Expression Through Music and Dance in Iowa

♪♪ [Samantha Hernandez] Me growing up in Cedar Rapids, I had no idea that this is a thing.

It really builds a sense of community for us.

This makes me feel more attached to and more in tune with my culture and heritage.

It's very creative art form.

♪♪ So, I stomp, heel, toe.

Stomp, heel, toe.

[Samantha Hernandez] So, we are a nonprofit dance group.

We teach traditional Mexican dancing, which is Ballet Folklorico.

♪♪ [Samantha Hernandez] I would describe this type of dance as very colorful, very festive.

♪♪ [Samantha Hernandez] So, it's a lot of different footwork.

There's a lot of different skirt work that's involved too.

Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick.

Toe, toe, toe, toe.

[Samantha Hernandez] In Mexico, it's like a very big thing for them to do just like in school, so, like as an after-school activity or even just like part of a class, all the way in, all the way in.

[Jocelin Lagunas] Every state has its own dance, and just seeing, like, different states, how they express their own dancing is, like, honestly, really intriguing to me.

♪♪ [Samantha Hernandez] One that we do is, you know, La Costa.

So, it's like the coastal region of Sinaloa.

So, a lot of the skirt movements, they like, sway over, like, almost like waves, kind of.

♪♪ [Jocelin Lagunas] All of our students put in a lot of work.

When you have our girls that combine it with the skirt movements, that takes a lot of work as well.

♪♪ [Jocelin Lagunas] The music is like a very big part.

You can kind of hear the rhythm in it, so you know if it'll be fast or slow.

And you just have to, like, know how to guide yourself through that.

[Stephany Orellana Cruz] This is my second year in this group.

When I was little, I did ballet, and when I moved here, I kind of lost interest in dance for a little bit.

At the start, I was really shy.

I wouldn't smile a lot.

But as I continued on my journey, I started to be more expressive with the way I dance.

I started smiling a lot more.

[Instructor] Cinco, seis, siete, ocho.

[Jasmine Hernandez] It really builds a sense of community for us.

[Jasmine Hernandez] Sometimes we feel scattered throughout Cedar Rapids and to be able to come here and form a community.

Every season, we grow together more and more.

[Emcee] Hello.

Hello.

Hello, everybody.

[Emcee] Thank you for joining us to celebrate Día de los Muertos.

[Emcee] It's gonna be a special night here tonight.

We're gonna, of course, see the talented dancing of Fuerzas Culturales.

And we're also gonna be celebrating Day of the Dead.

[Emcee] So, let's get started.

So, the first state that you'll be seeing is the state of Veracruz.

This is performed by two of our talented teenagers.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] So, I'm in charge of the costumes, and that can be a big task because I can't just go to Target or Walmart to pick up a new dress.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] Some of our costumes actually come from Mexico.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] When I became the costume director, I decided to pick up a sewing machine.

So, a few of them are also made by myself.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] I want every student who comes through to feel beautiful and proud to be who they are.

And so, I work really hard to acquire the costumes, make sure that they fit them appropriately, because I want them to be on stage and feel like the best version of themselves.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] I think performances also, again, bolster that idea, that sense of cultural pride.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] You're out there and you're dancing.

You're giving it your all, and the audience is applauding for you, and you're able to share your culture with them and to feel that positive feedback.

I think it's great.

♪♪ (applause) [Samantha Hernandez] It's exciting to see them get prepared, get ready, and then they're just waiting by the stage until it's their turn, and then they go.

♪♪ [Jocelin Lagunas] You find a lot of pride as a student.

You put all that work in, and then you perform it, and it's like you feel accomplished.

And then, like, as a teacher, I like to see, like, the hard work that we all put in together.

You have everyone in place, and it just puts on a good show.

♪♪ [Jasmine Hernandez] We're just really happy to be able to share our culture with the eastern Iowa community.

♪♪

[ Instrumental music playing ] Jamie: I'll be recording two works in July of 2025 at the most famous recording studio in the world, Abbey Road in London.

My original intention was to record two of my orchestral works in Europe.

Pianist Robert Thies talked me into trying Abbey Road.

I thought I'd never get in there.

Why not?

People think you can't do something.

You have to have the attitude of why not me?

Two of my biggest musical heroes recorded there, Paul McCartney, of course, and John Williams was there many times recording the music for "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter."

[ Metal dinging ] I'll have to play it.

No.

[ Laughs ] Just the fact that I was there and was able to play on the same piano as Paul McCartney.

Play some Beatles.

[ Piano playing ] For the past year, I've been planning this time at Abbey Road.

I had to bid on the time, because it's very full and busy recording studio.

I'm also hiring a producer from Los Angeles to go with me to Abbey Road.

60 members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

This will be from the top.

And a conductor.

It's taken me hundreds of hours to redo the scores and the parts for all the instruments.

A big part of that that I didn't know was coming was, of course, the different paper sizes in England, and the metric system means I had to reformat the score for English sized paper.

[ Keyboard playing ] I'm a lifetime musician.

I reached up and started playing the piano at about 3 1/2 years old and played piano essentially all my life.

In high school and in college, I was leading a double life of an extensive practice in classical piano.

But I became interested in rock 'n' roll at a very young age.

♪ When I was young, I never needed anyone ♪ I'll be receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I definitely wanted to be a rock star at 18, but I also loved classical music so much that eventually, of course, led to things like composing these large orchestral works.

♪ I think of all the friends I've known ♪ Brubaker: I think in a way he was born to do what he's doing, and I'm so glad it's music.

[ Laughs ] I kept urging him to go ahead and set it up and I'd pay for it.

And he finally did.

Jamie: My wife and my daughter were able to travel with me and be at Abbey Road and experience the whole thing with me, and we met my son and his wife.

For the past 30 years, I've been teaching music theory and piano lessons at Simpson College.

I am going to retire soon, and I look at this as a stepping stone to the next chapter of my musical life.

Hello.

It's wonderful to be here.

Greetings from the American heartland.

I live in Des Moines, Iowa, and it's great to be here, of course, with the history of Abbey Road and the reputation of the Royal Philharmonic.

And I'm just thrilled to be here.

The piano concerto, I can tell you for today was commissioned and originally dedicated to the memory of two fine musicians, a mother and daughter, who both passed away within a few weeks of each other.

I hope to have made some beautiful music, and I look forward to you making beautiful music with it.

So thanks so much.

[ Piano music playing ] I'm very excited and pleased to have Robert Theis, Grammy nominated and international prize winning pianist, as the main part of this project.

[ Orchestral music playing ] I immediately connected to Jamie's musical language, and what I love about this concerto is that it has so many different aspects of music that I gravitate towards, dramatic classical forms and very intimate moments.

Musically, it's not a challenge.

Technically, on the other hand, it's quite challenging.

Vlasse: Conductor Geoffrey Paterson has led major orchestras all over Europe.

He conducts opera, he conducts classical masterworks, and because he's known for his particularly dynamic work with new music, I feel he's an absolute perfect fit for this recording.

Paterson: Jamie's piano concerto, it's -- it's a magnificent piece.

It has a really wonderful dramatic sweep, moments of exquisite, delicate beauty and romantic grandeur.

And it carries you, I think, in one huge romantic arch from the beginning to the end.

[ Orchestral music continues playing ] "The Heartland Poem" was written a few years after the piano concerto, and it is a piece that is meant to represent scenes in the history of the American heartland.

[ Orchestral music continues playing ] For me, as a -- as a Brit coming to American music, it takes me to somewhere very different and somewhere really evocative.

Jamie: I think all my composition comes from sitting at the piano and improvising.

I do play a lot of jazz now in my old age, so I am, I believe, very experienced improviser, but I've always improvised at the piano.

Christopher: I've heard his pieces that he's been working on my whole life.

It's like seeing the music that's been imprinted on your DNA is being immortalized.

Elise: We've seen him come home from playing gigs and teaching school and then continue to work on all of this stuff into the late night and not get any time to rest.

So I hope that he gets to absorb what he's accomplished and the stage that he's on now.

Lori: It's very, very personal to him.

I think a lot of people don't understand the vulnerability of writing music and putting it out there for other people to hear.

Jamie: I definitely have a lot more to do, just even related to these pieces, but I certainly hope to produce some new things, especially a new opera and maybe a second piano concerto.

I hope it inspires people to try things that they don't think they possibly could do, because, you know, the cliches are true.

Hard work will get you there if you just don't give up.

[ Orchestral music playing ]

Let's go.

1 ... 2... 1-2-3-4.

[Tobi Parks] You know the great thing about music?

It's a common denominator.

It doesn't matter what your politics are or what your, you know, general beliefs are.

You know, you can be the polar opposite of what I am and my politics, and we can all like the same song.

♪ I'm much more of a fan of calling people in than calling people out.

Right.

And I think music is one of those things that is a real connector.

Really, our motto is like, just don't be a jerk.

You know, come into the space, enjoy the music, enjoy the community, get to know somebody that you might not otherwise know or get to talk to, but you know, like all of my entire career has always been this sort of like I've wanted to do music, which I'm really thankful for because it's been able to sort of grow into the different things that I've been doing.

But it all started from wanting to just play ♪ [cheering] You know, I started playing quasi professionally, if you will, at age 14.

I mean, that was my first job playing in these bar bands in my small hometown in rural southeast Missouri, and just continued to do that.

And I moved to New York because I wanted to play professionally.

That was the goal.

But, you know, I also like to eat food.

So I had to have a job.

I had reached out to a friend of mine that worked for a major label, tired as a temp, worked in copyright publishing, that kind of stuff.

There's a lot of things I love about New York, and I miss it every day, you know?

But my wife and I have two kids, and were living in New York City, and it is really hard to raise kids in New York City, though I considered myself a New Yorker for for a long time.

There's just something about a midwestern sensibility that I never kind of caught up with that in New York at that time, our prerequisites for wherever we were going to move would be someplace where gay marriage was legal and someplace where we had family.

And by default, it was Iowa, because my sister in law had left New York and came to be a professor at Drake.

So coming back here felt a lot like coming home.

And Patti Smith had given this interview, and she was talking about the nature of art and culture.

And the other thing that she said that really stuck with me is like, you know, the next art revolution isn't going to happen in a city like New York or LA or Chicago.

It's going to happen in some of these secondary and tertiary cities.

And that's exactly what I felt when I came here.

So I came out to visit based on my wife kind of pushing me like, just go check it out.

And I was like, listen, I'm not leaving any place where there's not a creative community, a place where I can't make music, whatever, and totally fell in love.

And again, I had no idea what I was going to do when I got here.

So some of the things that I did is I remember going downtown and looking at some of the older buildings that were around, and I'd been accepted to law schools and then had started an artist incubator called Station One Records, kind of a nonprofit record label in partnership with The Social Club.

And Drake just so happened that that building next door, the folks that owned it, were looking to sell it.

I happened to have just sold my house in New York.

And, you know, my wife and I had some money and we're like, okay, well, let's try and do this.

So when I first moved, I kind of jumped into all of those things at once.

And that kind of the iterative steps of that sort of led to what I'm doing now.

♪ ♪ ♪ [Bill Rogers] There is such a wealth of talent in Des Moines, in the central Iowa music scene.

It's underrated.

Being a small venue that we are, we are able to really, connect one on one to a lot of to to patrons and artists alike.

So I think that that kind of really makes a big difference in cultivating community.

[Tobi] You know, we're capped at 250 for that venue.

But I think that's the thing that, you know, I want people to really understand is like, small venues are here around community building.

We're presenting artists that are just kind of bubbling up.

And, you know, we're the first step before they get to Val-Airs or, you know, the arena is like, you have to have a network of the small spaces like mine before you can even get to those next steps.

Yes.

You know, we opened in September of 2019, the world's worst time to open a music venue because we were open for six months.

And then Covid came.

I don't rely on next as my primary income.

I'm an attorney by trade.

So after the pandemic, I actually went back to work at Sony full time.

It was working for them, so I was able to kind of keep things afloat.

And I also got heavily involved with the National Independent Venue Association, and we lobbied the federal government for a $16.4 billion grant program to save independent venues.

And that $16.4 billion is the biggest federal investment in the arts in American history.

Why?

They gave it to a bunch of concert promoters, I don't know.

And right as we came out of the pandemic.

So I rented the office upstairs in the firehouse building, which is adjacent to the club, had an idea originally of turning the downstairs into like a cocktail lounge, like the entire space.

And I was like, oh, well, wait a minute.

There's a door that connects to this patio.

Let's make it more of an extended piece of xBk.

So now we have the annex space, which is half the first floor of the firehouse.

[Bill] Well, the annex is much smaller, obviously, but we're able to host, trivia nights and open mic nights.

Poetry we have we've had lectures.

It's a lot more of a community space.

♪ ♪ I sort of owe this to my therapist from many, many moons ago.

I remember living in New York City and being so frustrated of like, you know, I moved here because I wanted to be a musician and I just can't figure out how to do that.

I can't figure out how to pay my bills to do that.

And she was like, well, you're still working in music, though, right?

Like, isn't that what you want to be doing?

And it was an epiphany to me.

You know, being a musician or working in music can look different ways.

♪ ♪ If you build value for your community and you build value for the people around you, you'll be able to sustain yourself, you know?

But you have to look at it from that perspective, and not so much from the dollars and cents.

Maybe I might be wealthier if I looked at it more at the dollars and cents, I don't know, but this seems to be working out pretty well for me.

♪ ♪

♪♪ [Sun Joo Lee] Look up.

I'm here, everyone.

♪ There's a bright golden haze on the meadow.

♪ ♪ There's a — [Sun Joo Lee] The Tremble Clef is a choir for people with Parkinson's disease, caregivers and family members.

Everybody's voice is so awesome.

Right?

Jen — Oh, what a beautiful morning.

♪ [Voice in background] Oh, what a beautiful morning.

♪ [Sun Joo Lee] Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative movement disorder that affect motor and non-motor functioning.

♪ [Choir] I'm alive, awake, alert, ♪ ♪ enthusiastic.

Alive, awake, alert.

♪ [Sun Joo Lee] More than 70% of people with Parkinson's disease experience some voice and speech related symptoms.

♪ [Choir] I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic.

♪ [Sun Joo Lee] They experience some enunciation problems, the reduced volume of speech and monotone speech.

♪ [Choir] Alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic.

♪ [Sun Joo Lee] It's not just simply singing for fun.

It's a therapy.

There are lots of goals we have to accomplish.

Mama.

Mama, stop.

Now we go.

♪ [Choir] (singing) [Sun Joo Lee] We are using therapeutic group singing as a major intervention for people with Parkinson's disease -- ♪ [Choir] (singing) [Sun Joo Lee] - to improve their respiratory, phonatory and articulatory systems.

♪ [Choir] (singing) [Sun Joo Lee] We're using the lung muscles for breathing.

We're using our larynx and vocal cords to produce the sound.

We are using our lips and jaws and the muscles on our face to articulate.

In music there are so many different kinds of elements.

We have melody, we have rhythm, we have tempo, and we have expression.

So those elements help those people to feel better, think better, move better, and also help them to be connected with others.

So, music is creating a very positive and safe place for us to communicate.

But I think it's such a beautiful thing that we can use music, especially singing.

It's very flexible, it's welcoming.

It's universal.

It's a really easy way for people to communicate, especially people with PD.

They are losing their voice to communicate.

[Sun Joo Lee] The reason we want to include the caregivers and family members is they also need this type of therapy.

Living with Parkinson's disease is not an easy journey.

[Dan Berkowitz] I was diagnosed in 2013, and I wasn't sure what to do.

But when I met with my neurologist, he said, you can still lead a pretty well, normal life.

And so, for several years, I did things like bike riding with a bike club.

[Holly Berkowitz] He was a very kind and thoughtful person.

So, I just fell head over heels for Dan.

We were very active.

We both loved the outdoors.

[Dan Berkowitz] Parkinson's made me not really an active person anymore.

I'd love to be able to go on a walk and feel like I'm not worrying about falling, but it just keeps happening.

I then think, well, it's an old person's disease.

And I say, oh, well, I'm an old person.

[Holly Berkowitz] No, you're not.

Well, you're still young.

[Dan Berkowitz] I'm older than you.

[Holly Berkowitz] A whole week.

[Dan Berkowitz] We're both 72.

Well, sometimes I imagine my voice, and it's not the same as the one I'm hearing.

[Holly Berkowitz] I feel the connection.

[Dan Berkowitz] We hold hands.

[Holly Berkowitz] We hold hands, and we pay close attention to the sound and make sure it's in tune and one whole sound.

[Dan Berkowitz] It brings us together.

I think it makes you feel a little more positive.

And the collective of the whole group singing all together.

♪ [Choir] (singing) [Sun Joo Lee] Without the fun aspect, they are not coming back.

If they do not come back to the setting, the treatment, therapy, there's no improvement.

I really encourage people to consider music therapy for treating people with Parkinson's disease.

It's a simple singing group, but it can provide more than that.

It just gives them a chance to be more socialized and helping each other so that they can continue their life with Parkinson's disease.

♪ [Choir] (singing) (applause)

Swan is not your typical ballet dance group at all.

It offers access to the arts, to ballet, a form of dance that you don't see very many of our black and brown girls participate in.

The patterns that Sarah offers with Swans, it helps Zoe just be more confident in her body.

And back.

Beautiful.

There is a sense of belonging there.

It's their environment.

It's not just a place that they're going.

We're not just dancing.

We're becoming better people.

Pas de Bourree.

♪♪ You enter a space Swan where they bring their Afro puffs and their braids and their music and their style and flow of being and it's not only celebrated, it's invited.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Here's your shoes.

You can try them on and we'll check them out and see if they fit.

[Sarah Jae] Swan is a dance method.

It incorporates jazz, modern, ballet and other styles of dance.

We create dance accessibility through initiatives for youth programs as well as adults.

We're going to go with some classical.

[Sarah Jae] I would love to see a black and brown professional dance company in Des Moines that has access to ballet.

From here is where the movement is coming from.

[Sarah Jae] That initiative has taken place in Des Moines through Gateway Dance Theatre.

So, we're here to continue their legacy and provide that same energy.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

[Sarah Jae] Ballet is very expensive.

Dance is very expensive.

And a lot of our underrepresented youth don't have access to a lot of extracurricular activities.

So, I think providing a space specifically to create that access is so important.

I know a lot of kids who want to do this professionally.

They just need, they need the space, they need the opportunity.

They have the gift.

They have the talent.

They just need, they need the community supporting them.

I'd like everybody to walk on the stage like they're about to walk on a yacht.

And we are having a Yacht party.

What about a Disney cruise?

♪♪ [Deshara Bohanna] We live in Ankeny, Iowa.

Iowa is very white and Ankeny is even more white.

I have looked for opportunities for their identities to be affirmed and that is rare here.

My circle, then we just jump into line right here and do this.

[Deshara Bohanna] They deal with a lot of challenges with esteem, with being picked on, isolated, left out, so many things.

Yes, that was so good!

[Deshara Bohanna] And so having this space created that celebrates all the pieces of them unapologetically and to have leadership that loves and that values these girls -- Yes, yes, yes, yes!

[Deshara Bohanna] -- they look forward to it every week.

♪♪ [LeMar Yeager] There's just an overall desire to have diversity and to have everyone welcome to see each other, different walks of life and I think that's important to be able to at an early age see someone who looks like you or someone who talks like you or just somebody in the same age group, things of that matter.

[Cynthia Hunafa] If you don't see people looking like you, you don't think that it's possible.

But the more we have that kind of exposure and showing the possibilities and opportunities, it gives young folks something else to say, they could do it, watch me.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] In ballet, everyone strives to be perfect.

In the dance world there is a hyper focus on perfection.

And what I learned from dance is the opposite and I like to teach that and I like to apply that into my classes because I want the students, although we focus a lot on technique, I also want them to bring their emotions to the pieces or even just to class as we're learning technique.

I want them to feel the music and connect and leave feeling better and more empowered.

Who wanted to be really good?

Me!

Okay, then we need to work on a couple of things.

So, I need everyone in their spots and listening please.

♪♪ Yes!

[Sarah Jae] I really want to support them in finding their own voice.

When it comes to production and the ins and outs of our performances, they are right there with me picking out music, creating the themes.

Every piece you see has been a collaborative effort.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] I've seen so many friendships being built in class and that's the most important part to me.

I've seen a lot of neurodivergent kids like myself be empowered through the program.

I am beautiful.

I am beautiful.

I am strong.

I am strong.

And that's because.

And that's because.

I am a swan.

I am a swan.

Very good.

Thank you!

[Sarah Jae] Even having access to places like Hoyt Sherman and performing in that theater is such a beautiful and amazing experience.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] It's really important that they get those experiences and feel confident.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] They know exactly where everything is, the backstage, they have ownership of the space.

So, before we dance, because it's almost time, we're about to start, we're going to breathe in through our nose like this -- ♪♪ -- and breathe it out.

♪♪ (applause and cheering) ♪♪ [Aminah Nalani] Dance is honestly probably the biggest part of who I am.

It just allows me to feel so free.

♪♪ [Israel Kelai] I like to just find different creative outlets to express myself, especially with dance, I just like movement.

It just helps me release my mind, helps me just feel good.

You know, when you just get that good feeling in your body and you just want to show it and embrace it, that's what dance is all about, just embracing the good moments that your body is feeling.

♪♪ (applause and cheering) [Sanai Bohanna] I think you can express your emotions and your voice and you can find out who you are.

♪♪ [Sarai Bohanna] It made me stronger in just my life.

It helps me get through a lot of things.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] They have taught me so much.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] As I watch them gain confidence, I too am gaining more confidence in myself.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] As we continue to partner with more organizations in Des Moines, they're gaining ownership of their community and we're creating stronger community leaders through that type of initiative.

♪♪ [Sarah Jae] We're breaking stereotypes here.

I want them to understand that they are part of a moment in history in Des Moines because we are creating this very impactful moment in history and the dance world in Iowa right now.

♪♪ [LeMar Yeager] It would be nice to see something like this taking place in every community because in every community there is a lack of opportunity for some demographics.

We're selling our young people short if we don't provide them with opportunities like this.

♪♪