The Truth in This Art: Dancer & Choreographer Sydnie L. Mosley Interview

Welcome back to the Truth in His Art. Thank you for joining me for my conversations bridging arts, culture and community. I am your host, Rob Lee. And if you enjoy this content, please subscribe to our newsletter at the truthinessart.com. Today, I have a special guest for a special conversation, and I am privileged to be joined by an award winning artist activist and educator as well as the founder of a New York City based dance theater collective that works in communities to organize for gender and racial justice through experimental dance performance.

Please welcome Sydney l Mosley. Welcome to the podcast.

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for coming on. And as I am one to do, you know, especially in the probably the last 20 or so episodes, I always remind people that you have your 4 eyes on. Thank you for wearing your glasses. Appreciate you. Appreciate you.

Absolutely. I've been, part of the 4 Eyes Club since I was 7 years old, so I feel you.

Look. I'm I'm working on that Warby Parker, like, promo. It's just like, yo, let me let

me get those. But,

you know, as we start, I wanna, like, you know, dive in and sort of do that that level set. And, you know, before we get into the the deeper questions, I wanna give you the space and opportunity to introduce yourself and your work with SLM dances, because I think it's a lot of strength and empower in folks saying who they are in their words. We get those online bios. Sometimes it's like, alright. That's a, you know, that's a chat tp t one that came from another source.

But getting it directly from the person, it matters a lot. So if you will, could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your work?

Yeah. Absolutely. I am Sydney Mosley. As you said, I am a dance artist and a writer. I'm also an educator, an activist, and advocate.

I also like to remind people that I am a friend, a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a niece, an auntie, and I bring all of that with me wherever I am. And I am born and bred in Baltimore, Maryland, but I yes. Exactly. But I've been here in New York City for about 21 years now, and I have made my home base in Harlem. And I would say in terms of my work, I'm the founding artistic executive director of SLM Dances, and you shared our mission so beautifully.

And it's a lot of words, and I would say, like, if I were to, put it in the simplest terms, we work with communities that we are a part of or have been invited into to creatively problem solve through movement and art. That is really the basis of the work that we do.

Do you like that? That sounds real crisp. It's a lot better than what I was fumbling, Bruce. And, you know, this is done well, but also getting that extra flavor and flair. That that sounds really good.

And, you know, the problem solving piece and kind of a direct that's great. And one of the things I'd like to know, is one of those for you that sticks out but indelible moments of creativity, you know, that you kind of look back at and like maybe that's the start or that's something that left like you know, profound impact on you. What what comes to mind for you?

Yeah. It's a lot of things. I grew up in an artistic household. My mom is a singer. My dad is, or was, in his young man days, a DJ.

And I have early memories of listening to him, his radio, his radio show on Towson University Radio when I was, like, a little baby while me and my mom were, like, cleaning the house, right, and my mom singing and playing the piano. So, creativity runs in the family. For me, I would say kind of an earliest memory of me sharing my art was, you know, when I was 7 years old. That's actually when I choreographed my very first dance, and I did that through a school program. I went to Bethel Christian School, which was the school attached to Bethel AME Church.

And the dance that I choreographed was to a Langston Hughes poem. And so I would say that one of the distinguishing factors of my work is that movement and words have equal importance for me, and that started literally from the very beginning, from the very first dance that I ever choreographed.

Thank you. And, you know, extra points because you answered one of my later questions there. Making my job it's like making it seem like I know what I'm doing here. So so appreciate you there.

Happy to help. I'm happy to help.

It's like, look, I gotta reduce my word count on here to make it about the guest. I'm like, I'll do one of those pauses and just let you keep cooking, you know? And thank you for that. So one of the things I read on your website, I thought was really, really cool, and I would like for you to expand on that if you will. Your website, I read, this desire to help, human, help, help feel human through dance.

Can you expand on, like, what this means and, like, how you aim to achieve this through through your work, your efforts?

Yeah. I mean, the theater to me is one of the most fertile places to connect with people, to shift hearts and minds, as well as just being in a physical movement practice. It brings up a level of vulnerability. It reminds us of our humanity. And when we are witnessing dance and theater, we have really visceral responses to seeing it, like, actually in our bodies.

You know, there are studies that show that our breath and our heartbeats literally sync up as audience members experiencing live performance. So all of that to me is what it means to feel human through dance. It's literally just reminding us of our humanity. And when we are reminded of that humanity, it also primes us for dialogue. It primes us for action.

It primes us for connection. And that is really what is important to me and how dance feels useful to me. I have a great collaborator also from Baltimore. Her name is Allegra Romita, and she has nicknamed me Sydney dances for the people Moseley because a signature aspect of my performance works is audience engagement. I call audience members witness participants because I, I cultivate an activation in the performance space with audience members.

And all of that is about reminding us of our humanity, reminding us that, you know, we all have breath in our lungs and heartbeats in our inside of our rib cages. Right? And that that connection allows us to care for one another with a deeper sense of purpose.

So that's it's great. And I I like when we get these sort of, like, extra, like, names and titles. Like, let me append to this. Let me add. This is actually what it is.

And, it's like, I can almost see it now. Like, you know, you have dances, right, in there. It's just like I could see it almost like Rob talks maybe too much, maybe poorly. Maybe he has a great voice. I don't know.

It's all of the different things, but I just want to hear. I might put that out there as a poll. What do people think? So talk about a bit about sort of the formation, the the founding of SLM dances and, like, how that came about. Because I find, like, you know, when I think of this, especially the timing, right, we're in, you know, the second half of the year.

We're moving in we're in an election year, and one of the motivators behind this podcast was I got tired of people talking wild, specifically former presidents talking wild about Baltimore, so I wanted to use storytelling as a mechanism to disprove it, right? It was sort of a desire, a need, and a feeling of, like, lack. Like, who have who's having real conversations with people in Baltimore and now abroad, but people in Baltimore that kind of look like me or have sort of interesting work that might fall in different shades of creativity and artistry and that community and culture stuff. So talk a bit about that when it comes to sort of building out and founding, like, your work and where you're at.

So Esselm Dances was founded in 2010, and I actually always knew. And by always knew, I mean, since I was a teenager, that I wanted to be a dancer and a choreographer and more specifically that I wanted to have my own dance company. So, you know, as I said, I'm born and raised in Baltimore. I grew up dancing. I started dancing when I was 4 years old at Flare Dance Studios.

And, my primary dance teacher, her name is Ava Fields, and I was a part of the Ava Fields Dance Ministry. It's a liturgical dance troupe. And through that, experience and I had I, you know, I danced in school. I went to summer. You know, like, my experience is vast, but being kind of based in that, spiritual community as well as, like, community based community.

It really taught me that dance was useful. Right? It's useful to praise God. It's useful to celebrate.

It's useful to mourn. It's useful to inspire

joy, and useful to mourn. It's useful to inspire joy. And in the programs that I participated in, everybody could dance. Right? Like, everybody could participate.

There wasn't, you know, the, hierarchy placed on bodies in the way that, happens when you go to a conservatory program. Right? And that was really foundational in terms of me forming SLM dances much later. I went to school for dance. I went to Barnard College, and then I got my MFA.

And after I came out of grad school, I basically came into New York City and hit the ground running in terms of founding this company. And I wanted to share my choreography with the world, but it wasn't until I started working on a project called the Window Sex Project, which was an initiative where I wanted to respond to gender based sexual harassment that was happening in public spaces. You might hear it sometimes referred to as street harassment or catcalling, things like that. It wasn't until that particular project came about that I really kind of focused in on the type of work that I wanted to make. It really made clear for me that I wanted to work with women and femmes in in my company.

Those are the artists I wanted to work with. It made clear for me that I wanted to use dance. Right? Like, dance was useful, and I wanted to use it to address social issues that mattered to me and to the communities that I loved. And it also kind of solidified the type of work that I wanted to make, which was not just like a 5, 6, 7, 8, but it also was theater just as much as it was dance.

It was performance art just as much as it was dance, and it was also public art. Right? Like that the people in the communities who were impacted were also in some ways contributing to what was being shared.

Thank you. So when you're you're and and and this is broad because I think it it it keys in in a multiple areas, whether it be from sort of the choreography point for as far as the collaboration point, as far as, you know, sort of maybe even the writing component. Right? Could you speak on sort of the principles and themes that shape the creative process? You know?

And and and I always do these comparisons, but when I think about what I'm doing, there is some people do mind mapping. Right? I'll sit there and, like, who I wanna talk to? Who can I get? And sort of when is it a good time to do this?

How many episodes? Things of that nature. There's multiple considerations that that go into ultimately the the end result. And, you know, just as simple as, you know, you and I having this conversation now, we were gonna have this a couple months ago, and now we're able to have this now. So as I'm thinking and listening to the conversation, I'm processing, like, alright, where does this fit?

Where is this gonna fit? And what's a good time to put this out? So speak a bit about that when it comes to sort of, like, your work. Some of the guiding principles and the themes that show up.

Yeah. I mean, we really operate from a values based place, in terms of the work that we create. So, you know, our guiding principles are, you know, community. It is activism. It's learning because we're always in a space of continuing it is also about our world.

It is also about our humanity, and it is also about being transparent. So those values are really guiding everything that we do. And then I would say each of the creative works that we've developed are focused on a particular theme. Right? So I told you about this one project that's about gender based sexual harassment.

We have another project called Body Business that is about economic justice for artists. Our most recent work, Purple, is really about, multigenerational connection. It is about deep sisterhood, and it is about kind of imagining the world that we want to see, that we want to be in.

And that is is good. I I actually I will go into that question right now because it's it's almost like you're guiding me a little bit here. So, you know, sisterhood and and sort of social change storytelling movement, Talk talk a bit about the, like, that that moment where you're like, we should do this. This this fits like, you know, was there something that was like you can point at it? Like, we pulled out the notepad or the app and put down, like, we should do I wanna call it purple.

Right? But now talk talk about that, like, that that ideation, that initial step because I 1, I can't dance. 2, I can't dance well. Let me rephrase. I'll talk to a dancer and a choreographer and say I can't dance, but I I don't know anything about it.

So I wanna kinda get through those steps, if you will.

Yeah. For purple in particular, the origin story, if you will, is that several years ago, actually about 10 years ago, I was spending a lot of time with one of my playsisters, one of my little sisters, Simone. And she and I were doing a lot of, like, art dates, art and culture dates. So we were going to talks, lectures, museums, and we saw things like, there's an artist, Wangechi Mutu, who had an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. We went to a a conversation between bell hooks and Melissa Harris Perry, like, you know, all of these really interesting events, and the common theme in all of them is that those events were either created by black women or drew together a large audience of black women.

And we started to realize that there was a certain energy in the room when we would arrive at these events. And that energy, we started to call purple, pulling that from Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which is about the sisterhood and this magic that happens between black women. And so then kind of the next layer was realizing that what I was cultivating in terms of a community inside of SLM dances was also purple. And I wanted to create, choreographic piece, an artistic piece that kind of captured and encapsulated that vibe, that feeling, that energy that is purple.

Thank you. Thank you. That's I like hearing the origin story. I like getting that and seeing those connections. And, you know, it's like when I think of the the color purple literally the color purple not the title it sounds weird.

I I think of sort of royalty. I think of power. I think of love. I think of a lot of different things. I think of connection.

I, frankly, I think of Prince. I think of Baltimore Ravens. And before I forget, I just added a new question because, you know, you know, I'll be adding. You were touching on, like, sort of the, you know, sort of arts and culture dates and being out there and what I'm feeling and what I'm hearing in sort of that pursuit, because I I relate to it, is the importance of constantly learning. And I think, you know, especially social media and sort of what we've encountered for probably the last 20 to 25 years, more more recently of churning out stuff, putting out stuff, but not really taking a breath, not really being able to have experiences to refill that vessel of creativity and just learning and just you know, I do a movie podcast on occasion, and sometimes I'm thinking, am I watching this movie for fun, or am I watching it for research?

So with that in consideration, that sort of example, could you speak on the importance of constantly learning, of having those moments where you're able to do those sorts of arts and culture dates?

Absolutely. It is absolutely essential to my practice. I feel I actually wanna kinda pull apart 2 things that I'm hearing in your question because one is what is the what is the practice around rest and restoration and refilling the cup? And then what is the practice of, taking in the world around you? And, you know, how does that inspire and impact what you're making?

And I would say that both of those things are extremely crucial to my practice. And, you know, when I have built out literally my business plan, I build in a moment for rest. Right? So there is a creative research and development time. There is a solidifying, and now we're gonna produce the big showtime.

And then there's the rest and reflection time, and that is the cycle that I'm in, that the moment of the cycle that I'm in right now after having produced and toured purple. So that is necessary, a, because I'm literally so exhausted from the work that it takes to produce to produce such a large performance work, such a large theatrical work. And also because I I don't have any new ideas right now, and I'm okay with that. And, like, that's what it's supposed to be. And continuing to read, continuing to go to museums, continuing to talk to people, all of that stuff is what inspires those new ideas, and that's a part of the process.

That's that's super important in in having it. Like, you know, I I talk with folks about sort of the the just making distinguishing between what's like sort of content, and I get real icky when I call sort of something that has an artistic inclination. Like, you know, this is always classed as as content. I think it's anthropology. I think it's journalism.

You know what I mean? And that's the intent there. It's not just, hey. Tell me what's gonna tell me something I can think that's gonna go viral. Like, no.

I don't want that. I wanna get to sort of the root of it. And even the folks that I talk to, it's not like, alright. So who's trending right now? Sometimes there is that sort of overlap, but, really, it's having a conversation and getting insights from folks.

That's sort of where where the value is at. And when I'm thinking through when I have those periods of being exhausted and having folks tell me, like, you need to take a break, I I bake that in now. I bake those periods in. Or traveling. That's another thing I try to, like, add to it because, you know, if you're in the same spot, right, and I'll share this with you.

I was very close to visiting Harlem back a couple months ago, right? And I went up there, and I was in this sort of spot where I was feeling like just kind of down, you know, the waxing and waning of it. Like, is this good? Is this matter? And, you know, and I saw a few of my friends up there and then why.

And I was able to just chit chat with them and just explore, see things through their lens, and go to places that I wouldn't go to. I was hanging out with, like, you know, a bit of the trans community. I was hanging out with some of the artists kicking in. I was like, I'm outside a lot right now, and I felt fulfilled. I felt like I wasn't even looking for any of that stuff, and I felt like I got more than I was, like, bargaining for.

And I know the interviews after that, in that week or two after, I I had that newfound energy that was showing up in that stuff, maybe even referencing that I got questions that came out of just those experiences that maybe changed the way I was looking at things. So I I definitely agree. So important.

Yeah. I mean, there's a couple things you just said that really resonate for me. So this idea of, you know, even you're saying, like, anthropo the anthropology of it. Right? And the there are 3 artists who I wanna name whose legacy All 3 of them were ethnographers, and it was foundational to their work to go and be with the people.

One of the

You gotta be with the people. And out of being with the people, that is where they crystallize a lot of their artistic ideas. That's where they were able to crystallize a lot of the things that they were able to share with a broader public about black folks that shaped what our understanding of, Black culture in a more true and accurate way, and black culture across the diaspora, not just here in the states. And then the other thing that you're saying that I really vibe with is, that's how I like to travel. Right?

Like, I like to travel with people who are from the place. Yeah. I want to be with you. Don't take me to what's new and hot. Take me to the spot that is, you know, a hole in a wall, but they got the best whatever the local food is ever.

You know? Like, one of my best friends is Trini, and the first time that I ever went to Trinidad, I was there with her, and she was like, doubles. We gotta get the doubles. And she had me up at 3 o'clock in the morning, okay, to go to the spot for the best doubles in all of Trinidad according to her. And I'm a just if she says so, I'm a I'm a believe it.

Right? I'm a believe it.

But I

was like, girl, only you will have me up at 3 o'clock in the morning to go eat some food. Okay? But that experience, you know, is one I'll never forget. The food was bomb. I'm not gonna play.

And, you know, that is the experience I wanna have. I don't want to go when it's just time for all of the tourist things. You know?

Same. Same. I, you know, I I I it's it's 2 things. I definitely wanna get your take. I'm going off script at this point.

But when, you know, when I go to a new place, I I, I traveled a little bit this this summer, and, I'm looking for sort of something that gets that Rob staff approval. It's like I know it when I see it. I I just need to know a few different things and letting sort of my my taste dictate it and and generally trusting in that and having folks that, like, that I know who don't really have maybe that or able to find that, it's just it's like a sort of sweet moment when and I I had a relative ask me, yo, you're a culture guy. Right? So I'm going to this city.

What do you recommend? And I'm like, I don't live there nor have I been there. He's like, yeah, but you know. So what's the what's the place to go to? That's how how it kind of flows now.

And I value that for 1. And it's like, yo, you trust me, then I'm not gonna waste your your time, your effort, and it's gonna be a place that's that's kinda cool and and off the beaten path.

Yeah. I mean, I think that you we develop our taste. Right? And we might not maybe I've never been there, but you kinda know what to look for to find the things. Right?

And so I think cultivating our taste and I think that's the other thing that continuing to engage and to consume different types of art and culture allows you to do is to develop your taste, to develop what you like and don't like, to develop what you think is good work and is not good work. And when you do that, then you can be more specific about having the types of cultural experiences, whether that's, you know, the best doubles in Trinidad or not. You know? Like, that is that is how you you sharpen your ability to to find those places and do those

things. Totally. So I got

a couple more questions I wanna key in on. And and one is and we we all know if we're if we're doing it. Right? Of like, I usually ask photographers this. I'll ask, like now I guess I ask podcasters this when I guess the same thing applies for sort of any person that's an artist, any person that's a creative.

How do you separate sort of good work from okay work from, like, alright. Let's go back to the drawing board. Maybe we need to scrap this because every now and again you know, because you you have folks that we run into the confidence thing, especially when it comes to the whole social media thing. Like, damn, this only got 2 clicks. It's only got 2 likes.

And sometimes we we fall into that, and we think that the work's not not necessarily good. I have a feeling that when I've done an interview, I almost say it to the guest. You can, like, talk to guests that I've talked to. It's like, yeah. I think we got it.

I literally say, I can't help it. So how do you distinguish sort of those those tiers and maybe you don't, but how do you distinguish sort of like maybe the feeling of, you know doing a specific work working on a project doing some choreography? Like the the sort of feeling and the distinguishing between what's something that's good, what's something that maybe needs to be retooled, things of the sort.

I think a lot about intent versus impact, And I believe really strongly that we have to measure an artist's work by their own work and their own goals. Right? So is this meeting the intention and the goal that I set out for it? And the way that I do that in my own choreography is I I have open work in progress showings. I invite mentors into the rehearsal process whose opinions I trust.

There are different moments throughout the process where I'm opening the doors to measure if I'm doing or really if the work is doing what I said I wanted the work to do. And doing that over a long period of time, workshopping it in that way has yielded great results, you know, for me. Because by the time I'm going into production and wear lights, cameras, costumes, I wanna know that the work is solid. I wanna know without a question that it is offering the impact that I wanted to. And I'll also just add that that's really important to me because oftentimes the impact I wanted to have is around achieving some goal around social justice, achieving some goal around community connection.

And so I need to be clear that that's what I'm actually doing with the work and not just paying it lip service.

I love that. And, you know, definitely, that's that's what I think here, you know, in in doing this. What is the intent? You know, like, what what am I aiming for? Am I am I reaching at?

Am I falling short of the mark? Because, you know, I've been podcasting 10 years before I even started this one. I was just doing goofy podcasts about pop culture and stuff that I enjoy doing, but this one is more aligned to sort of mission and doing something that I hold a little bit closer to me that I think matters sort of in a different way. It's not purely a creative pursuit. It's I won't call it, you know, activism because that's not really where where I think I'm positioned.

But, you know, that's that's it's part of that intent in trying to at the end of the day, something good. You know, it's it's sort of that, and and that's what I always kinda drive at in any effort that I'm I'm putting out there. Also gonna make me seem like I'm smarter than I am, you know, when I talk to you, creative type. I'm just referencing that's when I was talking to Sydney Mosley. Right?

And, you know, she said this, you know, I I agree with it. And it's like, you you don't you you don't know what she's talking about.

Just gasping myself up a little bit. So I'm gonna move

to this next question. As far as you you, you know, being made one of Dance Magazine's, 25 to watch this year, 2024, that's a big honor, right? So, how how does this this recognition, you know, getting that sort of, like, acknowledgment from the industry, acknowledgment from peers, speak on that and how, like, it's gonna, you know, lead to maybe more opportunities and exposure or even influences on future projects.

Yeah. It is absolutely a wonderful recognition from, my peers in the field. And my hope is that the visibility will lead to sustainability. You know, it is no secret that arts and culture is, from an economic standpoint is a difficult field to financially sustain in. And I would say, like, dance is at the top of the list of all of the mediums that, has a hard time.

And and, you know, historically, this is true. But now I think it is even more true, especially in a, you know, post 2020 moment where and a post, 2020, very specifically, Black Lives Matter moment, where there were tons of resources poured into, black and indigenous and other people of color's artistic and cultural pursuits. And now that money has dried up. That well has run dry. And for me, I am very clear that I'm trying to do the impossible, which is to sustain a professional touring dance company.

And for me, I'm hoping that this kind of visibility just lets more people know about our work, know what we have to offer. You know, in addition to the creative works that we do, we also offer a host of workshops and programs that center the wisdom of black women that promote wellness, that move anti racist dialogues into practice. And so I am very interested in connecting with more organizations, businesses, institutions that value our knowledge around that and our embodied practice about that. You know, we will come and do a staff retreat with your team. We will come and do leadership development with your team.

You know, like, all of those things in addition to, you know, we have these incredible performance works, and we wanna share them, nationally and internationally. And we are always looking for partners and collaborators to bring us to do that work.

Great. That's great. So we we have sort of, you know, the the trajectory in a very it's not the exhaustive, but we have the trajectory. Right? So I wanna get the the sort of the feedback, the the advice portion as we wrap up in this sort of last real question.

And I have a few rapid fire questions for you. You know, those are coming for you as well. But, in this sort of, like, last real question, you know, present, looking ahead, what advice would you, you know, impart? And, you know, you you've touched on sort of, like, you know, intent. That's a really good gem right there.

But what advice would you, you know, share with aspiring dancers, choreographers, folks that wanna have that traveling, you know, sort of dance production theater like company? And even with the the added details of sort of where it fits when it comes to the funding, where it fits when it comes to where we're at culturally in this 2024 moment. Yeah.

I have a few thoughts about this. I think number 1, I would advise young artists to take your time. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You know, a lot of artists will come to New York and they're like, if I don't make it in 2 years, then I'm going home. Well, they be going home.

Go ahead. Are you in this or are you not? Right? And playing the long game has served me well. Yeah.

The other thing I would say is to learn how to take care of yourself, and then put that in your calendar, and then build your career around that. Because if you don't have your health, you don't have your well-being, if you don't have your mental health, you will also not make it through, a very challenging career and a very challenging field. The other, I would say, big thing, especially for young artists who, you know, have lots of ideas, but maybe they just they don't know where to start or they're afraid to start or, you know, just start. Just do something. If you have an idea, you will fumble your way through it.

But if you don't ever start doing it, you won't ever know how to do it. So you just gotta start. And my last little bit of advice is, like, batten down the hatches because the economics of this thing are gonna get worse before they get better. You mentioned earlier, we're in this presidential cycle year. We have no idea what is about to happen over the next few months, and arts funding is on the chopping block today.

You know? So, really just thinking long term, thinking about how you can take care of yourself. And then also, how can you use that time to germinate new ideas, to really dive deeper into developing your artistic voice and your artistic practice. So when you have the resources to produce your work, that you're ready to do that.

Solid. So so great. And, you know, almost selfishly, when I get the advice from folks, it's just like part of it I know, but part of it is just rehearing it. It just kinda gives it to me as well as as well as the listeners, so thank you for that. And now I'm trying to get weird, trying to get to the rapid fire portion of the pod.

That's not weird. Oh, gosh.

Alright. So I got, I got a few and and and I never give these to people because I like to see the look on your like, that's, you know, I just I eat that, you know, when when folks are like, yeah, I take that to the face. So I'm gonna try to work that at all. So, so I got a couple of them for you. I got 3 rapid fire questions for you.

And as I always tell folks, don't overthink these. It's just like, look, I said what I said. Alright. Here's the first one. How much time and and this really relates back to one of the things mentioned earlier as far as the dates go.

But how how many, like, hours on average do you think that you spend towards consuming art? You know, whether it be like, you know, I get it online or I'm going to a museum or even going through old sort of, like, notes and things of that nature of your own. But how how how often do you

think you're consuming art? Every hour that I'm not sleeping.

Right. Right.

You know? Because even when we're watching TV, we're consuming art.

This is true. It's like, I'm not new to this. I'm true to you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I'm awake, I'm consuming art in some way.

It's good. Because, sometimes, like, I I I like asking a version of that question. Sometimes it's the artist's lifestyle, but it's getting across that sort of point that, You know if you in it, you're not turning it off. It's the batten down the hatches is all of those things. It's like

Yep. Everything is material

100 Now this this one is gonna be a little a little bit

of the weird world. I think it's funny.

What new yorkisms do you often say and in your conversations of the Harlem, I want to say hallum like, like Ricardo Tubbs because that's where he was from in Miami Vice. But what are your Baltimore isms that come up in conversations when you're in New York? So your New Yorker isms that you enjoy, but your Baltimore isms that come up in conversations in New York.

That's hard because I think I actually code switch a lot. Like, I when I'm in Baltimore, I'm in Baltimore. Right? And when I'm in New York, I'm in New York. Oh, I have to think about that.

We do that thing where people

Well, well, I'll say, you know, something that's also very Harlem is how people say the say the street names here. Right? So if you're not from New York and you you might think of a 100 and 25th Street as a 100 and 25th Street. If you're from Harlem, you're like, oh, I'm going down 2 5th.

Really?

2 5th. Yeah. Or, you know, the a lot of the boulevards up here have you know, there's Lenox Avenue. There's Adam Clayton Powell. There's Frederick Douglass.

And a lot of Harlemites actually call them by their number, 7th Ave, 8th Ave. Really? Yeah. They don't call them by what they've been renamed. You know, renamed after these legends.

Sure. No. That's 7th f, not Adam Clayton Powell. So you can kinda tell when people are from Harlem, how they talk about the how they say the geography. Yeah.

And Baltimore

I mean, I think, you know, you can even hear me now, like Baltimore versus Baltimore. Right? It's like,

I know.

Yeah. Exactly. I think the Baltimore isms really just come out when I'm in conversation with family or when I'm home, in that home. And so I will say that people here call me southern, and I'm like, I'm not southern. I was like, my cousins who live in Louisiana and South Carolina, they're southern, but I'm from the up south.

Up south. I'm from the up south.

Like, real like, for real, when I I because one, like, I I was, you know, sharing with you before we got started. People try to do this thing distinguishing where I'm from. It's like yo east Baltimore. That's just where it's at and It's like you don't sound like where's the accent. I've had linguistics professors who are like, yo, where'd that accent come from?

It's like, Morgan. I I don't know that.

That's bad. And Well, you guys. But

the the thing that's really interesting about it, it's definitely an East Coast thing because when I go up there to like Philly to do interviews, I've had guys like, You're from here, right? I was like, like, I'm from from down bottom by Jane Lane. What are you asking? And definitely not a south thing. I love New Orleans.

I go a lot, and I go at least once a year for the birthday. My my birthday is the beginning of Mardi Gras season, so I'm down out there. And they're like, are you from up north? I was like, what? Why can't I win?

I just wanna enjoy my potpour in peace, player. Right, right, right, yeah.

So this is the last one I got for you, because you touched on, like, you know, consuming media. It was one of the things you lightly touched on a moment ago. So, what is your favorite movie about dance? Oh, yeah. You know, I wanna get I wanna get who who the person is as well, you know?

So I have 2, and they're both really cheesy.

Cheesy as beef.

Flashdance. Flashdance from the eighties, and Center Stage. And if you're familiar with Flashdance, it's I mean, it's such an iconic film, and it's just it is what I like to call eighties tastic. The leg warmers, the jazz shoes, the just the choreography is incredible. And then Center Stage is a movie that came out when I was in high school.

I think I was a junior in high school, and it was the movie, even though I'm not a ballet dancer and, you know, I was not ever gonna be in the school of American ballet or in New York City Ballet, it was the movie that me and my friends were like, we're going to New York, and we're gonna dance. And I have to share this tidbit because I was rewatching the movie a few months back, and there's a line where the, like, the dance professor, he's like, you know, you're gonna be wanting to, say you're dancing at sold out houses at Lincoln Center. And I'm you know, my show Purple, it premiered at Lincoln Center last year.

And I was like, look at me. I didn't have to be a ballet dancer to have a sold out house

at Lincoln Center. Look at me go. So I feel like, you know, that movie kinda set the tone for some dreams that I have realized.

Oh, yeah. That's that's great. I I love that. I love that connection. Yeah.

I used to pull my shoulder out. It looked like I was in Flashdance. It was fine. Yeah. I wear a great hoodie, pulled a water on myself.

It was all good. You know, I'm amazing. Absolutely. Definitely when it gets to the eighties tastic things. And even when, you know, you encounter things that give you the vibe of, like, what does this environment look like?

Like? Whether it be I'm waiting for this generation of, like, podcast movies. I don't know. It's it's an afterthought, but just something that kind of gets it right and something that you can kind of relate to and even in a sort of in way relate back to your, like, creative friends and creative community? Like, oh, you know, that's yeah.

It's just meme dialogue that can present itself. You know?

I do know.

So that's kind of it for the the conversation here. So there's 2 things I would like to do, in these final moments. 1, want to thank you for coming on and spending some time with me and, also wearing your glasses, being a part of this conversation. And, 2, I wanna invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can follow you. Check out your work and, you know, stay up to date with all the goings on.

So if you will, the floor is yours.

Absolutely. You can check out my work on my website, s lmdances.com, and you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter, at slndances. That's our collective, but then you can also follow me personally at sidmosley, s y d m o s l e y. Also on Facebook, you know, I know we got some Facebook aunties out here. Okay?

So that would be facebook.com/sydneylmosleydances. And you can stay up to date on all of our work there. I would love to just shout out a couple of things that we have coming up. I'm actually gonna be performing on Monday, July 29th as a part of the Dance Magazine 25 to watch live concert. Our spotlight and purple film series is going to be featured in, the 2024 Black Girls Rock Film Festival, which dates TBD.

It got rescheduled because of the presidential debate in Atlanta, but that will be happening in the near future. And I am going to be touring purple to the Center For Performing Arts at Penn State in February 2025. So if you are in Central Pennsylvania or the Midwest area, there is another opportunity for you to experience our work, Purple.

It's great. It's great. Great. Great. Great stuff coming.

Busy, busy, busy coming up for you very soon.

Indeed. I'm gonna be with you doing the teaching this fall. I'm also gonna be, a visiting professor at Harvard this fall, teaching community engaged dance making. So I am you know, calendar is full over the next several months.

And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Sydney Elmos Lee for coming on to the podcast and sharing a bit of her journey with us. And for Sydney, I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just gotta look for it.