simple.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
We will work through some basic concepts and then just
like building legos, block by block, we will create this
routine together. We'll connect with other people on the dance
floor and by the end of it we will have
a joyful, fun performance.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
And once you've taken your break, you get to go back.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
To the Barns and enjoy some more gallery time, or
perhaps stop buy with your family at the craft table.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Sounds like a lot of fun, now, do you have
to REGISTERI sure.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think there's no registration, but perhaps time you're a
visit to the barn so that you can attend at
least one or if not both, of the workshops again
at one and two thirty pm.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Well, thank you so much for taking time out of
your busy schedule. I'm a dancer and I'm looking forward
to doing some Bollywood dancing. But how can we find you?
Because I know you do a lot of community programs,
and you have so many schools, libraries and just churches
that are looking for something fun for the families to do.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And I know you do a lot of outreach.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
Thank you, Vanessa.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
I'm very passionate about doing community outreach work with Bollywood
and I do work with all of these organizations and
more so, if you are a community organization looking to
do a holistic, fun, joyful movement and wellness program that
is culturally informed, you can find me at Community Bollywood
(05:55):
b l L y Wood, Community would Dance project dot
com and right on the website you can send me
a note and I look forward to connecting with you.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We've come to one of my favorite parts of this segment,
VLS Journeys and it's what is Philadelphia reading. And I've
had so many wonderful people, counsel people, celebrities, authors, etc.
And someone who I've been trying to get for a
long time is council member Jeffrey Young, and he has
(06:32):
been working in politics forever and doing some.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Really great things.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Thank you for being on the program.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So how does it feel to be in the newly
elected class of city council?
Speaker 7 (06:43):
It feels wonderful. It's been a dream of mine since
I was a teenager to represent my community. So I
just tell folks every day I'm living a dream.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
The good thing.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
About what you do is that you worked in city
council before you took on the job as council person,
so it meant a lot to your constituents.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
You knew the job going in.
Speaker 7 (07:06):
Yes, I'll say I knew what the job and tell partly.
But once you get in, you know there's a whole
different realm of things that we have to learn and
figure out. You know, how to do as the you know,
actual elected official.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
You have a very unique job because your demographics go
from soup to nuts and everything else in between.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Yes, yes, I represent you know the neighborhoods of North Philly,
Center City, Fishtown. Uh so, yes, literally, you know the
most challenged communities and you know some of the most wealtheous.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
News flash, everybody says you're doing a great job. So
let's get down the business. We want to get in
your business. Now, you literate business. So what is throwing
off you're reading? What book are you reading?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Misunderstood?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
It's the memoir of Alan Irison. First book, Green Eggs
and Ham, Doctor Seuss's book Red Up from Slavery Booker
T Washington Words, Spooky Red Faraheight four fifty one, Ray
Bradberry your.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Go to author, Shakespeare buyer or borrow buyer.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
What books should everyone have in their library?
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley, Fiction and nonfiction
nonfiction for the most part, you have.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
A literary dinner named three people you must.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
Have Shakespeare, James Baldwin and Michelle Alexander.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Wow, if you wrote a book about your life, what would.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
The title dreams Do Come True?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Well, I know that title is going to translate into
a finished product, So thank you so much, and you
got the patrons of Jove.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
I'm gonna put that.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
In the Stars, also member.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Jeffrey Young and where can we find you?
Speaker 7 (08:52):
You can find us on all socials and council member
Jeffrey Young Junior. We're also in room five eighty six
at City Hall. Come see us. Thank you so much,
of course, thank you Vanessa, Thank you Lorraine as well.
It's a pleasure and.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Thank you for supporting the African American Children's Book Project in.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
A most important way.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
So as always, folks continue to read by a book
and of course have a blessed.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
That was Vanessa Lloyd's combody with VLS Journeys. I'm Lorraine Ballad.
Tomorrow we'll have more insight after these messages
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