- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(birds chirping) (bright music) - "R-Town: the Show About Rochester" learns about a new musical experience honoring Black History Month.

And we meet a local artist and dancer.

All that and so much more, coming up next on "R-Town: the Show About Rochester."

(funky upbeat music) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota: "R-Town."

(funky upbeat music continues) February is National Black History Month and in honor of Black History Month, the Rochester branch of the NAACP is hosting a musical production celebrating gospel music.

Here to tell us more is Jackie Trotter, who is responsible for bringing this event to Rochester.

Welcome to "R-Town," Ms. Trotter.

- Thank you so much, Nicole.

I am delighted to be here.

I am working with the NAACP to bring the sound of gospel music to Rochester, Minnesota.

Three friends and I, two friends and I went to see "the Sound of Gospel Music" in Minneapolis, February 18th, 2024.

And we were amazed, we thought, this is for Rochester.

We thought our community deserves this amazing musical presentation.

It is the history of gospel music.

It is welcoming to all.

We saw it with a diverse audience of over 500 people, who, as a result of the music, came together as one in joyful enjoyment of this presentation.

So it is a presentation that is open.

Everyone is welcome to come to this presentation, which will be at the Mayo Civic Center on February 28th at 7:00 PM.

"The Sound of Gospel Music," if I can tell you a little bit about it- - Yes please.

- is the history of gospel music from the time Africans landed on the shores of America with the drumbeats still in their hearts and the call and response, a way of using music that they brought from Africa, and it developed in this country into a reflection of the experience of African Americans here.

And it developed from and it was influenced by all types of music that was around them.

Folk music from European-based immigrants at that time.

And it expressed the longing for freedom.

It expressed the joy in a relationship with spirituality, expressed a joy in communality with others.

And it is a unique expression of African American musicality.

It has transformed over the years and "the Sound of Gospel Music" production shows the different eras of gospel music all the way to hip hop gospel music.

So it is the history of gospel music joyfully presented by fantastic singers and dancers.

It uses song, music, dance, and drama to illustrate the beauty and joy of gospel music.

I was raised Catholic, so gospel music was not a part of my background, except that I spent summers with my grandparents who were originally from Tennessee and they had emigrated during the Great Migration to Illinois, they were from Tennessee.

And my grandfather, for 50 years was an usher at his church.

I have his badge that has "usher" and his name on it.

It is 50, well, it's almost 100 years old now.

And he used to sing gospel music in the house.

And my grandparents hired a older child to walk me to the Catholic church 'cause they were in church at that time.

And when I would come home, someone would take me to the Baptist church because it lasted longer than a Catholic mass and- Thank you.

And I was exposed to the joy and the ability of gospel music to take a group of individuals and mold them into one, which is what happened on February 18th, 2024.

And at the end of that presentation, everybody around us, we were all talking to each other.

We didn't know each other, but we were so happy and joyful that it... And walking out, I remember talking to a woman from Minneapolis, I didn't know who she was.

She didn't know who I was.

And it was just a wonderful experience.

And we decided then and there that Rochester deserved an experience of such excellence, an experience of such joy, an experience of such communality, and an experience of inspiration.

Because we left there, three women who had never had anything to do with bringing a musical production anywhere.

And we started the journey in April of 2024, and that production will take place February 28th, here in Rochester.

- Wonderful, thank you so much, Jackie for giving us such a rich and beautiful overview of not only the production that's coming here, but just the roots of gospel music.

I think, you know, sometimes people that don't know much about gospel music think about it in the church setting, but the roots of gospel music, as you said, has this long tradition that starts with enslaved Africans and African ancestors and moves through creating something new and different here in the diaspora.

So thank you for sharing that.

In terms of the production that's happening here in Rochester, can you tell us a little bit about some of the other things that are happening there?

So I've heard that youth are involved and that there is a community resource fair.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- Yes, there are youth involved and that was a part of this from the very beginning.

We have worked with the artists who are involved with the production.

And let me tell you a little bit as a preface about these artists.

This "Sound of Gospel Music" was created by Reverend William Pierce, and Reverend William Pierce is an ordained minister.

He just not too long ago received his masters in divinity from Bethel University in the Twin Cities.

He is also a community activist.

He wrote and created this production.

It has been at least five years that, in one form or another has been presented in the Twin Cities.

He joined with one of the best entertainment families in Minnesota, the Steele family.

Ms. Jevetta Steele is an Oscar nominated singer of an Oscar nominated song.

Her brother, Billy Steele, is a Grammy winner for his work with the Sound of Blackness, which was developed at McAllister College in the Twin Cities over 30 years ago.

And these two artists with Reverend Pierce, Reverend Pierce is the producer, Ms. Jevetta Steele as a director.

She has also been an actor on Broadway and has done other directing, and her brother Billy Steele as the musical director.

So these people who have a long history of entertainment in Minnesota have put this production together.

Ms. Jevetta Steele and her brother Billy Steele and her daughter Jazz Steele, came down to Rochester about two weeks ago and worked with a combination of students from the three Rochester public high schools, teaching them the song that they will be accompanying the other artists, teaching them moves.

They will be working with them virtually.

We are working with one of the principals in Rochester, Mr. Levi Lundak, who is providing great support for this endeavor.

And the choir teachers from the high schools are having rehearsals with these students.

And it's so exciting to think about these students, some of whom are choir students in the high schools, some of whom just like to sing, some of whom are in their church choirs, some of whom are in the Honors Choir of Southeastern Minnesota.

So we have quite a wonderful group of students.

At the rehearsal with Ms. Steele, she gave them a break and they got their little snacks and they went over in the corner and they were practicing the songs.

And I thought, wow!

(Nicole chuckling) Teenagers getting that enthusiastic about gospel music, I was delighted to see that.

So yes, those students will be rehearsing with the full cast on the 28th and they are working with their choir teachers now and with this song.

So we're excited about their participation and the real support of the Rochester public schools.

- Yeah, that sounds spectacular.

Thank you for sharing that.

In terms of the community resource fair, can you tell us a little bit more about what folks can expect from that?

- Prior to the production which starts promptly at 7:00 PM at Mayo Civic Center's Presentation Hall, there will be in the Mayo Family Lobby and adjacent lobby areas, tables, and they will have representatives from a variety of organizations in the Rochester area.

The NAACP is focusing on a variety of areas like housing.

Housing is such an issue in our country and in our community.

And the NAACP is working to ensure that people of color have access to a variety of housing, from home ownership to rental properties.

So that is one of the areas.

For example, we will have Three Rivers Community Action program there who helps people in the area of buying houses.

And we will have community service organizations who are real community builders, like the Salvation Army, like the Jeremiah Program.

So there will be a variety of programs there who provide services and support in the areas of housing, youth development, social justice.

The city has been through, its community building grant will be represented there.

The police and fire department will be there, sharing what it might be like to be a police officer or a fire person.

So there will be a real variety of organizations represented there.

That will start at 5:45.

It will go an hour to 6:45.

Then we will have people go to the presentation.

And then we'll also leave that open so that people can stop during the intermission if they had a question or miss some table that they would like to go to.

And then that will close up.

- Wonderful.

Thank you for sharing that.

And I love this intentionality around a community resource fair.

Especially from what you had said earlier about the communality that you felt with the show and how rooted gospel music is in community, right?

And so there's this resource fair that's part of all of that.

We have a few minutes left and I wanna give you an opportunity to share a few more things.

This is only one event of the many events that the Rochester branch of the NAACP has going on for Black History Month.

Can you share what other events we can look forward to this next month?

- I would love to.

And I would like to say that these activities are especially warming to my heart and I will first tell you about them.

For three Saturdays during Black History Month, there will be events.

The first event will be the filming of, a showing of a video called "Skin Deep."

And there will be a panel discussion.

It will talk about issues of racial justice, the history of racial discrimination in our country, the progress that needs to be made.

There will also be a Black expo later in the month and that there will be minority businesses there with food and a joyful experience, to expand what we know about what's going on in Rochester in entrepreneurship.

On the 20...

Wait, let me make sure I'm getting the date right.

On the 15th, Saturday the 15th at 5:30 PM at the Chateau, there will be a presentation by the University of Minnesota, Rochester Black Student Union.

They will do like a variety show.

There will be poetry readings, there will be dramatic presentations.

There will be a dinner involved.

There will be dancing involved.

Black History Month is full of joy and it will culminate in this joyful experience of "the Sound of Gospel Music" preceded by the community resource fair showing Rochester the wealth of resources that are available in our community by these different, we call them community builders.

These are people who strengthen, people and organizations who strengthen our community.

And I'll tell you why this warms my heart so.

In 1965 when my husband and I moved here, there were 23 African Americans in the community.

We made 25.

And there was a gentleman here, he and his wife, it was Mr. Howard Naves and Mrs. Georgia Naves.

And they ran a boarding house for people who were not welcome in the hospitality centers in Rochester, could not go to the hotels or the rooming houses, if you were a person of color, or a Jewish person.

And so Mr. And Mrs. Naves had a boarding house, and Mr. Naves said there needs to be an NAACP in Rochester.

He was in his late sixties at that time.

- Ms. Trotter, we are out of time, but I wanna make sure that we let people know how they can get tickets and get more information about "the Sound of Gospel Music."

- You can get tickets by calling the Rochester Civic Center Box Office.

The tickets are between 15 and $20.

Our sponsors who have been so generous and our sponsors are the African American churches in Rochester, the city of Rochester, Mayo Clinic, the Rochester Area Foundation.

And I wanna make sure I don't leave anybody out.

And the NAACP!

(laughs) - Of course, naturally.

And we'll make sure to have the website and information for folks to continue to get more information.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you.

(funky upbeat music) (funky upbeat music continues) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town."

We meet a local dancer and artist who shares her creativity in many ways.

(upbeat Latin music) - Hi, my name is Gretal Quinones.

I'm a dance instructor at the Blue Moon Ballroom, and martial arts teacher and also an artist.

The reason why I do so many things is because I always think that humans should be, challenge their self to learn new things in life and never stop, always trying new things.

I born in Cuba and moved to Spain when I was 18 and I came here to live in Rochester to be close to my family back in 2012.

(smooth Latin ballroom music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (smooth Latin ballroom music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) - Yes, there is a lot things that go together because you balancing your body.

So if you have a good balance, that's created by practicing martial arts, you also have a good balance at the dance.

If you have a good balance at the dance, you can do martial arts as well.

So they are related together, yes.

So go forward like that.

And then as you move your right hand right, then pull.

So pull left, and now as you're going down, it's not too big of a step.

It's not even a step, it's just right there.

(smooth Latin ballroom music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (smooth Latin ballroom music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (smooth Latin ballroom music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) - I learned a lot of things about people, how their body reacts through movements.

I'm obsessed with movement.

I love the fact that I can teach somebody to do something and then they can actually copy exactly what I'm teaching.

I've been teaching here in USA for about eight to nine years and I noticed that the students that have been with me since I started teaching, they are better now than before.

They have more comprehension of their body and they connect their body and mind together, and they dance on the martial arts.

I'm learning a lot about American people, how they move, how they learn.

I like to study the mind of people and this is something that I never did it before.

Americans are different at learning.

(chuckles) A great thing about Blue Moon Ballroom is that we have different activities.

We have group classes for dance.

We have, we rent Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday for wedding receptions or any rental that you might be interested in.

And then also we teach private lessons for wedding couples that they are getting married.

And then we host one time in the month at least one time in the month, like a public dance with anybody.

You don't have to have any experience.

Anybody can come.

There is always people to know, socializing, dancing.

It's very healthy.

(gentle Latin music) About the artwork.

I work with charcoal, pencil, oil and acrylic, but my favorite medium is working with oil because I don't have the time to just be sitting out there and finish a canvas in one day.

Then I do landscape, I do flowers, vases.

I paint anything.

Anything.

I have many requests from people before, things that I thought that I can't even paint and I end up going, "Wow, this is amazing."

But I focus really when I'm painting, it's a kind of meditation.

So it doesn't matter what is there, I don't like to copy from a picture.

It's all in my head.

(gentle Latin music continues) The things that I like more about Rochester since I move over here is the people.

The people that live in the city, they're very nice, very kind and will educate a lot of people.

I like the conversations that you can share with them that they actually very interesting.

(upbeat Latin music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (upbeat Latin music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (upbeat Latin music) (upbeat Latin music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (song flourishes) - For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KSMQ #RTown or ksmq.org/rtown.

(funky upbeat music) (funky upbeat music continues) (funky upbeat music continues) (funky upbeat music continues) Thank you for joining us today.

I hope you've learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and all the wonderful people making it happen.

For more content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town: the Show About Rochester."

We'll see you next time.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(birds chirping)