Making its debut at the Hobby Center, the Urban Souls Dance Company presented “Souls of Black Houston” to a sold-out audience, offering a dance concert devoted to celebrating Black history. This landmark performance commemorated the company’s 20th anniversary season celebrating two decades of sharing impactful narratives from the African American journey.
“As a Black woman at a conference table with lots of people who don’t look like me, I’ve felt ignored, being heard but overlooked, saying something but people waiting to hear it from a different voice to accept it as something worthy to consider.”
delphine baldon
Urban Souls is committed to nurturing connections and cultivating community through dance, education, and advocacy. By leveraging community resources, Urban Souls amplifies stories of the Black experience, with a steadfast focus on promoting racial equity and facilitating healing and justice.
“Selling out the Hobby Center feels amazing. We want to have as much impact as we can, so the more people that see us, the better we feel,” said Urban Souls Dance Company founder Harrison Guy.
Kathy Flanagan Payton, CEO of the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, was on hand to watch the performance as she understood the powerful impact of community building through dance education and advocacy.
“Art is important to helping us preserve our culture and to be able to tell our story. Using different art forms, we are able to reach multiple generations. From tonight’s audience there are many people who are young and old who are looking to partake in this endeavor as we learn tonight. Not only does it create economic opportunity, but it also expresses creativity for people,” said Payton.
Guy took the time to highlight a piece of Houston history in his rendition of “Colored Carnegie,” a piece that shed light on a Black library established in 1913 within Houston’s Fourth Ward. The Colored Carnegie Library operated as a segregated branch of the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library, later becoming part of the Houston Public Library system. It stood as a pioneering institution, being among the earliest public libraries catering to African Americans west of the Mississippi River. Funded as one of 12 segregated public libraries by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie between 1908 and 1924, it played a vital role in providing access to knowledge for the African American community.
Kazi Owens, a native Californian, was approached by Guy and asked to add spoken word on top of the dance piece. Owens, originally from Los Angeles, had no previous knowledge of Colored Carnegie, but felt the pressures those at the time felt as they were restricted from using other libraries due to segregation. This feeling led him to end his spoken word piece with a thought-provoking question: “Where are you restricted and what foolishness have you had enough of?”
Delphine Baldon saw the Colored Carnegie piece and was amazed at how Black leaders came together to construct something for the community, granting access to books where they had previously been absent, thereby unlocking countless opportunities for exploration and growth. The piece reminded her of the restrictions she had felt previously as a Black woman in the workspace.
“As a Black woman at a conference table with lots of people who don’t look like me, I’ve felt ignored, being heard but overlooked, saying something but people waiting to hear it from a different voice to accept it as something worthy to consider,” said Baldon.
Kalvin Williams, an engineering graduate from Southern University, also expressed how he has felt restricted.
“Previously, I’ve been rejected by the engineering community here in Houston. I couldn’t get a job in engineering when I graduated, so I started out as a soil and concrete technician and I worked my way up. Even with the professional board, it’s been a long, hard struggle, but just like the Carnegie Library, I will rise. I’m very resilient and I plan on becoming a professional engineer,” said Williams.
At the end of the night, Guy acknowledged several Black librarians, who often go overworked and overlooked for their hard work and dedication. Urban Souls fans departed the theater with the courage to face their restrictions and stand up to the foolishness they have had enough of.
