NCCAkron's How People Move People Podcast
"As Grandmother Says..."
"Dida Bole Je..."
In Series Four Brinda Guha (New York, NY), a Bessie-nominated artist and queer South-Asian American Kathak and Contemporary Indian dancer, asks artists of different generations and contexts who work in similar fields to be in conversation with each other and reflect on their own mentor/mentee relationships within their creative processes. Conversations for Series Four feature Maria Bauman, Ananya Chatterjea, Sharon Bridgforth, Misha Chowdhury, devynn emory, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Dianne McIntyre, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Maria Torres, Milteri Tucker Concepcion, Okai Musik, Frank Malloy. Series Four began on August 23. Press Release.
ABOUT THE PODCAST
“When NCCAkron approached me to curate Season 4 of How People Moved People, I immediately heard my grandmothers in my ear giving me sacred advice. One said, ‘Be clear about what you want to say,’ and the other said ‘Make space to listen before you speak.’ I firmly believe that although our art forms will live beyond our time in this realm, our responsibility to investigate where they’ve been and where they’re going is a job for right now. Listening to legendary creatives talk about their craft with exquisite contemporaries in their fields has been nourishing for me, and I cannot wait for others to listen to them break bread, too.”
-Lead Researcher, Brinda Guha
CREDITS
How People Move People, is brought to you by The National Center of Choreography at The University of Akron, or NCCAkron. This podcast is produced by Jennifer Edwards, Associate production by Lisa Niedermeyer, and editing by James Sleeman. How People Move People theme music by Ellis Rovin, and As Grandmother Says theme music by Roopa Mahadevan. Transcription is by Arushi Signh, and cover art is by Micah Kraus.
EPISODE 1:
Ananya Chatterjea x
Maria Bauman
Maria says, “The popular notion of a ‘neutral body,’ often described in contemporary dance classes, does not exist in my experience. Rather I create from storied bodies, mythological bodies, bodies-in-creation, and bodies-as-manifestos. My body, and the other bodies I dance with are testaments to survival, mentorship, community care, and defiance.”
​
Ananya says, “How you fashion your body through your world can be a resistive way – you can change certain formations that are there, you can redesign them. That’s why the relationship between the world into which the body is born, and the world upon which the body will imprint differently, is a very important relationship.”
More about Ananya Chatterjea
EPISODE 2:
Frank Malloy x Okai Musik
Okai says, “I’m a student of all percussion, all the rhythm, from all over the world. What Marcus Garvey tried to do with the red, black and green with the revolution - that’s what I’m trying to do with the music. When it comes to the bigger picture, it’s all about the red, black and green and just trying to connect with people from the African diaspora all over the world.”
​
Frank says, “My intent as a black man and musician is to elevate the music, space, and those I share my work with. It’s a sacred duty owed to my ancestors and parents.”
More about Frank Malloy
EPISODE 3:
Maria Torres x
Milteri Tucker
Maria says, “Most people don’t know that [the Hustle] was created by Latinos, Puerto Ricans, Black and brown kids from the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. I call on my icons, my elders, my pioneers - you gotta see the ones that were living it and part of the creating [of it], the ones that evolved it, so we can actually document their personal stories and what they’re sharing with us through the movement. [This dance] is joyful and spiritual at the same time.”
​
Milteri says, “For as long as I can remember I’ve been dancing in la Sala-the living room- with my family - specifically my mother, aunt and grandmother. I love to move. I moved to NYC to quench my thirst in dance- I studied, performed, auditioned, and auditioned and auditioned.- I was either not latina enough or black enough for certain roles. I [ultimately] decided to be me, and embrace my culture for me first, [and] then for the [rest of the] world.”
More about Milteri Tucker
Episode Drops September 13, 2024
EPISODE 4:
Sharon Bridgforth x
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Misha says, “I think that I would just encourage young artists to listen to themselves and trust that that listening will lead them towards something that allows their audience to listen more effectively than worrying about [this idea of]... ‘What do you want the audience to take away?’ and that question always befuddles me. I have ineffable answers to that question around what I want the audience to take away, but I don’t think it’s ever what we imagine. I think if we’re thinking too hard about, ‘This is how I want my audience to feel about me or about this character or this character that is a proxy of me or my people or my community,’ then that character will just flatten in a way that won’t serve that relationship that we’re trying to build between the work and an audience.”
​
Sharon says, “We need to not only find ourselves but we need to find a way to each other. It’s really hard to show up fully for others if you haven’t shown up for yourself. It’s really hard to have the hard conversations we need to have right now, so that we can move together collectively, so that we can tend our relationships, if we haven’t done that for ourselves. I think it’s really hard to make courageous choices as artists if we haven’t done that work. Because our fear and the things that we are hiding from inside of us will govern us. And it will never be the brave choice. It will never be the free thing. It will never be all that we are capable of. And I think it’s hard to hold onto our wealth if we haven’t done that, because we won’t on some level believe that we deserve it."
More about Dianne McIntyre