(364) Jakari Sherman on 'Drumfolk' with Step Afrika! at Performing Arts Houston
On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Jakari Sherman, director of 'Drumfolk', a production by Step Afrika! currently on tour across the United States. Jakari tells us about his introduction to stepping, a percussive, highly-energetic style of dance, how he came to discover, join and eventually lead Step Afrika, and what audiences can expect from the concept and storytelling of 'Drumfolk'. If you are in the Houston area, you can catch 'Drumfolk' at Performing Arts Houston this October 26th and 27th. Tickets are available at performingartshouston.org.
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TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW
[00:01:13] Latecomer to dance, discovered love for stepping.
[00:06:17] Three elements of stepping: mechanics, unity, intensity.
[00:11:21] Unexpectedly became a professional artist through stepping.
[00:14:30] Analytical, problem-solving choreographer engineers meaningful storytelling.
[00:17:19] Left Step Afrika!, pursued personal project, returned as leader.
[00:21:45] ‘Drumfolk’: The history and celebration of stepping.
[00:27:24] Continued involvement in company, despite transitions.
[00:30:12] Understanding stepping history with compassion and perspective.
[00:35:34] Unique history, rebellion turned freedom movement, drum outlawed, new traditions emerged, important untold stories.
[00:37:47] ‘Migration’, tours, ‘Drumfolk’ process, storytelling journey.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was generated automatically. It’s accuracy may vary.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:00:04]:
I'm Rebecca King Ferraro.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:00:05]:
And I'm Michael Sean Breeden. And you're listening to conversations on Dance. On today's episode of Conversations on Dance, we are joined by Jakari Sherman, director of Drum Folk, a production by Step Africa, currently on tour across the United States. Jakari tells us about his introduction to stepping, a percussive, highly energetic style of dance, how he came to discover, join, and eventually lead Step Africa and what audiences can expect from the concept and storytelling of Drumfolk. If you are in the Houston area, you can catch Drumfolk at Performing Arts Houston this October 26 and 27th tickets are available@performingartshouston.org.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:00:49]:
Good morning, Jakari. Thank you so much for joining us. We're so excited to talk about the work you do. And as always with the guests that we haven't had on before, we just like to get a clear view into how you fell in love with dance in the first place. So maybe you could tell us at what age or point in your life did you become invested in dance?
Jakari Sherman [00:01:13]:
Well, I came into dance, I think, a bit later in life and at a point that I wouldn't have even articulated it that way because I came into dance through stepping or into the arts world through stepping. I was a musician. I came up in learning all different instruments through school. And I ended up falling in love with the drums, with percussion in high school. And while I was there, I also learned about stepping through a school group, a school step team. And so we related very much to drumming and percussion. And so I did that in high school. But we were very keen to say that we don't dance, we step, right? So I didn't think of myself as a dance or even as an artist. And so I went to college, joined a fraternity, continued stepping there, and then I started coaching my high school step team and other step teams while I was in college. And I think that was really when I fell in love with the creative part of dance, or of stepping in this case, because I was creating choreography for them and developing routines, and I just saw the way that it changed their lives. And I also saw how accessible stepping could be because you just need your body, basically, I say it's easy to learn and hard to master. And so I had an opportunity to work with a lot of young people during that time, and I fell in love with it there and then. It was shortly after that that I left Houston, where I'm from, and moved to DC to join Step Africa and began to travel the world and continue creating and working with new artists. And it was at that point that I was like, oh, maybe I'm an artist now. They have a name for this. And the person who creates this art is called a choreography. Okay, that's me. Now, and so it sort of shifted my identity a bit.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:03:25]:
Yeah. So tell us a little bit. We're ballet dance, so we're not super familiar with stepping. So tell us a little bit, kind of when you're talking about you're doing this in college, is this just like people getting together and just working on it or is there some sort of structure in terms of a class? Like, of course, for ballet dancers, we go to the bar every day. We do our pliers. Tell us a little bit what that is like for you.
Jakari Sherman [00:03:52]:
Sure. I'll try to keep it in a box, so to speak, or keep it brief. But yeah, in stepping, we don't have classes like that. Traditionally. We don't. We learn from it's something that's passed down from on to the other. It started in black Greek fraternities. And sororities as a tradition that they did connected to their initiation process and as a part of sort of learning the things that you needed to learn to be a part of that group. And so those groups sort of march in line and back in the they were just singing songs, right? This is like duop era, the era of gospel quartets. And so they were just singing songs and they would serenade during that time and they would hold hands maybe around the flagpole or some central place on campus and sing these songs. And so those basic movements that they did in circles and it was a way for them to come together as community, show, solidarity. It supported African American students on campus in the early days of Jim Crow and into just all through the supporting the surrounding communities as well. And so that's the role that these groups played. And then stepping became an expression of that tradition. And so it continues on today, obviously. And it's still a way to sort of show, to have a sense of pride, a sense of unity within the organizations. And it's been passed down. Like I said, I learned it in high school. We pass it down from one group to the other. Now, as a professional, we get in the studios and we do all the things, but traditionally we would be wherever we could find space in a hallway or in the gym or on the patio, wherever you could learn. We didn't have mirrors. You just had to watch and learn. But there was absolutely a sense of community that was fostered in that process.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:06:08]:
What are some of the defining traits of stepping that I could look at something and just immediately recognize that it was stepping and not some other form of dance or movement?
Jakari Sherman [00:06:17]:
That's good. There are some elements. So what I like to say is the three elements that I use to define it are mechanics, unity and intensity. So the mechanic is just the technique of it, which it was never formalized, but when stepping, it started just sort of as a community thing that I described, but it became more and more performative on campuses and eventually into formal competitions called Step shows. And when step shows arrived, we were being adjudicated, so we're being judged on different things. And so they started coming up with ways to judge stepping technique, a sort of tacit set of techniques, Sean, to emerge from the form. And so mechanics is what I used to refer to those techniques. And so you see a lot of sort of angular lines. You see sharp movements, sort of almost like military type movements that we kind of associate with stepping. And those are the sort of mechanics that I refer to. And unity is the way that we perform together. So a lot of times in competitions, you would see things like synchronization might be a category that they would judge on, for example. And so stepping is typically performed in groups, like I said, called Step teams. And so that would be another quality that would be very specific to stepping, I think. And the last is intensity. And for me, intensity, obviously, that word holds its own meaning. But in stepping, different groups have different styles. So one group might be really like, I won't use the word intense, but sort of really, I don't know, tenacious in the way that they perform. Another group might be sort of suave and smooth. Right. And so for me, that's just the extent or the quality, the extent to which they connect to the style that they are seeking to perform. So how hard or how smooth or how this or that they might be, the extent to which they do that. And I think that really begins to connect to the spirit and the essence of the movement and of the culture.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:08:48]:
Let's get back to your career because I want to talk a little bit about Step Africa and how you became aware of it and interested in.
Jakari Sherman [00:08:57]:
I was as I said, I was coaching high school step teams, and I was interested in where stepping came from. And someone told me this lady that was like watching a show one time, she said, well, stepping comes from the Gumbo Dance. She had heard of the South African Gumbo dance. And so I went on the Internet and was researching that. And Step Africa at the time was performing the Gumbo dance. And so I found Step Africa in my search for the history of stepping. I've since learned that stepping does not come from the South African Gumboot Dance. But that did lead me to Step Africa.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:09:37]:
She told you on purpose so that.
Jakari Sherman [00:09:39]:
You would find maybe, yeah, I saw them perform a little small show in Peoria, Illinois, and like, wow, there's a company that does this professionally that was in, I think, 2003 or so. I traveled with the company as a delegate to the South Africa sorry, the Step Afrika Cultural Festival, which they used to hold every year in South Afrika in 2004. And then a year later, I went to rehearsal and sort of had an audition, sort of an informal audition. And there I was, joined the company in five. And then by 2007, I became the artistic director of the company. I did that for seven years before I went to grad school and started doing some other stuff. And now I'm here directing Drum Folk and know several other works that the company did, the Migration Reflections on Jacob Lawrence, which was the sort of precursor to Drum Folk and just continuing to sort of raise up the new generation of Step Africans and meet them and get to perform with them. And it's amazing.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:11:01]:
Right, well, there's so much to mind here now. I want to go back. I'm just thinking about even just the moment where you're saying you have this informal audition and then your life kind of changes overnight, right? What were you doing? How were you employed before that? And then all of a sudden you're just like, click. I'm an artist know, like you.
Jakari Sherman [00:11:21]:
Um, at I was at the University of Houston. I was studying information systems, management information systems all my life. I went to really great schools in Houston, public schools. And I was sort of moving towards some sort of technical career, probably as an engineer. And that was my trajectory for all my life. Which hence why I never thought I would be an artist either, because everything was in line to be like an engineer or something technical, I guess. But I was sort of going to school, and while I was going to school, I was doing all this stuff and stepping, and I just sort of fell in love with that. And so I had several opportunities to do things. So I ended up starting for the NBA, the first Step team for the NBA. They called on me to do that. And so I did that. Even before I went to Step Africa. So that was really like the beginning of my professional stepping career. So honestly, it felt like these doors kept opening in this field. And so I just decided I'm going to just follow this casually like you.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:12:45]:
Were just doing this for the NBA. How did that come about? That seems so cool to me.
Jakari Sherman [00:12:50]:
It does, but it wasn't of anything that I did of myself. I was just doing what I was working with the kids, and we had a big Step show. And again, these are high school kids and they competed in a show where we had college students and all these other people competing. And they won and they did a great job. And so there was somebody there from the Houston Rockets looking for a group. And so they were like, who coaches this team? And I was there and they found me. So right place at the right time. And just like, by the grace of God, this thing sort of happened. For me, the beautiful thing about that, just as an aside, was that these young people that I had a chance to coach in high school, I was able to bring several generations of them along with me in that process of performing for the Rockets. So now it's like they have something else. Like they see what can happen, and they sort of have something to aspire toward. Not just for I mean, in the arts in particular, but just that all this hard work they had done over all these years of me working with them, it had someplace to land, which was a professional stepping opportunity. So, yeah, it was meant to be.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:14:17]:
Right? Was there anything from your prior path that you feel like you're on this path towards probably becoming an engineer? Were there any skills that were transferable to this new life you were experiencing?
Jakari Sherman [00:14:30]:
Yeah, absolutely. As a choreographer, my process is absolutely analytical. I'm a problem solver. I think that's why I felt I could be an engineer. But in creating work, I'm always seeking I'm a problem seeker. So before I develop anything, I'm trying to understand what is it that I'm trying to communicate here? What story am I trying to tell? I want to help somebody or I want to reach somebody, or there's something that has to exist for me to create. I don't tend to just create out of my own, I don't know, story or struggles. That's not my personal process. And so I'm trying to connect with something that is meaningful to someone else or something that I feel needs to be told. That's what drum folk is. It's a story that we felt needed to be told. And so my process is then the problem of, well, how do we do that? Right? And so from that, I developed some concept. And then that concept sort of drives all of the questions that come about, well, how do we costume this now? And what choreography fits this concept that will solve this problem? And what kind of lights will do this and that? So all of the things and these are like puzzle pieces, right, which feel very much like scientific method. It feels very much like an engineering problem. I'm literally like engineering an evening length work is the way that it feels when I'm doing these things. And I had such great educators along the way who helped me to be a better writer, to be able to write grants and get funding and educators who just all of the practical things that we feel like we'll never need. Even the algebra teacher, the geometry teacher that made me stick to it and do my homework. So all the things really, I think helped me to become the person I am. As poetic as that sounds.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:16:45]:
I want to hear a little bit about how you joined the company and then you said two years later, you become the artistic director. That's what you said, right. That was really fast.
Jakari Sherman [00:16:52]:
I know.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:16:53]:
It's so cool.
Jakari Sherman [00:16:54]:
For a ballet dancer that's, like, must.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:16:57]:
Sound crazy, insane, but probably in any field to go from, in theory, an entry level position to the leader. So how did that kind of come about? What made you interested to be in a leadership position? You're already coaching, so you know that that's part of what you can do. What drew you to that?
Jakari Sherman [00:17:19]:
I felt that I actually left the company after my first year, and because I went back to Houston and I wanted to sort of develop my own project that was more geared toward community service and sort of furthering the work that I was doing with young people. And so I left, and I did that for, like, six months, and then I got called back to work on a special project in the fall of 2006, I believe, and I just kind of got the bug. I was like, I'm not done creating. I'm not finished with this. And so when I went back, the previous artistic director had left to do something else. And so I felt there was a gap. I felt like I could offer leadership and just, I don't know, sort of be a glue, if you will, for the company, for just the personalities and helping everybody to work together. And so I just offered to sort of lead the next project that the company was doing to help to develop the show and all that sort of thing. And Brian see, Brian Williams, the founder, executive director at the time, I was think, like, I think there's something missing, and I think I can fill that gap. And here's how, and here's why. And so we just had that conversation, and I jumped into leadership that way through leading the next project. And then I think over time, it's like, oh, he's here. He's still doing it, and it's going pretty good. So I just kind of rolled over into the artistic director position in that way.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:19:15]:
Right. So what were some of those things, then? When you're saying something's missing or, I have a vision for this company, I can see us doing something more. What were some of those goals or ideas you had about what the next step would be for Step Africa?
Jakari Sherman [00:19:30]:
Yeah, funny you say that. The piece that I came back to do was called Next Step in that fall. And it was an experimental piece where we had a rock band, which is we were performing with this live rock musician and we had live cameras and projection and it was just a really interesting and sort of experimental thing for us at the time. And I recognized that these things weren't happening with stepping. Some of these things were happening, and maybe in modern and contemporary dance, maybe even ballet, but in stepping, this would be unheard of. And so I felt like the things that I had done with the students. I think we did some really creative things, but obviously we're limited by budget. We're limited by students having school. It was a thing I felt like there were a lot of ideas that I wanted to explore artistically at this time. These weren't narrative stories. It wasn't any of that. It was just like, what cool things can I do with stepping? What other cool things can I do? And I felt like Step Africa being a professional company and me being this guy over here who's just uber interested in stepping and everything, stepping, and was probably doing so much with stepping at that point, and my mind was just firing in all these different directions. I felt like it was just like a perfect marriage. I felt like it's something that needed to happen.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:21:19]:
I'd love to hear a little bit about the process. You touched upon it already, but could you just take us, for instance, drum Folk? Is the work that the company is presenting now going on tour? Can you just take us from the beginning of that? What is the first thing? Is it just like, you decide, okay, we need a new work, and then come up with a concept, or how do we even begin to get this off the ground?
Jakari Sherman [00:21:45]:
Sure. Well, drum folk, just to give you a little bit of background. Drum folk. That word comes from a really old ethno. I call her an ethnomusicologist, but Bessie Jones coined that term. I can't even tell you when, but this may have been maybe in the 60s or so, but she coined this term to refer to the people who lost the right to use their drums and then put that music into their bodies. And so Step Africa came to learn about Bessie Jones through a gentleman named David Pleasant. And this was a little bit before I even got in the company. And so he opened the eyes of the company to what the history of stepping was like, where stepping actually came from, taught him about the Stoner Rebellion of 1739, taught the company about the Negro Act of 1740 that responded to that and outlawed the drum. So this was the beginning of what we know of percussive traditions in this country. And so Step Africa was doing that work. To understand where stepping came from, in 2011, I developed a show called The Migration Reflections on Jacob Lawrence. And within that work, we inserted a piece called Drum Folk, which sort of was derived from work that Step Africa was already doing and learning about the history of stepping as taught to them by David Pleasant. And we're talking about things like the Hambone, which people have heard of some people have heard of the Ring shout. These are, like, very early traditions that were the precursors to stepping, the precursors to tap dance. And so the company was already doing that work we inserted a piece called Drum Folk into the migration. And so when it came time to create this work, I think we wanted to expand on that part of the story, which is where stepping came from. And so that was really the emphasis to create drum Folk. And so in this work, we go much deeper into the stone of rebellion, which happened in 1739. I can talk more about that. And like I said, the Negro act of 1740. And then we bring that into the present where we get to a little bit of hip hop culture and we get into contemporary stepping and we see ourselves sort of arrive in this moment of celebration, of having after. Losing the drums. Reclaiming it in all of these different ways in our music and in our dance. And then stepping and being able to celebrate that in the present.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:24:43]:
Right.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:24:45]:
This is interesting because it's already kind of what brought you to stepping or made you more deeply invested was your curiosity about the history of it. So obviously the history and tradition is something that's really deeply important to you. Maybe you could speak to that a little bit more and talk about how that inspires you in the present.
Jakari Sherman [00:25:06]:
Yeah, it's crazy. I never thought about that until you just said it, that this is like a full circle moment of me sort of like, realizing what I came for. But that's interesting. Yeah. I don't know. Originally, like I said, I started out just experimenting with stepping. I didn't necessarily have the artistic maturity to seek anything beyond that, because traditionally, stepping is not something that we use narratively or we don't use it that way. It's just like stepping for stepping's sake, and we're trying to come up with the coolest moves, and the only thing that we're representing are the values of the group or the organization that we're stepping with. Right. And so I don't know. I didn't think of it beyond that. I think these stories just sort of they were things that the company was working on, histories that the company was interested in looking at, and I just helped to give structure and voice to those stories. I think now, as an artist in this stage of my career, I'm beginning to find the things that are important to me, and I'm still seeking and trying to understand what is it that I want to say as an artist to this point. It's just been a lot of telling these stories. I haven't gotten to the point where I feel like I want to tell a personal story or about myself. I'll just continue to do this until I feel led to do something different.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:27:03]:
So you're no longer the artistic director of Step Africa. And sometimes, I guess, in the ballet sphere, it's not super common for a former artistic director to come back and work with the. And I think that's so wonderful that you are, and I wonder what that means to you to be able to continue to work with the company and why that is important to you, to continue that legacy.
Jakari Sherman [00:27:24]:
Sure. I think part of it is that some of the work that we're doing are works that I created when I was in the company or that I directed when I was in the company. And so it was a natural connection for me to sort of come back and do those works. In the transition of me not being the artistic director, I'm really great friends with the current artistic director. We started the company together. In the company together, she was the assistant artistic director under me, and so she took over that role. We talk on the phone and what do you all need and what's going on? So that remained even after I left. And then I think I left because I left again in search of more history, and I left to do a Master's in Ethnochoreology. And I continued researching the history of stepping. And so I was still in the culture. Right. I just couldn't physically be here. I went to school in Ireland, so I couldn't be here to direct the so after I left know, new people start coming and things start changing. And so my role shifted in still. I still love the company, I still love the work. I still love the idea that someone is out there promoting and sharing the culture of stepping all over the world. There was no reason why I would not be a part of the company. And so we just continued doing work. We did the Nutcracker with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. That was like the first project that I did not as the artistic director. We did The Migration as a tour, as a touring performance, and then we did Drum Folk. So it's been since 2015 that I've been right here and it's like I never left. But I do love to your point, though, I do love the young people. And I've had to learn what it is to sort of share and relinquish and to sort of pass it on and to accept a new way of the way that young people think, what their interests are, where their values lie. How they live their lives every day and just being open and welcoming of how a new generation of people create and what they need as artists.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:30:05]:
Right. How do you think that your own education now has impacted your work as an artist?
Jakari Sherman [00:30:12]:
Well, I think in a very practical way, I understand more about it. Gave me a way to research stepping. So I began doing personal interviews and going all over the country interviewing people. It was a project called Who Are the Stepmasters? Where I just am traveling and talking with people of all ages who sort of impacted the history or who understand the history and who can tell me stories about where stepping came from. Not so like drum folk is the sort of old history. But once stepping hit the college campuses, how did it begin? When was the first step show and what did it really look like for stepping to evolve on the campuses of these universities in the so I'm learning all of those things, but I think as an artist and even just as a human being, I think I grew a greater sense of compassion when I went. Because in ethnochoreology you learn to see things from others perspective. Like as a scientific methodology, you learn that that you can't look at other people's culture from the lens of your own. That you have to understand what they call it, the image and the ethic perspective. So the insider and the outside of you. And you have to take yourself outside of your own mind body sphere and see things from another person's perspective to understand. For example, there are cultures that say like African cultures or South American cultures where they don't even have a word for dance. Like, people who were studying these cultures 50 years ago or 70 years ago were looking at the movement that they were doing and they were saying, oh, they're doing this dance or this dance. And these people, for them, that was a ritual. They didn't consider that dance. Right? So they might not even have a word for dance. And so it's understanding that people we meet each other and we come to each other from different backgrounds and different experiences that allow us to arrive exactly where we are. And so when we look at each other, we have to understand not just the person that you see in front of you, which you may like them or you may not, or you may not agree with them, or maybe they're mean to you, or maybe they're ugly to you, or maybe they're sweet to you. But whatever they are, you're seeing all of their history in that moment. You're seeing everything they've been through. You're seeing everything that they've been taught. And so it gives me a greater level of compassion to see people from that lens and to be able to relate to people without seeing maybe the things that would otherwise be harmful in developing and communicating with a long way of saying it no.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:33:14]:
It's so interesting. I love it. I wonder, as a Houston native, what it means to you to be bringing drum folk to performing arts. Houston, October 27 through 20. Eigth.
Jakari Sherman [00:33:25]:
Yeah, it's really special. Obviously, I grew up in Houston, and I remember going to these theater that was my introduction to the arts. Like going to the were we going to be in the Wortham Theater? Just going to see The Nutcracker back in the day, know Jones Hall and the Alley Theater, going to see a Christmas carol or taking field trips to these spaces. These were the institutions that opened up my. World that broadened my world when it came to creativity and the arts. So I know there's Carnegie Hall and there's the Kennedy Center. There are all these wonderful places in the world. But as a kid, I didn't know anything about those. These were the theaters. These were the places that gave me my introduction. And they felt so big and so distant. Right? They felt like such distant places. And so for me now, to be here performing in a work and directing a work, to be on that stage is just full circle. And I have folks coming to the show that have never seen me do anything. They haven't seen me do the smallest show. They haven't seen me do anything. So for their first time, to see me on a stage or doing a work, to be this and to be in the Wortham Theater is just like it's surreal. It really is. So I'm really, really looking forward to it. And, yeah, looking forward to being back home.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:35:11]:
That's another beautiful full circle moment. We love that.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:35:15]:
So many of them in this pod. I love it.
Jakari Sherman [00:35:19]:
Yeah.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:35:21]:
But what are you hoping that audiences take away, particularly from drum folk, maybe in relation to other shows? What makes drum folk special? And what are you hoping audiences can take away from it?
Jakari Sherman [00:35:34]:
Well, there's a unique history here that we're telling. I think it's one that people are not familiar with. So the story of how the drum was taken away as a result of this we call it a rebellion, but essentially it was a freedom movement. These 20 men from Angola who decided they didn't want to be enslaved anymore, and so they fought back. And the government colony of South Carolina instituted this slave code and outlawed the clothes they could wear. They couldn't mean it severely restricted what life was like for them. But this story talks about them losing the right to use the drum, which was part of the way that they called people to the fight. And so they outlawed the drum. And from that we get the ring shout and all these traditions that turn. They use their spaces as drums, they use their bodies as drums. They beat on the floor with sticks. They hit their bodies in all these new ways. And so this is a very unique story that I hope people not only will come and see the show and see, but they will continue to research and I think beyond that to look for other stories that are untold that they might want to tell and other things that I think it creates a fullness to the story of African Americans in this country that's bigger than some of the narratives that we know of slavery. And, you know, it sort of just broadens that that story and gives us a better understanding. So for people in communities all over the city, I think there's a lot to learn about how history gets forgotten. But these are important stories and and all of our histories are important. And I think there's a lot we we can always be seeking the little pockets of information that are not widely known or widely talked about.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:37:40]:
Such an important story to tell. What's next for you? Do you have another project coming up that you can tease for us?
Jakari Sherman [00:37:47]:
Well, wow. We did the migration in 2011. We toured it in 2016, and then drum folk came after that. And during, I guess, the beginning of the drum folk process, I began to feel like there was, like, one more part of this story that I wanted to tell, because between junk folk and the migration, we cover a period from basically, like 15, really from 1739 through, say, like, the 1920s. And we bring that forward in a lot of ways. But we're talking about, again, the stone of rebellion, and then we go all the way to basically, like, the Harlem Renaissance. But I feel like there are the bookends of that story, which is, like, before that, Africans arrive in 1526, and then there's a part after that that I wanted to talk about. Where does this story go? What is the future of this? And so I've been sort of ruminating, if you will, on what that looks like, and one more part of the story that I think sort of brings it all together. So that's where my mind is right now, is on that. I'm actually starting to write that story.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:39:18]:
Very good.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:39:19]:
That's awesome. Well, when it premieres, you know where to pit up next. We'll have you back up for sure. We're so jealous of all of our friends in the Houston area, but everyone should come out and see drum folk. It's. October 27. October 20. Eigth at Performing Arts, Houston. Thank you so much, Jakari, for spending your morning with us.
Jakari Sherman [00:39:40]:
Thank you. It was a pleasure.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:39:42]:
Thank you. Conversations on Dance is part of the Acas creator network. For more information, visit Conversations on dance pod.com you sam.