Research Catalog

Interview with Kim Holmes

Title: Interview with Kim Holmes, 2021/ Conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia on April 23, 24, and 30, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.
Author: Holmes, Kim
Publication: 2021

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections Dance to submit a request in person.	2 of 2	Moving image	Supervised use	*MGZMT 3-3504 2 of 2	Performing Arts Research Collections Dance
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections Dance to submit a request in person.	1 of 2	Moving image	Supervised use	*MGZMT 3-3504 1 of 2	Performing Arts Research Collections Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Garcia, Ana "Rokafella"

Description

4 streaming video files (5 hrs. and 2 min. [total running time]) : sound, color. +

Summary

Streaming file 1 (approximately one hour and 53 minutes), April 23, 2021. Kim Holmes speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about her childhood including her place of birth (Spanish Harlem in New York, N.Y.) and starting dance classes at age four; her family including her parents, five siblings, and grandmother (Vernel Moorer (mother), Edward Holmes (father), Kareem Holmes, Naeem Holmes, Jamel Holmes, Greatheart Holmes, Ronald Holmes, and Courtney Holmes-Small); regularly going to neighborhood festivals and block parties; from age 4 to about 10, taking dance classes at Sounds in Motion School; the inspiration and joy she experienced at the School thanks to the presence of the artists there including Dianne McIntyre, Mickey Davidson (her first teacher), and Bernadine Jennings; learning about African-American culture from Jennings; her familiarity with Latin culture thanks to her many Latina friends; playing the Scarecrow in her elementary school's performance of The Wiz including the very favorable response of the community to her dancing; how this led to her becoming (at age 10) a member of the Repertory Dance Company of East Harlem including her audition; her first performance with the Company, in a work titled Old landmark; continuing with the Company until she graduated from high school; from 9th grade on attending Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics; around age 15 discovering the world of hip-hop and clubs; continuing to take dance class at Repertory where she saw artists such as Dyane Harvey Salaam and Abdul Rahman; her life as contained almost entirely in the neighborhood and her dancing as a shield against the violence and drug use prevalent at the time; her social life during this period; her first tour, when she was 19; reasons she did not consider going to college; an anecdote about how she learned that everyone - including herself - is replaceable; companies and dancers who made a strong impression on her including Forces of Nature, Alvin Ailey [American Dance Theater], and Desmond Richardson; her sense of Harlem as a dual world, the Black side and the Spanish side; learning about hip-hop through her cousin Dawn George who took her to concerts and dance performances as well as showing her how to dress; at age 15 going with Marjory Smarth to dance in Ms. Melodie's video "Self-Destruction" at Marcus Garvey Park; meeting Smarth as the turning point in her shift to hip-hop and house dance; auditioning successfully for Smarth's dance crew and performing with Smarth in a show at the Manhattan Center; educating herself about street culture; dancing with her friend Aqil Davidson and his [New Jack Swing] group Wreckx-n-Effect as the opener for [the group] Guy at Madison Square Garden; this experience as decisive in her determination to be a hip-hop dancer; continuing to take class at Repertory; during this period typically getting jobs by word of mouth and without benefit of a contract; in 1993, at age 20 giving birth to her daughter Deja; how having a daughter has affected her life in a positive way; dancing and taking class at Repertory until she was six months pregnant and starting again six months after her birth; her role in bringing hip-hop to Repertory; how she managed being a mother and continuing to dance including the support of her family and friends; her nickname "Dancing Kim"; her pregnancy, early maternity, and determination to get back in shape; her view of body positivity as a healthy concept; the kinds of dance she found best suited her body type; some of the women who taught African and African-influenced dance in the Harlem dance community at this time including Sister Jewel Love, Esther Grant, Nafisa Sharriff, and Crystal Harrison, and how they supported her; the dynamics of the hip-hop community in which she was active; the murder of Biggie [Biggie Smalls] in Los Angeles while she was on tour there including the trauma she felt; her varied engagements, from dancing for Macy's during the Christmas season to performing in a music video "Crush on You" with Lil' Kim; the many opportunities for dancers to perform [in music videos] at this time; other engagements including dancing in "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" with Will Smith; reminiscences of June Ambrose, who designed the costumes for Missy [Elliott's] "I Can't Stand the Rain" ["The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)"]; the pleasure of watching young artists she encountered early in their careers develop.
Streaming file 2 (approximately one hour and 29 minutes), April 24, 2021. Kim Holmes speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about how she has always been quick to explore new and unfamiliar trends in dance and music; even as a teenager, incorporating elements of what she was seeing and hearing in clubs into her own dancing; conversely, inspiring others in cyphers with her innovative moves; at times having felt the need to catch up with the latest trends in dance and fashion but never at the expense of not being herself; events in her life including her relationship with her daughter that led her to seek spiritual solace in the First Corinthian Baptist Church; the epiphany she had regarding the need to include the spiritual in her dance while listening to the Good Friday sermon of the Reverend Michael A. Walrond, Jr.; her desire to be inclusive and welcoming even as a teenager dancing in cyphers; how she responds when her abilities as a dancer are underestimated due to her gender and relatively petite stature; the spiritual release dancing can provide; her first music video job, with Foxy Brown and Jay-Z in "I'll Be"; dealing with industry expectations of how she should look including her turning down of some music video jobs because of concerns that they were too risqǔ; at times taking a break from her image as a (sexy) dancer and allowing herself to be "a regular woman"; reasons she feels her role as a mentor and adviser to younger women is important; her transition to teaching and judging including her experience as a teacher while on tour with Brian Green in France and subsequently in New York; finding herself in demand as a teacher and judge of battles; performing a solo to Nina Simone's "See-Line Woman" in Taiwan [Republic of China] including why this was such a memorable and joyous experience; how she views herself and her role in the context of the dance community now that she is older; the wide range of styles and genres she has studied and taught including Latin dance; the research and self-education that are part of her preparation for teaching; the origins of the Universal Dance Movement in a show that she directed and produced while in her thirties; her reasons for reactivating Universal Dance Movement; how she copes with her tendency to feel self-doubt before a show; her experience as a leader in the dance ministry at her church; managing the many roles she plays in her professional and personal life; her involvement with the African dance community, in particular her participation in DanceAfrica, Chuck Davis' annual African dance festival at BAM [Brooklyn Academy of Music]; the joy she felt when she performed at the festival for the first time, in 2004; her intense interest in learning more about African dance as practiced in various African countries and creating additional connections with African dance communities in Africa; her own greater openness [to new experiences]; more on the festival; the many connections between different kinds of dance and how mutual respect leads to a united front.
Streaming file 3 (approximately one hour and 21 minutes), April 30, 2021. Kim Holmes speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about what she and her peers wore in middle school and high school, in particular her footwear; working at retail stores in order to earn the money to buy stylish clothes; an anecdote about her grandmother's making her a dress; working with Missy Elliott, initially in 702's "Steelo"; her experience with "Can't Stand the Rain" including the controversy about the dancers' costumes; June Ambrose, the designer; the innovative incorporation of street jazz dance in the Foxy Brown and Jay-Z video "I'll Be"; reminiscences of Keith ["Boogie"] Williams including his battles with Voodoo Ray; first seeing house dance as a teenager at The World; this period in her life as a time of exploration and making connections in the dance world; her experience with auditions including unsuccessful ones; the support and education she has received from her mentors and teachers; learning how to teach from her own teachers including Sister Jewel Love and the mandatory warm-ups in her classes; her approaches to teaching small children and teenagers; teaching college students including at Princeton [University]; as part of her teaching methods, undertaking the codification of hip-hop dance and writing a syllabus; urging her students to focus on what motivates them to dance; her focus on the spiritual aspect of dance; some of her more memorable theatrical experiences: battling with Rokafella in a Full Circle [Souljahs] production, performing in Rennie Harris' Legends of Hip-Hop, and dancing with Opus (James Grant's Opus Dance Theatre & Community Services); her regular battling at Red Zone when she was a teenager; her incorporation of Orisha dance and its nature-based spiritual content into her performances; performing with Rokafella [and Full Circle Souljahs] at St. Mary's Park [in the Bronx, New York, N.Y.] including the spiritual transition she was experiencing at the time; performing a solo as part of a Full Circle dance event held in Times Square [New York, N.Y.] in 2019, in particular why she feels this event was so significant for hip-hop and street dance; her sense that due to COVID-19 and the consequent use of video telephony like ZOOM, there is now greater connectivity in the dance community; her thoughts on the future of hip-hop, house, and more broadly Black dance; she notes that female artists are now standing up, using their voices, and learning how to command respect. [Ends due to a technical difficulty but resumes on streaming file 4.]
Streaming file 4 (approximately 20 minutes), April 30, 2021. Kim Holmes speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about working with Sister Sincerity in connection with a project directed at women in overseas communities; changes and developments she is seeing in Black dance and Black dance artists, for example how flexing has taken off; getting used to the fact that young people are interested in learning about her life and career; the pleasure of seeing her students and other young artists develop and flourish; how not being able to take class in person due to COVID-19 restrictions has made some of her students realize their value; how her dancing in commercial venues has contributed in a positive way to her teaching in the studio; how teaching for Alvin Ailey [American Dance Theater] taught her how to be an artist, a teaching artist, and a performer as well as better understand what Black dance is; reminiscences of the now-closed Fazil's Dance Studio and Harlequins; continuing to tell their story [her own, Rokafella's and that of other hip-hop artists] in new venues and in new ways.

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.
Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

Genre/Form

Video recordings.
Oral histories.

Note

Interview with Kim Holmes, in New York, N.Y., conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia, in the Bronx, New York, N.Y. on April 23, 24, and 30, 2021, 2021; for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3504
As of August 2023, the video recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The video files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Sound quality is excellent overall.

Access (note)

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Gilman Foundation, 2021.

Source (note)

0# Dance Oral History Project;

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3504

OCLC

1393102929

Author

Holmes, Kim Interviewee

Title

Interview with Kim Holmes, 2021/ Conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia on April 23, 24, and 30, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.

Imprint

2021

Playing Time

050200

Type of Content

spoken word

two-dimensional moving image

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

video

computer

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

video file

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded for for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 2021, April 23, 24, and 30 New York (N.Y.).

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Gilman Foundation, 2021.

Connect to:

Added Author

Garcia, Ana "Rokafella", Interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3504

*MGZDOH 3504

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