Bonus Track - Florinda Bryant
Who Yo People Is
Florinda is an interdisciplinary artist, activist and educator that I’ve been art-family with since 1998. Here she talks about tending not only to her art, and her communities, but to her own mental, physical, spiritual health. A Texas gurl who calls Austin home, Florinda has worked with Salvage Vanguard Theater, the Rude Mechs, the Vortex, Paper Chairs, Theater en Bloc and Teatro Vivo in Austin, TX and the Ensemble Theater in Houston.
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Episode 36 - Mankwe Ndosi
Who Yo People Is
Mankwe Ndosi says her people are “fierce makers, re-workers, healers and those the push themselves to make in the uncomfortable places/and populate the uneasy textures and terrains…(they are) connectors who are willing to be compassionately uncomfortable...”
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Episode 35 - Renita Martin
Who Yo People Is
In addition to writing, performing, publishing and producing - Renita is founder of Rhythm Visions Production Company whose mission is to advance social and economic development in our communities through the creation and promotion of world-class art. More at: http://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-3
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Episode 34 - Aimee K. Bryant
Who Yo People Is
Aimee says "take a leap of faith - move towards what you want, what feels good - even if it is scary.”
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Episode 33 - Sonja Parks
Who Yo People Is
Making certain that the “entire artist” is taken care of and respected.
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Episode 32 - Stacey Karen Robinson
Who Yo People Is
Stacey Karen Robinson "stewarding what is coming through".
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Announcing Season 3
Who Yo People Is
Season 3 of "Who Yo People Is" will be dropping soonsoon...check out more at: https://www.whoyopeopleis.com/season-3
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Episode 31 - End of Season 2/Honoring Diane Rodriguez
Who Yo People Is
Today we honor Diane Rodriguez. Diane transitioned on 4/10/20. May all the Love Beauty & Blessings that she so generously gave the world/carry her in Light with Love. Listen to episode 18/and receive her wisdom/and Glory.
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Episode 30 - Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Who Yo People Is
An academic guided by intellectual practices inspired by Black liberation and Love, Alexis is a 2020-21 National Humanities Center Fellow. She says she is a Marine Mammal Apprentice...one who is carrying on blood line traditions of listening to whales. Alexis says, "one foot in the water one foot in the sand is where I hear the best."
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Episode 29 - Sangodare
Who Yo People Is
Sangodare creates media and art for healing and transformation. Activating energy and vibrational fields to open space for people to be more of who they are, Sangodare makes connections between the vocality of Black preaching styles, and Ifa oriki traditions and tonalities.
info_outlineAmara speaks of having family members who were Seers/that didn't talk about it - and how she learned to navigate her own Seeing. She names that we are living in present day traumatic stress syndrome as she talks about her walk with depression, learning to hold both grief and sorrow, and valuing what she has come to view as an opportunity to be bought into a space of darkness - darkness that holds possibility. Orisha traditions gave Amara a feeling of coming home and helped her move towards becoming more herself. Amara says that all her work is about healing. She says, "I am a death doula for patriarchy. Every piece is I make is really in service of helping patriarchy die."
Amara Tabor-Smith is a dancer, choreographer, and the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater. Tabor-Smith’s work, as described by the artist, is Afro Futurist Conjure Art. Her dance making practice utilizes Yoruba spiritual ritual to address issues of social and environmental justice, race, gender identity, and belonging. Tabor-Smith is a recipient of the 2018 USA Artists Award, the 2016 Creative Work Fund grant, the 2017 MAP Fund grant, and the 2017 Kenneth Rainin Foundation grant, and a co-recipient of the 2016 Creative Capital Grant with longtime collaborator, Ellen Sebastian Chang. In 2017, she received the UBW Choreographic Center Fellowship. Her work has been performed in Brazil, the Republic of the Congo, New York, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area where her company is based. Tabor-Smith is an Artist in Residence at Stanford University and faculty at UC Berkeley.
More about Who Yo People Is: http://whoyopeopleis.com
Amara's Ed Mock Tribute: He Moved Swiftly but Gently Down the Not Too Crowded Street | Ed Mock and Other True Tales in a City that Once Was:
http://www.deepwatersdance.com/portfolio/hemovedswiftly
Support Amara and her collaborator Ellen Sebastian Chang's "New ChitlinCircuitry: Reparations Vaudeville":
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ReparationsVaudeville
Check out Amara's website: http://www.deepwatersdance.com