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Coming up.

Everybody dance now.

A ballet company in Berea makes accessibility its top priority.

A Cleveland painter turns to abstract expressions, and honky tonk hero Cory Grinder delights with his band, the Playboy Scouts.

We got to wait.

Not honkytonk it.

Hello and welcome, one and all to applause.

Im Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

Lorain County mother, found her niche after her son's diagnosis with autism.

She created Northpointe Ballet to make the art form accessible to anyone, including her son.

I was always a shy kid and I wasn't super coordinated as far as you know, athletics and sports and that kind of thing.

But I loved that ballet.

I didn't have to talk.

And sometimes I could be a different character and kind of come outside of myself.

And that's, I think, how it started.

But then I found community with other people who were like me.

They were shy and kind of awkward, maybe.

But then in the studio, they shined and felt seen and appreciated and loved and they could be themselves.

Northpointe ballet is a professional ballet company.

We are also a nonprofit organization with the mission to make classical ballet accessible to our community.

I'm our A Chance to Dance program is open to dancers of all abilities.

They perform at our sensory friendly performances, and then they rehearse with the youth cast.

And then we integrate the company in closer to the performance.

So there's ten performers of a diverse abilities, and in our sensory friendly shows.

She has grown tremendously in her confidence, in her ability to just get up on stage without being nervous, feeling so comfortable, being able to talk to a whole lot of people.

She gets to the theater and it's like she's home.

She just whips around and I don't have to worry about where she is except for like, is she going to run into something?

But I have seen her just grow physically with what she can do, just following directions, body awareness, just being able to be more independent and up there on stage has been a wonderful.

She'll turn on music.

She'll be dancing in a room.

So it's a nice for her mental health do is a way to just calm down and have some time to herself for everybody.

It's good for everybody.

I can't say that I can put an age on it.

We just noticed that Lucas wasn't developing the same way that other kids were.

And that put a lot of stress on us and our marriage and our, our family.

So it was it was a rough couple of years.

Yeah.

And then we got the autism diagnosis when he was five and started kindergarten.

You know, as I was thinking about how to tell my story, it's like, well, I tell stories through dance, right?

Like, that's that's what I do because of you.

It was a way for me to show our community not just my story, but hopefully everybody can kind of relate and some some way.

And, as this inspiration to share with our community why North Pointe Ballet was founded.

And it is because of Lucas, but also because of my friends and because of what, the people around me were able to provide for me in the moment when I needed it.

And I kind of goes through the various stages of, you know, that that time of my life specifically when I met my husband and we got engaged and married and then started a family and all of the the joyful emotions and the anticipation and looking forward to things.

My son and I had always connected and had wonderful experiences at home, but he was old enough.

We would start going to the mommy and me classes at the library, and so that's kind of a reference to the mommy and me clash with the library.

When all of the other little kids were sitting nicely and doing exactly as they were told.

And, my son was being the disruptive one.

And I started to really feel that, things were maybe more difficult in certain circumstances.

But I challenged the dancers to think of moments in their own life when maybe they reacted in a way that they weren't proud of, or judged someone.

Or what do I personally think about a situation when a child is being disruptive?

So making it an individual experience.

So even though there's a lot of dancers dancing together at the same time, what are we all doing inside?

While we are navigating our life amongst each other on the outside?

And then we finished with, okay, we've come to this resolution that it is.

It's okay to be who we are, and the ballet studio is where we can be ourselves.

And these people that are with us are different than us, but also the same.

So let's embrace that community and be ourselves and have fun.

It's not about me anymore.

It's about this whole community of people who are amazing artists and are amazing humans and that love this mission.

And we can all put this thing together here, together.

And I can be a cheerleader on the sidelines for the people who are going to take on this work and bring it to even more people than I could have reached on my own.

Northpointe ballet hits the stage again in December for several performances of The Nutcracker in Lorain and Berea.

I was going to try out for North Pointe Ballet, but then I didn't.

Well, our next artist is a dancer who definitely measures up dancer and choreographer Donald Isom, originally from Cleveland.

Isom now teaches dance in Columbus and recently in Cuba.

My history dance started out in Cleveland, Ohio.

Started with my my father and my uncles teach me dance movements from the world of hip hop.

I started digging into my passion in high school when it comes to dance.

I started off doing hip hop first, got into the world of clown dancing, and then from clown dance and gone into the world of crime, and that style was coming from California.

And so, as time went by, I started taking seriously, the world of light popping, like a lot of movements from the 1970s and 80s.

The style and the culture I was diving into already.

But what I wanted to do as an artist was the biggest conversation I had to deal with.

And Columbus really was a place where I was like, I'm in this culture, but what do I do as an artist now?

And that's what Columbus made me ask myself.

It's like, what do you want to do?

Dance with the dance.

What I'm creating, known as an artist, is one.

As a choreographer, I'm I'm diving into being a choreographer and a director of my work on a theater stage.

I have always done dance competitions, talent shows, but now storytelling and not me performing, but me being a director.

And that's the world I'm getting into as a solo artist.

I still perform, I freestyle, but now I'm diving into this world of seeing my vision come to life on a theatrical stage with lighting, production, sound effects, audio and the costumes.

So now that's my world.

Now I'm living in with what I already know as a street dancer.

And I'm like, okay, now production is my world.

I'm getting into.

That's my next stage as an artist.

Is that world.

The one major thing that's so important to me is I take time to just move my body, and when I move my body, I'm also thinking about what I'm feeling, which will help me.

Director choreography I'm thinking about like what color schemes that I see if I was on stage, and now I have to see what it looks like on another artist.

And then a cast member.

So the process is dancing through the movement that's actually peer filling the music, making sure that connecting.

And then what is the what is the world look like on that stage as a dark is a light is a blue purple.

So I play through that.

So now it takes me to the stage of writing.

So now I have to write it.

Draw it.

Sketch it out, try to filter it first with within me and then and then when I'm ready to present it again, I let like my mentors and people that I trust look at my vision, and that's going to help me find a balance to make it a beautiful production.

I am dance stands for.

I am determined and never cancel an energy.

That philosophy came from a friend who was a professional artist, rapper and poet here in Columbus, and he was like, Donald, when you talk about it, it made me come up with those words.

So to this day, I always see him and I will say thank you, because I needed help to filter what I was feeling inside.

And it took another artist to be able to copy me and be like, hey, I can help you.

So I am determined and never concealed.

That energy is about being someone that doesn't consider themselves, especially as a dancer.

Like never hold back what you actually feel, acknowledge what you feel, and go through the channel of movement to really get it out.

Right now, the focus of I Am Dance is we are rebranding for our movement so we can be able to understand what's happening now in the world.

As creators and especially as dancers.

We're trying to understand.

So this been a time for me to be able to be thankful for the past 14 or 15 years of I Am Dance, but to be able to tell the people in the community, this is the next stage we're going to go to make sure that the voices are heard through our company.

And that's my biggest goal right now, is to make sure they know that we recognize, acknowledge what has been going on, and now we want to put that to our brand.

My first time going to Cuba was like time traveling.

As soon as you get off the plane, it's like I went back to the 1950s and and it really made me be in a very, very interesting place that I think I never been.

And so get it, get in there.

And just seeing the people, seeing the community and seeing the the old school cars drive by, it was like I was time traveling, but I was time traveling, learning about their story, about what happened.

So it did take me through like a very emotional rollercoaster because I didn't know how to take it.

And I think the the community of Cuba was telling me that was like, damn, no matter what happened here, we're not going to stop loving each other.

And so they I felt family there.

I felt a connection there because I didn't feel disconnected.

I felt like I was connecting with family I never met before.

And that was the one thing that it was teaching me was like, no matter what we're going through and what we're standing for, we still have this love.

So the music and the dance was like even more intensity, meaning more powerful than I have ever witnessed.

So I think the one of the things is important to me that even my teachers in my life, just an art was never forget why we do this.

No matter where you are in this world, don't forget why you teach.

Don't forget why you learn what you do.

Because our job is to take this art in education and pass it down.

So I felt like it was my duty to make sure when I seen the students to know that I'm not just here, to just show off my skills and dancing.

It was for me to exchange with you to learn what you are teaching me, because teachers can still learn from the student and it's like, when are we not a student in life?

So that connection happened where even when I'm teaching a workshop, it was like when we got done, I asked questions because I wanted to learn.

I didn't want to assume anything, so I would ask them.

So we had to take the time to laugh, joke, learn each other's humor.

What's their favorite food?

What's my favorite food style of clothes?

What's the weather in this place of the world and they would tell me all their stories and that connection, that bond became three years that I feel like it's going to keep going.

And I think it was important because I think the one thing that's so important to me is that I want students to be able to trust me as a teacher, that I'm going to do my best job, that I can to give you what I have.

And if I don't have it, I will do my best to learn and continue to be a student in life.

To know what I need to know to be a better teacher.

That means a lot to me and people.

So we see basic talks about community, community.

But that lecture was like, you cannot forget the why, even if some days is not bright, it's going to be dark some days, but you cannot forget that.

And it really hit me hard.

It really hit me hard.

Even when I make work, my work and share a message for the rest of my life.

I don't just need to make work because of a certain idea of a project.

My work, and have a mission and a story to help get the real broadcast of what's really going on in the world, or a certain moment in my life of just, you know, or have become a dad or, you know, or I'm grieving, but you don't forget the why.

So when you create, create what a y, no matter what you're using as a tool for your art, that was the that was the number one thing.

And I think the second thing was understanding the fight that people really have to do, and not because is anything selfish, but that lecture, watching that teacher teach me was like, wow, this is not about him.

This is about, hey, when I'm gone, I need to make sure that my people are good.

And that is what took me out was because my grandfather has that same attitude to this day, is I'm doing this to make sure that when God called me, I know that I left a platform to for you all to keep doing what you need to do.

So I make sure that that was my lesson, and I and I keep that in my mind now when I'm working here, it really it gave me a moment to just be quiet and just take it in for a second.

And I'm thankful.

For.

Oh, hi.

I'm here with my brand new computer.

And of course, what's the first place I went?

The PBS app.

It's very easy to find.

Just navigate to video dot ideo stream.org just like that.

And then when you get there, scroll down and you can find applause.

Click on applause and you will see episodes and segments going back several years.

Most importantly, all the episodes with me on it.

Very easy to find.

And then if you're in the mood for a little bit more, our cousin show applause performances is right there as well.

So check out the PBS app.

You can go to see applause.

Applause performances.

And if you're having any issues, send us an email.

Arts at Ideo stream.org.

One of Northeast Ohio's artistic havens is 78th Street Studios on Cleveland's near west side.

There are so many artists you can discover, including 2025 Cleveland Arts Prize winning painter Mark Howard.

Howard's work is on view at Hedge Gallery, where he's debuted new paintings since 2021.

That's when we caught up with him as he began a new artistic venture that continues today.

Sometimes, you know, the painting may take several weeks depending on how it progresses.

You know?

Normally, though, usually about two weeks.

It wasn't anything else.

It was always art, wasn't music or sports or anything.

It was always art and went to school in Cleveland at the Queen Institute of Art.

I got my BFA and I set up my first studio in Cleveland in 88.

I worked in galleries, part time jobs, and I did murals for nightclubs.

So I was just doing these really avant garde things at the time, and they were fun.

And, so I had that, you know, job.

And then I worked as a color mixer and, and, screen printing company.

And so, you know, all these little things kind of in the end, kind of made me who is an artist who I am now because of mixing the colors commercially, I got to see how to mix colors at the right scale, the right amount.

And so, you know, everything kind of worked out.

But it was initially it was pretty, you know, rough.

Normally what I do is, I'll have a bunch of drawings and then I'll pick out of the drawings which paintings I think are worth doing.

When I was really exhibiting in Cleveland, probably around the late 80s, and they were kind of like pop art type of things, and I was doing a lot of silkscreen on canvas and, mostly figurative, but, and I held that for probably until about the early 90s, and then I just wanted to break out and try something new.

And then I discovered paper cutouts.

And that's where most people in Cleveland are familiar with.

My work was with paper cutouts.

And then that evolved into the paintings based on the paper cutouts.

And then, the public art pieces, throughout the city.

The first one was at the Queens School of the Arts.

That was my first public art project, and that was that outside mural.

And, that really was that was a big learning curve and a big story.

That was my first introduction to artwork on that scale.

And once I got my foot in the door with that project, other projects started to come in and clean public library downtown, a mural there, you know, they just kind of just, like, took off.

But, you know, at, at one point there really wasn't a lot of, public art at that time.

Now it's just exploded all over now.

But at the time it was like an open field.

And I think I've done about 13 public art projects since probably the 90s.

I think it was like 92 or 93 when I did that, clean school, the arts mural.

And, so then once one is done, I'll start the next one.

And that way it keeps me busy.

Within the past couple of years, I kind of kind of get disillusioned with, figure figurative work.

It was 2019 Covid.

I had really no place to go.

You couldn't go to any art museum, and she couldn't go to any galleries.

She couldn't do anything.

And so that gave me a time to just start painting, couldn't do anything else.

And so I decided to just I'm just going to do the abstractions and enough of the other stuff.

And I produced quite a bit during that, that first year, and it was all abstract, and I just decided that I'm just going to go with this.

No more figures.

I didn't want to see any more faces, anything.

I wanted to have just pure shapes, colors and and that was enough.

And this new material, the painting on this burlap that's new to I, I like it's a different texture than anything I've really done before.

And, It eats up a lot more paint, but it's a different, totally different texture that I like.

There's, there's no theme, because I didn't want any reference to any outside reality.

So.

But I do have a box of shapes, and those shapes are the shapes that I use and sometimes alter those shapes and reuse them.

And those are kind of the basis for the drawings.

But there is no theme, at all.

So I try to keep things, or any outside references.

I try to, like, banish that.

I'm definitely much happier with, the path that the paintings are going now.

Because I'm just free to just create the shapes and the colors, and I don't have any reference to anything.

You know, I don't have to have someone to ask me.

What does it mean?

And, and see what's right there.

And, so it's kind of liberating in that sense.

And, and so I feel like I'm going to continue with this.

I think this is this is where it should be.

Mark Howard's latest paintings are on view at Hedge Gallery through November 1st.

On the next applause, meet an artist who is celebrating 45 years as a dancer in a wheelchair.

Mary Verde Fletcher proved the doctors wrong when she was a child.

And decades later, her dance company is doing the same When we set foot or wheel on stage and we work together, people are seeing ability everywhere.

right along with dancing wheels during a recent rehearsal that will leave you breathless.

Plus, an incredible concert combining Afro futurist funk with some serious classical chops.

All that and more in the next round of applause homey clothes and keep me warm.

I've had enough of you I'm Ideastreams Kabir Bhatia riding off into the sunset.

But joining us is northeast Ohio honkytonk crooner Cory Grinder was about to release a new album at the Beach Land Tavern.

Here's Cory with his band, the Playboy Scouts from applause performances.

And if you like what you hear, there's more on the PBS app.

Take it away, Playboys.

She's real talent.

You can tell.

I just walked in her room.

That little mama gonna give away a sweet little voice.

There's, like.

Slinging about it.

Got the means to keep me up at night.

All I see was success.

Mama had to make the thing.

Don't slow.

Yeah she did.

Y'all can use again.

She dances to my best wishes.

Boogie.

Got my heart to swinging in the sand.

And she called me up and say she'll be all mine I'll pinch myself.

And it's not a dream.

Well I'll be making double time.

Across a few state lines.

To my honky tonk.

And build up my.

All you checking out?

My.

Wares, he says in my mind.

And make me think I'm gonna go.

Yeah.

She did cooking music.

And she dances to my bad wishes.

Boogie got my heart to singin in the sand.

And if she called me up and Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.