160. Credit & Credibility w/ Kara Mack

Transcript: Intro: Welcome to Words That Move Me, the podcast where movers and shakers, like you, get the information and inspiration you need to navigate your creative career with clarity and confidence. I am your host, Dana Wilson, and I move people. I am all about the tools and techniques that empower tomorrow's leaders to make the work of their dreams and live a full life while doing it. So whether you're new to the game or transitioning to your next echelon of greatness, you're in the right place. … Dana: Hello Hello, my friend. This is Dana. This is words that move me. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you for being here. I'm stoked about this episode because Kara Mack is Kara back. <laugh>, sorry, lame. Um, Kara is back for her third time on the podcast. I respect this woman. I admire this woman. I am lit up by this woman. I am so excited to share this conversation. Let's see. Kara and I have only known each other for a short time, but she's made a huge impact on me and is making an even bigger impact on our dance community at large. You need to know who this woman is. Um, we're gonna talk about her work on Babylon. We're gonna talk about her upcoming, uh, epic workshop plans for Black History Month. But first we're gonna share some wins. Today, I am celebrating my second private lesson in Zu. Y'all. This is not a style of dance that I'm good at by default, actually, there are very few styles of dance that I was good at by default, but Zook is extremely hard for me. I am working with Jeremy, Adam Ray. He is my private zoo tutor, and we had a really great session last night. I'm celebrating that humbling down to beginner town, even though I'm, that's a thought. I'm sure people could look at me learning a new style of dance and be like, Dana, you are a professional dancer. You were, couldn't be a beginner at anything as long as it was dance. So I understand that argument, but Zuke does feel like a totally new language to my body. Celebrating a great session. Thank you, Jeremy. Uh, that is me and what's going well in my world. Now you go hit me with your win. Say it out loud as a additional challenge. It's so much fun. (wins music) … Yay. All right, my friend. Congratulations. Keep winning. I see balloons and confetti and confetti cannons in your future. Good on you. All right, now let's shift focus to the fabulous Kara Mack. Kara Mackis the creator and c e o of Africa in America. She is a movement coach, choreographer, dancer, performer, and mother to, I have to be very real with you, the most adorable children, period. The end. I know you think that your nieces and nephews and like your kids are cute. But listen, I've gotta be, I've gotta be very real with you, <laugh> most adorable children on the planet. Kindest hearts, most generous soul. Um, and as you'll hear, a very talented, very thoughtful person. So, without any further ado, I will throw it to Kara Mack. … Dana: Ms. Kara Makc. Mack, Mack, all dressed in Lions, lions, lions, <laugh>, <laugh>. Kara: Holy way that Dana could interpret that old song Dana:<laugh>. It is, it's such a good song. And when your last name is Mack, I bet Does that not happen to you a lot? Kara:No, no. It's, it's insane. No, I'm saying Noah's. Yes. Like it. Okay. It's like in my head all the ime. It's like, I got that. And then with me being in elementary school during the Martin era, my middle name is Shena. So of course Martin with Shanae, I got Shanae like all the time. Oh, because of, oh, that's Martin. That's a gift. I love that. Well, then here we have Shenae and Dine. Nay <laugh>, uh, ready to go round three. Kara Mack, welcome back. Um, third time guest. I'm so excited to have you. Thank you for being here. I'm always available to sit on your virtual couch, Dana. Ah, this is so much fun. Um, okay, well, for those, uh, listeners who have not listened to Kara, take one and take two. I yield the floor. Go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us everything you want us to know. The hardest part ever. Or anything you want us. Maybe not everything that we could be here for a very long time. Exactly. I'm just like, hi. What Would you like us to know about you? <laugh>. <laugh>. Hi everyone. My name is Kara Mack. I am simply a black renaissance woman. I am a multi-disciplinarian <laugh>, and that's all I would like to say, but I have had the pleasure. Oh, wonderful. Giggler, you're such a great giggler. I've had the pleasure of doing certain particular, uh, things, uh, in the recent years under the choreo graphical and movement teacher and all of that good stuff. But yes, black Renaissance woman. You can just say that. That's my title. I'll take it. I love it. And would you please tell us, cuz you told me a little, little bit in the, in the pre-call, tell us about your shirt, cuz it does have lions on it, but I don't want to, I I want people to know the lions that are on this shirt. No, it's just, it's just great that you have designers that do contemporary things with traditional, you know, aspects of culture. And so this print is actually a traditional print that's on like rap skirts. You can have a tailor, you know, get the fabric and create a whole outfit for you. Like, this is a very, very old print, um, from Nigeria. And so the n contemporary way is they just put it on a t-shirt. So it's just cool that, you know, I can rock this t-shirt with jeans and, you know, know some nice boots and go out, but it's a you better very old print. Yeah, I love it. I would love also a little selfie perhaps, so that I can share along with this episode so people can see it and maybe even shop it. Where'd you get it? Uh, it, you know, it's the, it's the pandemic online shopping. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I got it. But it mm-hmm. <affirmative> I did, I think from the UK somewhere. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Thank you. Okay, so you are a mover shaker. You've always have so much going on, and I know I'm a little bit behind the curve on this one, but I just saw Babylon a couple days ago, uh, with my mom while my mom was in town. And I have to congratulate you. I was, I was there for some early days skeleton crew moments with Margot and, uh, under Mandy's Fearless leadership along with her associate Jillian Meyers. We had so much fun in that room for a couple days. And I have to commend you because I know you worked with Margot on her movement quality on her abandon specifically. And I, what I saw on screen versus what I saw on that day in the room, which obviously was a rehearsal, it was not, you know, we were not like on, but was massive transformation. So, hats off to you in the work that you did. How do you feel about, about that work, about that role, about her performance, about your performance also in that, in that chaotic opening party scene? <laugh> first I would just like to shout out Mandy Moore because yeah, initially I was just brought in to teach, you know, classes to Margo mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and it's like, you remember the time with jobs, you have to get swabbed every day. It was this heightened sense of if you stepped outside of your home, you know, you had to be protected. If you weren't being protected, you know, you're putting everybody else at risk. And then girl, I just had my third child, so I was like, what is going on? When Block called me like, Hey, Mandy Moore, the choreographer, the famous choreographer, she's gonna hit you up. Make sure you answer the phone. I was just like, okay, this is random. I have no idea what's going on, but it's all good. So that's the state of my mind. So when she's just like, yeah, let's start off, I just wanna see how you work with, you know, Margot. And I was like, okay. But the first time that I met her, I was like, you know what? I have to ask this question. I was like, Mandy, be real with me. Why do you want Margot to learn African Diaspora movement? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, because especially, especially because I knew about Babylon's, like the storyline. I was like, okay, 1920s going from silent films to talk films. Okay, I understand. Because I knew personally where jazz was. This is not the codified spirit finger jazz. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I knew that, but I was trying to see, I was like, Mandy, do, are you going this direction with it? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because that would really give you a thousand cool points from me. Right. Like, how hip is this film to what is actually going on in in parts of America at that time? Exactly. So she was like, yeah, Kara, so, you know, during this time you're talking about Josephine Baker, you talking, this is when it was the time where it was still jungle music. It wasn't even like jazz yet in terms of the name and all that stuff. This is still purely like African, like Africanized movement that's now here in America, and it's now with this big band tuxedos all of these different, and then I was like, thank you. That's all I need to know. And that basically gave me the freedom to teach. I was like, now, because I knew that this is still a customer service job, so I'm still going to do what the choreographer is asking me to do, regardless of how much he or she knows about anything. But the fact that Mandy just knew like, no care, do your thing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, this is, she, she needs this part because Damien doesn't want any lines, any mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because this is not the era for that. That came later. Forties, fifties. This is twenties, 1920s. This is the, like the baby newborn stage of this movement. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So how does that look? It looks ba it looked basically like the freedom needs to like reign, like precedent over everything. And so when she said two hours a day, three times a week, every week, I was like, let's go. Ooh. What? So that was, that was for them. Lovely, lovely gift for you as well, but so lucky of them to get to have you and Yes, flowers to Mandy for understanding roots history. Not just, uh, of then, but of right now. Like to know to go to you for this. That is a woman who, she's solid Mandy's so solid, great sensibilities. Such a great leader. And yeah, a gift for the cast to have you and a gift for you to have a platform like that to bring what you do so well to a really, really big screen <laugh> and, and hopefully massive audiences. I hope. I know the film is being kind of received, uh, sort of mixed, but huge acclaim. Definitely Oscar nominated film we're talking. So yeah. Fan freaking. Um, tell me a little bit about Margot. I know you received a kind note from her after the film wrapped, and I, I love to hear when movement people get their flowers, uh, from the stars on screen. It doesn't happen all the time, but we know that movement is a component of every single thing they do. Even maybe not every scene is choreographed, but especially a character like hers must be visceral, must be energized, must be kind of like gutter roll. She, she there, she had to be clued and cud into her body at all times. Um, so I, I would love to hear a little bit more about that exchange and a little bit more what it was like to work with her throughout Three things happened. So the first thing, starting with the thank you note, I was totally surprised because it came in a Paramount Studio's envelope. I was like thinking, oh, is this like an extra check? Like I was <laugh>, you know, like something I wasn't prepared for. I'm like, oh yeah, plus one, Plus one exactly. But it was like this cute little thank you card and it was like handwritten by Margot saying, you know, basically this role started from you and I, you know, I really appreciate like everything that you did and with the little hard, and it's like, hope we connect soon in the future and things that, and so that re I kept it still in my binder and cuz of course one day I'm gonna put it up somewhere, but yeah, totally shocked by that. So that was one. The second thing was literally being on set. So as you know, I only was hired to do that. So after that was done, I'm thinking like, okay, that's done. But Mandy was like, oh no, Kara, you're gonna be a part of the skeleton crew. You're gonna be a, like, Damien like wants you. I was like, oh, in there. Okay. So this is just a blessing to now, you know, be in the scene, a crazy scene. So now I can actually watch, you know, in person. So that was also a blessing. But the, the third thing being on set and me knowing that Margot only had one ballet class when she was around seven years old in Australia. That's it. There is no dance technique. She, if I was speaking to her with, you know, the movement thing with dance vocabulary wouldn't have registered. Like everything was essence of movement, essence of feeling, feeling, feeling. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, nothing whatsoever. So Mandy hired over 20 professional dancers who's performed with everyone under the sun. So here it is, we are now on set. Of course this is like, I think we work for like four days or five days, but every single day Margot is acting like 3:00 AM Let's go get like on one. And to see professional dancers, like who did she train with? Like who, like Margot is good. And to know that she had only been with me for those couple months, like awesome on it bootcamp. And she is like killing it. Every, every direction Jillian gave or, or Mandy gave, it was just like, all right, over here, take over here, take like on it. And so for me to see that in real time and Mandy and Jillian look over at me, like, Kara nailed It. That's, that is what was like, that's, oh my God. Because once again, it's coming from the pandemic once again, it's coming from having my third child. It's like I didn't even know how that year was going to go. And so how anything was gonna look. So for me to be like just basically thrown into a situation like, here, get this extra check because you're just so <laugh>. Just being a part of it and stand there and watch Margot like kill it. Not even say she's tired, just like on one. And all of the professional us professionals are like, man, can we get, can we, can we get a break? Can we <laugh>? Oh, I love this. No, granted, if I was getting Margot's check, I probably would not need much extra, uh, encouragement. <laugh>, Do you see even that? Yeah. Well did you see even that solo that they created for her in the middle, like her falling on the floor? Yes. And all of that stuff with the cigarette. Gorgeous. Yes. It's fantastic. It's, And to know that that's being done over and over And over, over the course of three night shoots that were insane and probably a lot, lot of hurry up and wait cuz a lot to organize in terms of bodies in the space, cameras, lighting. I can only begin to imagine, which leads me to a funny, funny, funny, embarrassing, twisted, um, confession <laugh>. Um, I was like, I can only imagine what that must have been like to shoot that scene. Even though Kara <laugh>, I am credited as a dancer in that movie. I'm in the scroll, my name is in the scroll. I'm not in that movie. <laugh>. I like to tell myself that it is some sort of balance being restored for every time I haven't been credited. Um, but a a last, for anybody who's listening and wondering, no, I was not in that movie, but I was there for several days of skeleton crew. Yes. She Was skeleton crew, The skeleton crew. And I did a couple movement sessions for Lili, uh, who played Lady Faye, um Okay. In the, in the kind of early days. And she had a block of time. She was not available to shoot or rehearse cuz she was on another project. Um, but Damian wanted to see her move and get a feel for how she might fit into, you know, how movement might play a role for her character later on. But she wasn't available to rehearse very much. So, uh, did a couple movement sessions for her. Thanks again, Mandy, for your greatness and generosity in, in, in sharing those type of opportunities. Um, but yeah, Mandy was out of town, so I jumped in and that was awesome. Um, but again, like I wanna circle back because I think that something, I don't know if this is true or not, but number one, I 100% think you were the person to coach Margot from whatever lack of technique she had into the physical place where she landed. Speaker 0 00:19:48 But I kind of wonder if it isn't for the best or if it isn't for the better that she did not have classical codified like technical training because the goal for her was the opposite of refined centered. The, the goal for her in this character is absolutely unhinged. Um, like a, like a, like a hurricane. And I wonder if, if she would've been having to erase bad dance habits, had she been at a ballet bar every day since she was three years old. Um hmm. What, what do you have to say that, have you worked with people? Have you ever had to undo habits versus just throw things at the blank canvas? It's interesting because I've been in those predicaments where yes, it's much harder to undo and break down like <laugh> certain things out of, of people's, it's actually out of people's consciousness. Like out of their <laugh> world Of you. Not, not just the body, but of the brain Body. Exactly. Like mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the one thing that stuck in our lessons that I believe could have worked on a body that went through certain types of technical training or a body that's like a blank canvas, was that I discovered and asked her questions already about her character. And so we dealt with the multi-layered version of what it is to be feminine and how it's not linear. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so with Nelly, her character, like I was giving her, I was like, okay, so you know how Greeks had, you know, Greek mythology and they had these goddess, did you talk about Russian? I talked about the Orisha of like the tornado, the Orisha, her name is Jansa, basically Oya Uhhuh <affirmative>. The color is red. Yes. The whole spirit behind it is when you step in a room, you, it's basically like a tornado. Like you send everything up, you throw it away, and then you look at people like Yeah. Rebuild. And You're out. And you look at where it fell. Exactly, exactly how that scene ended is her, is her and the rest of the room fallen like debris. Exactly. So we dealt with that and with the color red and we dealt with how does femininity look where you are not trying to get people's attention, but you already have something inside of you that's basically sending heads your way regardless of if you're asking for that attention or not because of the character that you have. And it's not this westernized where it's just like, this is sexual, this is categorizes, you know, doing too much. And I'm like, no. It goes back to something very, very, very, very old. Where you can have your old Shon, which is the sweet, which is the piece, which is the, then you can have your oya could you talk about which is like, yeah. Who, who am I missing? There are three, right? It's actually hundreds <laugh>. Oh Cute. <laugh>. You mean there's only three that I live? Two hours session that you and I had? Exactly, Exactly. It's just, you know, you have like what you call the top, the top three feminine uhhuh. So the, the ocean yellow, which is the small river yeman, which is blue the ocean. So that's the vastness and oya red, which is tornado. So basically movement wise, it could manifest with a lot of shena turns all over like a tornado movement wise. Sorry, that's just a really good callback to she na, I just have to just print that out quickly. You were silly. So yeah, we were talking about how movement manifest the characteristic that you're already supposed to have inside. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. How does it manifest in movement? How does it manifest in your body with the undulations and the thing, your arms coming up. So when you see her on the bar, it's not from a, like it's not from, as I say, you looking at the branches and the tree, it's coming from the root, the thing that you can't see that's making her arms come up and making this freedom look attractive to you. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not her intentionally trying to be sexualized. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's the, it's the thing that you can't see. So that's us for two hours, three times a week working on the intangible, the roots. Yeah. The intangible. What people can't see. So that when you actually take one step of movement, who all heads are gonna turn your direction because we spent so many hours not on smart, You turned out actually rib cage, open rib cage. It's a better use of time. It's a better use of time because intention, no matter what, especially on camera, I think will override silhouette or statue or picture. If this was a sculpture, then maybe not, maybe you would use that time to refine the angle of the shoulders, the tilt of the head, the bend of the knee. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But since we're talking moving freaking picture <laugh>, I, I think it's a way better use of time to spend the sessions focused on the roots, the inside, the, the, the invisible as you call it, which will charge fuel the rest of it. Um, and it's so funny that we're having this conversation right now cuz I was just, uh, embarrassingly doing, why did it show up? I was YouTubeing something and I can't remember, but some pop star who shall remain nameless, uh, popped up a v m a performance, um, of one of her, like earlier VMAs, she's a big deal. And she, she did this gag. It was like a funny thing. And then she like walked and she kind of huffed and puffed and pretended to be out of breath. And then she like hinged back and hit this like note. And I was like, oh man, I can tell, like I can smell that somebody told you to do that. That somebody told you to put your weight 30% in the left hip and 12% in the right foot and the shoulders should be flat and the profile should be like this. And I was like, you look so placed. Yes. It didn't feel, it didn't feel like hers. And listen, I do b I approach both when I'm in a movement session, if I feel that I'm working with a person who loves picture matching, weight transfer, math angles, you know, anatomy, like I am happy to explain a position in terms of percentage of weight and alignment of shoulders and hips. Like, I actually, I don't think, I don't think you can like fully do this movement coaching thing with only one or the other. Like we're only gonna talk feeling, I do think at some point we have to also talk line or picture or something like that. But when you only have so much time and when you're dealing with a character on the page, like Nelly, who is not, she is the anti Sculpture. Exactly. She is running her car into sculptures and destroying things and it's like that person has to be a, a gutterly driven versus like mathematically, you know, technically placed and, and polished in every frame. So Exactly. I I, I totally agree. That's why the first conversations with Mandy, I had to make certain things clear about her character and then even having a conversation with her, it made it more clear what my job was. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because also I'm not the choreographer, right. So I am doing a service to make the job of the choreographer as easy as possible. Yes. So that she could be able to receive choreography once she got in the hands of Mandy and Jill. So that's what I mm-hmm. <affirmative> the whole time that I'm with her. I'm like, I need also for this time for you to understand and not tense up. Once someone comes in front of you and says, turn to the left, turn to the right, do this two times, put your hands up, put your hands down, you won't, a lot of people will tense up. They'll be like, okay, this is, this is too much, this is too much. So even with that, I had to mold a body, mold a character that is also able to receive structure. And so that's what I was, to Be even further shaped by Exactly by the ends of someone else, whether it's Mandy or Damien. Um, yeah, I had a great conversation with another movement coach who actually is credited as movement analyst and I thought that was interesting. But he was the movement analyst for the film at the Irishman. Um, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and, uh, who am I forgetting? Somebody else? Big and famous and older. And anyway, the, the movement analyst slash coach slash many, many hats, his name is Gary, take on. And he was so clear in that episode about the distinction between movement direction and direction, direction. And that's why he didn't call himself a movement director. He calls himself a movement analyst. He specifically talked very, um, non critically about the shape of a body, the speed of a body, the, you know, the placement of a body. And he was able to give notes that didn't infringe on any other department, be it, there was no choreographer on that phone. But be it the choreography department or the director, it's really like preparing the material, the material being Margo Robbie or Robert Janeiro, whoever you're preparing that material in service of the, the other departments. You know? And that's exactly such a, but it's also, huh, especially my friend cuz I, I don't believe you are credited as a movement analyst or movement coach or movement director or movement, anything. Are you <laugh>? That's what, no, I'm not. But this is like my first time being in this role in terms of like film. And I know that it was a new thing even for, with Block and all of that stuff. It was like, okay, this West African dance classes, these are class and it built from there. Right, right. It was like a building, like, let's see how this goes because we don't have any history for you in this capacity. I know that you teach people all the time, but just in this capacity. So that's what I didn't even know to the extent of how long I would be with Margot anyway. Yeah. So with Listen.nWe Sign, we sign, we sign our deals at the beginning, <laugh>, and then they evolve. And also all of those deals, almost all this is just, listen, I'm gonna have to put this in the parking lot for a different episode. W we we need to talk about credit, how it happens, who's freaking responsible because I I not to like shame game whoever's responsible for the Babylon credits, but Jill is credited incorrectly. Is she? Yes she is. She has assistant choreographer credit, but her contract is as associate choreographer. Associate. Yeah. And I think that, uh, the world has a lot of catching up to do in terms of understanding choreographers and choreography team members. And I do include assistants, associates, movement analysts, movement coaches under that umbrella. We are part of the choreography team and it's very clear that very many people do not understand the differences. We're still working to define those even internally. Like a lot of us don't fully agree on the difference in the uses of an assistant versus an associate. Um, this is one of the key reasons, the key, uh, you know, functions of the Choreographer's Guild is education internally within our own community, but most importantly broadly out there in the world. Specifically to, to productions to producers so that things like this get clean and get clean fast. Because I don't think those roles are going away. It's possible. And, and you know what, it's not even that they didn't exist before. These people have been helping people move for a long time, for as long as there have been movies. Yes. And so I don't accept anymore that this is like kind of a new thing. We don't have precedent for that. I'm like, boo. Yes, you freaking do. It exists. You just aren't looking for it <laugh>. And I am, I'm f so fed up with it. So that's where I'm at now. Um, I I Love it. Happy. I love it. Happy to be happy to be credited. Um, but it's incorrect. So funny. Um, funny. I wanna shine a light, uh, on the amazing work of the choreography team Mandy and Jill. Mm. They did. Let's Do that. Flowers, more Flowers. Amazing. No, they did an amazing job because a lot of people just look at choreography as simply, you can clearly see first group, 5, 6, 7, 8 transitions, the transitions, the exits to that. And they only think that that is choreography. But when they see that one long crazy opening scene, they need to know that that entire thing was choreographed. Yes. The more you don't know it was choreographed the more brilliantly it was choreographed. Exactly. And so that's why they must have their flowers for doing that type of work. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> because that wasn't the only scene. A lot of people are like mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh they did Margot's Chore. They're her solo. No. Or the little tango More than the Lady and Margo. Yeah. It's that is which Even also was subtle and tasteful and awesome. Um, but yeah. Yeah, I agree. I could not agree more people don't understand who we are and what we do still. Yeah. Because I learned a lot watching, like in real time I learned so much, much the Mandy gained my respect. Jill gained my respect by watching their process. Um, because the only person that can do that type of choreo with like hundreds of people effortlessly that I've seen is Debbie Allen. I've seen her do that work. Yes. But to see them do that work and it be so meticulous mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it comes out not looking meticulous <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was like, huh. So yeah, that's all I have to say. Thank you for adding that. Thank you so much. That's an important point and a tip of the cap to their mastery. Because with, I think in being in any other hands than theirs, it would have not only looked like chaos, but also been chaos. Yes. And like it would not have been palatable. I think had had those very capable hands not been helping to steer the ship. So Yes. Yeah. Well said. Yes. Um, well I wanna sidestep now and talk about what you're up to right now. I understand you have some big plans for Black History Month. Tell me everything. Yes. Well, you know how my brain works. I'm always trying to think of creative and innovative things to do to just push things forward as best as I can in my little small body. So next month I said I'm going to take it back to my black country dance movement techniques. And every Sunday, starting February 5th, two hours every Sunday, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Crenshaw Yoga and Dance, I will be teaching that's where the last one was. Right? Yep. I will be teaching four pillars of black southern culture and dance. What's so cool, so first starting with hip hop, because we first have to celebrate that this year is 50 years of hip hop, 50 year anniversary of hip hop culture. Yes. That's my draw on the floor. I did not Know. Yes, yes. 50 year anniversary. So, because according Like the first time the words were printed or what, like what's the the defining Like the Bronx, like starting, like I don't see that part. I don't know. Because I think we're gonna, they started documenting in this late seventies in the Bronx. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think it's starting from that period, once it was like all of the different facets of hip hop started to flourish in New York. But that, that's a great question. Please let me know the specifics about that. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna reach out to some people. <laugh>. So I lived during the golden era of hip hop the nineties. So I said I'm going to do nineties only hip hop dance class. Yes. February 5th, the fifth Sunday, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM That's the first thing that I'm gonna start off with. So imagine vibing, right? Warming up, vibing, getting a little choreo and still vibing for two hours straight to 90. Yes, please. The whole entire decade of hip hop. Yes, please. And rv. So when you talk about, uh, crisscross with the, when you talking about Harlem shake, when you're talking about creep t l c, when you're talking about baby, the Humpty, all the, Oh, so are we, are we kid and play or are we a little bit passive that Yes. Yes. Kid and play All of that. Are we a little bis? Marqui? Yep. All of that. All of that. Oh my God, All of that. We're staying in one decade and, and all of the cardio movement. I was just gonna say, you're gonna need to be prepared like have had your carbs in the morning because that is a real, real deal. I remember that new Jack swing era when I'm watching these music videos. Woo. I, I I'm like, how, how? Because I know, like you said earlier about the film, we didn't do this one time, we did this many, many, many times. And how is the energy? I don't understand. I actually am like worried about myself. I took locking the other night and I felt like a bag of wet sand <laugh>. I was like, where is my juice? Like is it, cause I'm getting older. Is it? Cause it's after seven and I am tired. Like I I get that Your body just, it's also the, it's the wintertime. I'm going through an emotional patch as it's an emotional chapter, but it, it was, it was very uh, it was palpable. I could feel taste myself wanting to lay it down <laugh>. So, okay, I'll get a good, a good night's rest on Saturday night. Um, yes. Sunday. That's great news. Okay. And then the rest of the classes are what genre Second Sunday? Or is it majorette, say, genre had Oh my God, yes. Second Sunday. So I believe that's February 12th. So it's, it's easy. Just think every Sunday a different, every Sunday of southern black Technique. So we go hip hop majorettes Flag, Which by the way work, I got to work with some incredible, I want to share this cuz I don't think this video did as well as it possibly could have. Even though Robin Thick is the key artist who whatever. Um, but Kendrick Lamar, two chains, Robin Thick, the song is called, I can't remember right now. <laugh>. Anyways, um, I assisted Marty Kudelka on this music video and we had okay, two college teams of Majorettes come in and perform their, their sets were already choreographed. But I got to learn so much from watching them. And it's, I cannot not participate. I cannot, I cannot sit and watch it happen. It's you, it is the most contagious thing to behold. I love it so much. Okay, that's great. Yes. Sorry. Please let me learn. And for people to know that you'll get even all of the history behind mm-hmm. <affirmative> everything as well. So third Sunday, still staying in the marching band, band life, you're gonna be learning flag work. So when you see those girls twirl those flags and how they funk you with it, with the thing. Yes. I also know how to do flag work And will you have flags for people to We’ll see? The thing is, is it b y s I to tell people to bring their brooms and their sticks <laugh> and I say broom Bring their brooms with the, the brooms have a weight at the end that equates to the flag. More like a flag. I will have a flag so that you can see and I'll just pass it around or, or someone can do, if someone can donate flags, that would be h that would be wrong. Yes, Please. Listeners. Okay, so this episode will come out on the first. Y'all don't have much time to get your act together sign. Y'all have three weeks From the first for the flag. Cause that's the third Sunday. Okay. The third Sunday is the flag work and then we're ending it the fourth Sunday with step aunts. So stepping, so four, fantastic. Just dedicate your whole month, two hours every Sunday to just fellowship crack ups, just build a bigger community. You know, that's the feeling cuz that's my home. That's the black southern culture. And I just wanted to bring that to Los Angeles in some type of way effortlessly without being too complicated. So I just think like, yeah, the way that people go to church for two hours a day. You come to this studio for two hours a day, build community, learn some extra culture, African American culture in your life and then just leave like encouraged and just edify to take on myself You're so good at, at creating spaces that do that. I know this because I witnessed it. I left after your last workshop buzzing for weeks. I mean, truly, it really stayed with me. You create such an impactful, uh, environment that the energy really was also palpable, but it was opposite my wet sand body energy. It was so much fun. Um, and you’re just really, really killing it FYI Oh, thank you. But I have so much to learn. <laugh>, I, I'm now really thinking my schedule is tight. February is a challenge, but uh, hence why I'm recording like seven interviews this month. Um, cuz I'll be trickling them out while I have a, a busy spring. But, um, I just can't stop imagining people dancing with their brooms. And I'm hearing my music movie Musical Brain is hearing step in time. Everybody knees up step in time. I'm just Mary Poppin's soundtrack in my head while I'm playing, playing that scene out on the back of my eyelids right now. <laugh>. He's so funny. Um, and you know what, that is a great scene, but I'm sure what you create in that room is gonna be even better because of the, the roots again, the roots and the history that you're bringing to it. So thanks for bringing that to us in la. I hope if you are listening in LA get your booties out there. And if not, I do think there may be an option to join Virtual via Bopsidy. Yes, yes. No. Yes. Yes. So you, you can simply like with the registration that Dana will put up, it'll be a little QR code. Keep your live simple. There's already already an option for online choices. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you can choose online for all classes or pick your individual classes, um, whatever Sunday that works for you. So Yep. Online or in-person options available. Okay. I love that. Love that. I love you so much. Thank you so much for being here, Kara. Um, thank you for telling me. I do feel like I got my daily dose that is important and we'll have you back again sometime soon. Um, yes. And to top it off, Kara, I'll tell you now so you can watch it if you would like, uh, the music video, the Robin Thick music video directed by Diane Marel, who is legendary and incredible and wild, also wild. I think Diane Martel maybe has a lot in common with Nelly <laugh>, uh, Marga Robbie's character. She is got it, a riot. Wow. I don't think I've heard the word fuck so many times on a set ever in my life, period. She's wild. She's great. Uh, the song is called Give It to You. I if you wanna go look that up, but I will put it in the show notes this episode. Um, thanks again Kara, congratulations on Babylon and on all the things and uh, hope I get to see you soon. Thank you. Hope they get to see you soon too. Bye bye. … All right, my friend. What do you think of that? What do you think about me losing my temper about credit? Are you as blown away as I am that something so important could be so inconsistent across the board? I really do plan on revisiting this topic after having done more research and more advocacy with the Choreographer's Guild. It's something that's truly so important and so mystifying even still after all of these years. So, um, be on the lookout for that episode and as you watch movies in a theater or at home, also be on the lookout for credits. Start to see if you notice where and if choreographers fall in the scroll and where and if dancers fall in the scroll or movement, movement coaches, movement analysts for that matter. Really, really interesting to, to see that kind of playing out in front of us. I am salty about it. You can tell that was a really spicy Dana you got on that episode. Alright, my friends, that is what I have for you today. A lot of insight from Kara about working on, on on massive projects, a lot of flowers, a lot of praise for Mandy and Jill and their work on Babylon and so much excitement for Black History Month. I hope to see you, uh, every Sunday at Kara's event. I will absolutely be linking to signups for that in the show notes for this episode. And yeah, I think that's it. Get out there in the world. Keep it very funky. I'll talk to you soon. … Outro: This podcast was produced by me with the help of many music by Max Winnie, logo and brand design by Bree Reetz, and big thanks to Riley Higgins, our executive assistant and editor also massive, thanks to you. The mover, who is no stranger to taking action. So go take action. I will not cannot stop you from downloading episodes or leaving a review into rating. I will not ban you from my online store for spending your hard earned money on the cool merch and awesome programs that await you. There. I will. 100% not stop you from visiting wordsthatmoveme.com. If you wanna talk with me, work with me and make moves with the rest of the words that move me community. Oh, and also I will not stop you from visiting thedanawilson.com. If you're curious about all the things that I do that are not words that move me related. all right, my friend, keep it funky. I'll talk to you soon.