Little Village issue 331 - July 2024 by Little Village Magazine

Independent Iowa News, Culture & Events

The 0.01%

Bison bring out the best in Iowa’s beleaguered landscape

All-Day Breakfast

Diners in Des Moines, Ames, Iowa City & Cedar Rapids Brazilian

INDEPENDENT IOWA NEWS, CULTURE & EVENTS

Since 2001 LittleVillageMag.com

24 Bison Bison Bison

Prairie species are helping each other make comebacks, big and small.

42 It Takes Two to Zouk

Once a taboo dance style, Lambada has evolved into a popular, passion-filled pastime.

44 Making Waves

Swan Prjct teaches Black and brown dancers to be the ballet they want to see in the world.

Little Village (ISSN 2328-3351) is an independent, community-supported news and culture publication based in Iowa City, published monthly by Little Village, LLC, 623 S Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA 52240. Through journalism, essays and events, we work to improve our community according to core values: environmental sustainability, affordability and access, economic and labor justice, racial justice, gender equity, quality healthcare, quality education and critical culture. Letters to the editor(s) are always welcome. We reserve the right to fact check and edit for length and clarity. Please send letters, comments or corrections to editor@littlevillagemag.com.

Subscriptions: lv@littlevillagemag.com. The US annual subscription price is $120. All rights reserved, reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. If you would like to reprint or collaborate on new content, reach us at lv@littlevillagemag.com. To browse back issues, visit us online at issuu.com/ littlevillage.

THANK yOU TO THIS ISSUE’S ADVERTISING PARTNERS

This issue of Little Village is supported by:

- Cobble Hill

- The Daisy

Independent Downtown Iowa City (40-41)

- Critical Hit Games

- Hot Spot Tattoo

- Beadology

- Release Body Modifications

- The Green House

- Mailboxes of Iowa City

- Record Collector

- Yotopia

- Harry’s

- Prairie Lights Bookstore & Cafe

- Revival

Independent Highland Park / Oak Park Neighborhood (58-59)

- Des Moines Mercantile

- The Slow Down

- The Collective

Independent Northside Marketplace (24-25)

- George’s

- Oasis Falafel

- Dodge St. Tire

- Pagliai’s Pizza

- Artifacts

- John’s Grocery

- R.S.V.P.

Iowa City Downtown District (14-15)

- Dublin

- Get Fresh Cafe

- St. Burch Tavern

- Which Wich

- Nodo

- Micky’s Irish Pub

- 223 Baby Co

- Dulcinéa

- The Shop Iowa City

- Deadwood Tavern

- Pullman Bar & Diner

- Catherine’s

Iowa Children’s Museum (36)

Iowa City Communications (17)

Iowa City Human Rights (66)

Iowa City Public Library (68)

Iowa Department of Pubic Health (31, 55, 57)

Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour (72)

Jethro’s BBQ (21)

KCCK Jazz 88.3 (43)

Kim Schillig (59)

Martin Construction (35)

Musician’s Pro Shop (68)

New Pioneer Food Co-op (6)

No Escape Iowa (53)

Orchestrate Hospitality (66)

Phoebe Martin, REALTOR (4)

Polk County Conservation (10)

Public Space One (11)

Raygun (20)

Refocus Film Festival (9)

Risilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City (35)

Science Center of Iowa (10)

Shakespeare’s Pub & Grill (23)

Splash Seafood Bar & Grill (17)

Summer of the Arts (48)

Table to Table (18)

The Club Car (23)

The Englert Theatre (51)

The Haunted Bookshop (36)

The James (46)

The Wedge Pizzeria (65)

Theatre Cedar Rapids (18)

Tim Conroy (21)

University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art (22)

Varsity Cinema (61)

VenuWorks (68)

Waterloo Center for the Arts (71)

Wig and Pen (68)

Willow & Stock (11)

World of Bikes (18)

xBk Live (22)

Interactions

LV encourages community members, including candidates for office, to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere.

As jury finds Trump guilty on 34 felony counts, chorus of Iowa Republicans denounce trial as a ‘sham’ (May 31)

“None have addressed the evidence in the case, or the fact a jury of Trump’s peers came to the 34 guilty verdicts.” That’s because they can’t. If there were any actual facts about unfairness or persecution to hang an argument on, they would be doing that. They aren’t, so they are appealing to emotion with vague buzzwords. Screw them. —Gertrude D.

“If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the law on your side, pound the law; if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table.” —P.M.

Sometimes I wonder if Trump would go Jim Jones, how many GOP would come to their senses and how many would actually drink the Flavor Aid? —Jay M.

I think the only ways these leaders will be ousted is through the ravages of time, repeated infections, or the winds of climate change wiping out their base. —Iowegan

I denounce weed laws as a sham. —D.T.

Des Moines area food banks see a recordbreaking surge in people needing assistance as June begins (June 7)

So they denied money (29 million) from that summer food program. Instead offered a state run 900k grant. There’s no plan for homeless people except bulldozing lean-tos by the river where they live. And no help for poor people. I was just at the Franklin library today and they were filling up the food cabinets for needy people. There was literally a line of people waiting for the little pickup truck to pull in. I don’t really see any long-term plan by the local government in solving these problems.

HAVE AN OPINION?

They won’t go away by just ignoring the problem. —Juan N.

Let them eat cake moment. The federal government offered poor Iowa families money to feed their children. Kimmy said “kids are already way too fat” and refused to help these poor families. “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” Now we have American, Iowan children going hungry. Any so-called “Christian conservatives” wondering why everyone outside your safe space circle hates you.. This is why. You take food from hungry children. You are the evil you pretend to fight. You took food from hungry children. —Van C.

You can’t see all that from Terrace Hill, so it never happened. —I.N.

Federal judge hears arguments in lawsuits challenging Iowa’s attempt to create its own system to deport immigrants (June 11)

I’ve lived in Iowa longer than any other place.

PUB l IC NUISANCE

SARA WI ll IAMS

IOWA CITy, JuNE 4

You: woman in a pink floral top, short brown hair, big eyes, knuckle tattoos that I wish I had seen close enough to read

Me: dude who talked to you about the Englert and what Iowa City used to be like for a few minutes at Java House before a guy who seemed to be a date showed up

If there’s any chance you’d ever like to meet *me* for a coffee at Java House, just come back M or W from 11-2, i’m pretty much always around. Say hi again next time. I can’t stop thinking about your eyes and how you held my gaze for a little too long and I’d love to know you.

CORAlVIllE, JuNE 6

You were working at B&BW on the busiest day of the year. You called my mom “[your] kind of woman,” and I think you thought it made me feel awkward. I just didn’t know how to respond because of how pretty you were.

IOWA CITy, JuNE 8

You called the Farmers Market the “Gay Met Gala”

RAMONA MUSE l AMBERT

and that comment has been living in my head rent free ever since.

IOWA CITy, JuNE 14

Me: waiting for walk sign on burlington. You: walking east on burlington wearing dark tank and dark shorts. You were with a woman but damn you were fine as hell. You looked back at me after you crossed. Say hi if you see me again… if it’s okay with her.

DES MOINES, JuNE 18

You - the non binary scooper wearing a mask at Black Cat Ice Cream in DSM. I heard you declare it a “Steely Dan Summer” and thus I declared my heart yours. Your eyes were as sweet as my scoop of Red Velvet Oreo and definitely worth the wait in line.

DyERSVIllE, JuNE 20

You were the boomer at the nice cafe in Dyersville talking loudly and proudly over breakfast about all the cats you’ve shot and killed (which you say your wife looks for and you lie about knowing where they are) Your table mates laughed hesitantly and I decided to leave instead of punching you in the overalls. I hope your wife reads this.

IOWA CITy, JuNE 20

This was in Spring. We had never met, and then we met. At the publishing fair, we spoke about the importance of being a creep. [Something something about desire], I said, wanting to make you laugh, wanting to seem like I had something to say, when I was trying to determine if you too were, like me, wondering if we had met before, and where might that’ve been? When I said that Carmen Maria Machado was hiding in the air vent above our heads, you believed me, looked up. Trust is important. Someone said that once. I hadn’t intended to betray it. Was there momentum? The next day we saw each other again, at the co-op. You thought my name was a bird’s. We said we’d think of something cool to say the next time we saw each other, and I’m writing now because it occurs to me that there might only be a next time if I send these words out into the cool blue ocean in a little bottle, in case you want to be friends or look at each other on a third instance, again, on a lark, like wait, have we met before?

Submit to Missed Connections, LV’s newest community initiative fostering connection between readers. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear in print or online. littlevillagemag.com/missed-connections

THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL

INTERACTIONS

What is your favorite way to cool down on a hot day?

Running as fast as I can to get away from the heat

Wrapping self in wet paper towl, placing in freezer

into E. coli-infested body of Iowa water

1049 US-6 E, Iowa City 319-337-3400 gleaning@table2table.org Bring donations to Table to Table and we’ll distribute them throughout our community.

I’m raising a family and paying my taxes. I am, and I’m not alone of course, what this administration should be representing. In contrast to that, I have never felt this woman speaks on behalf of anyone but herself and her own backwards hubristic agenda. I am appalled at the undeniably bigoted and puritanical approach she wants to be the modus operandi. 2340 specifically is nothing more than a blank check to fuck with Hispanic people. —N.A.

It’s so fucking encouraging to read this & know there are people out there that are rational about this shit. Education has taken a real beating in this state, and you can clearly see the effects when you travel

PERSONALS

This little cat is 1 year old / The shelter staff call him Cookie Dough / His foster parents say he’s a sweet fella / Only one eye, but no salmonella! / One thing adopters should know about C.D. / He’s got feline leukemia, so please no cat siblings / But you only need one, he’s as great as they come / The family that scoops him is sure to say “yum!” (Visit icanimalcenter.org for adoption info) Send your personals for consideration to editor@littlevillagemag.com with subject line “Personals.”

How do you say “groceries”?

around. It’s like straight up Appalachia in many of the towns I visit when I’m exploring. Like in many places, Casey’s is the only place to eat—literal food deserts in the state that is the biggest ag producer anywhere! —Snoo A.

Thieves target Pride flags flying at homes in Des Moines, Project Rainbow reports (June 12)

Pretty sad they can’t afford their own Pride flags so they gotta steal other peoples’ flags. Maybe we should set up a gofundme to buy flags for those who feel the need to steal them. —J.M.

How pathetic of some folk. —G.F.

And this is exactly why Pride Month is needed. I.G.

ACCO l ADES

FilmScene has received an award from the National Endowment for the Arts of $25,000 to support its Community Engagement Through Cinema initiative, designed to connect Iowa City area locals and visitors through free and affordable programming, often in collaboration with other nonprofits.

At the Tony Awards ceremony on June 17, the Broadway play Stereophonic took home five awards, including Best Play, after being nominated for a record-breaking 13 Tonys across 10 categories. The play follows a fictional up-andcoming ’70s rock band as they record a new album, and was written by David Adjmi, a 2001 alumnus of the University of Iowa Playwrights’ Workshop.

“How America Became the Capital of Great Pizza,” a New York Times article published on June 25, names lincoln Winebar in Mount Vernon as one of the 22 best pizzerias in the country. The eastern Iowa restaurant was founded in 2000 and is owned by Jesse Sauerbrei, who utilizes local ingredients (including those grown on his grandfather’s farm) in his woodfired pizzas.

Contact Buzz

Hit the Ground Rolling

Des Moines’ 48 Hour Film Project draws indie crews from near and far for some frenetic filmmaking.

By JOHN BuSBEE

An excited tension permeates the theater on this Friday in July. It is packed with filmmakers anticipating some fast, creative cinematography. The figurative starter’s gun will soon discharge, signaling that each team has two days—48 hours—to conceive, script, shoot, edit and submit a short film to mark the successful completion of one of Iowa’s most intense creative marathons.

The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) in Des Moines celebrates its 20th season this year. Each team hopes to capture the coveted Best of Des Moines Award with a three-toseven-minute film.

“We give them a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue,” longtime Des Moines 48HFP producer Sam Pace-Tuomi explained. “Everything else is up to them and must be completed within that 48hour time period.”

The original 48HFP started in Washington D.C. in 2001, expanding into events in more than 200 cities and 45 countries. Each year, over 4,000 film teams and 50,000 filmmakers participate. The top film in each city earns the privilege of screening at Filmapalooza, the international 48HFP showcase. There’s a chance your two-day creation may even be chosen as one of 17 to screen at the next Cannes Film Festival.

The first ever winner of the Best of Des Moines Award soared. Mimes of the Prairie, a spoof of a Ken Burns-style documentary (available to view through YouTube) won the worldwide competition in 2005.

In addition to the mandatory character, prop and line of dialogue, filmmakers are also assigned a genre. These range from the expected comedy, drama, romance and musical, to the more exotic,

such as film femme, film noir, fish out of water, road film and revenge.

Production weekend begins Friday, July 28, at the Fleur Cinema & Café, a central Iowa bastion for indie films. This year, 60-plus teams are expected.

“We screen [all completed] films a few days later so they can get feedback, we’ll give out some awards,” Pace-Tuomi said. “[48HFP] is an excellent way for filmmakers to hone their skills. It’s a safe environment to learn new things, meet new people, fail. … We’ve had many 48 Hour filmmakers go on to [create] many independent films, as well as work in the industry.”

The allure isn’t just for the filmmakers. Cinephiles will be able to experience a bounty of short films, each a world premiere, at the Fleur Cinema & Café from Aug. 5-7. On Aug. 12, the Fleur will screen the top 12 films, while awards for acting, directing, writing, best use of the assigned elements, audience choice and, of course, Best of Des Moines will be bestowed.

“Everyone is invited to see these films, including being able to vote for your favorite,” Pace-Tuomi said.

Want to participate in the July 28-30 challenge? Visit 48hourfilm. com/desmoines to register your team.

48 Hour Film Project Friday, July 26–Sunday, July 28, $158–198

Premiere Screenings Fleur Cinema, Des Moines, Monday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.

Best of Screening Fleur Cinema, Des Moines, Thursday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m.

Bison-curious

Ancient prairie can’t be resurrected, but conservationists in Iowa have gotten close with the help of some roving giants.

By PAul BRENNAN

According to the National Park Service, the tallgrass prairie is “one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the world.” It once covered 167 million acres in the middle of North America, stretching from the Red River Valley in Canada into Texas. Only about 4 percent of the tallgrass prairie that existed before the European settlement of North America still exists, most of it in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

The tallgrass prairie covered most of what’s now Iowa. Now, there’s no place where the tallgrass prairie is more endangered.

“Here in Iowa we lost 99.9 percent,” Professor Laura Jackson, director of the Tallgrass Prairie Center (TPC) at the University of Northern Iowa, said. “If you only quote that figure as 99 percent, you’re off by 10-fold, because 99.9 percent of our original, remnant, ancient prairie is gone. Never to be recovered.”

The tallgrass prairie began to rapidly disappear in the 1830s, once the remarkable fertility of its soil was recognized. It was largely gone by the end of the 19th century. The Corn Belt was built on plowed-up prairie.

“Starting here in Cedar Falls, you can drive west for five hours at 70 miles an hour, and not see anything but corn or soybeans,” Jackson said. “Go east for five to eight hours, and you’ll basically not see anything besides corn and soybeans and Chicago. Going north, you still have to drive four or five hours before you get out of wall-towall corn and soybeans.”

“That’s a big area completely dominated by two crops made possible because the combination of the prairie with recent glaciation was a perfect combination for creating these incredible soils, which have been thoroughly exploited.”

The ancient tallgrass prairie may have been farmed out of existence in Iowa, except for that

BBison roam at Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve in Plymouth County, IA.

Chris Helzer

“Neal Smith wanted to create a legacy for the people of Iowa, a tallgrass prairie refuge. We were the first national wildlife refuge—there are now about 570—to reconstruct tallgrass prairie.”

—Scott Gilje, refuge manager at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge

0.1 percent, but there are efforts to restore and maintain sections of tallgrass prairie in the state.

The efforts are limited in scope—nothing is going to loosen corn and soybeans’ grip on Iowa anytime soon—and restored prairie will never be exactly identical to the original, because too much has changed since wild prairie turned into cropland.

One of the biggest things—literally, one of the biggest—missing from most prairie restoration efforts is the bison.

Bison made the prairie what it was, through grazing, through the impact of thousands of

roaming hooves, and also because the Indigenous peoples of the plains used fire to manage prairies, eliminating invasive species and restoring nutrients to the soil, to make sure it remained attractive to the bison they hunted.

The near extinction of the bison in North America through overhunting and habitat destruction is well-known to most people, at least in its general outline. The last sighting of any wild bison in Iowa happened when two were spotted near Spirit Lake in 1870. But before Iowa became a state, bison were almost as common on its prairies as Big Bluestem grass.

ison or buffalo? Which is the correct name for the official National Mammal of the United States? (President Obama signed a proclamation in 2016 giving the shaggy, humpbacked beasts that status.) Both are used so frequently that only a pedant would, say, insist Buffalo Wild Wings change their logo to more closely resemble Africa’s muscly, mostly bald bovine.

Scientifically, the North American version are bison; Bison bison is the scientific designation. (The European bison is Bison bonasus.) Bison bison has two subspecies, commonly called the plains bison and the wood bison. The latter, mostly found in Canada, is Bison bison athabascae. But for the plains bison, zoologists triple-downed. Its full name is Bison bison bison.

their grazing helps with the control of vegetation. They roam, they eat, that’s what they did on the original prairie. That’s what we wanted to bring back as one of our prairie management tools, along with fire and mechanical cutting.”

“The other reason is the visiting public,” Gilje continued, “People get to come and see bison in a natural landscape as best they can, versus seeing them in a zoo or something like that.”

The bison have fulfilled both missions. Neal Smith gets about 250,000 visitors a year. There’s no admission fee, and the refuge has trails for hiking through parts of the restored tallgrass prairie, as well as its restored oak savannah and sedge meadow, which are also parts of the pre-statehood landscape. There are also observation points from which you watch the bison and the small herd of elk that share their enclosure, as well as a fivemile-long driving route through bison enclosure (visitors must stay in their vehicles, no selfies with bison).

In March, a panel of experts assembled by *USA Today* named Neal Smith the Best National Wildlife Refuge for 2024. There are 570 national wildlife refuges across the country, at least one in every state. The panel cited Neal Smith’s bison and elk in its decision, calling the refuge “a living example of the historic prairie landscape, offering visitors the chance to observe these iconic species in a natural setting.”

“We manage the bison in as hands-off a way as possible,” Gilje said.“There’s no supplemental feeding, no veterinary visits. These bison are managed in the same way they’d be in the wild.”

“Our biology crew goes out and does a visual assessment of the bison, using binoculars to look at body composition, not getting too close. Just a visual check,” he explained. “The only time we do hands-on work is our annual bison-handling event. The new calves go through our chute, we’ll put a microchip in them for identification purposes and draw blood for genetic testing, and do some other basic procedures as well.”

There are more cows than bulls at Neal

Smith—they make up about 60 percent of the herd, according to Gilje—and the social structure of bison is organized along matrilineal lines.

“The cows and their offspring—the calves, the yearlings—all stay together in a group,” Gilje said. “The mature bulls form bachelor groups and keep to themselves, except during breeding season when they all commingle. Then it’s like any other species, and they’re fighting for dominance on who gets to do the breeding.”

The restored prairie at Neal Smith is home to

“Having a remnant prairie in your neighborhood is kind of like having a medieval cathedral. It’s so special, so rare. It takes time and effort to take care of it properly. We really have a responsibility to future generations to protect that little bit that’s still left.”

—TPC Director Laura Jackson

more than just bison and elk. It has “all your typical Iowa residents,” as Gilje puts it. “Whitetail deer, foxes, coyotes. We have a family of badgers that have taken up residence alongside the road.”

It also provides shelter for many bird species native to the prairie or who fly over Iowa on their annual migrations.

There are currently 67 bison at Neal Smith, including seven recently born calves, roaming across an 800-acre enclosure.

“Kind of our magic number we shoot for, based on the acres that we have and the vegetation, is about 55,” Gilje said. “Basically what we do with bison when there are more than 55 to 60 is donate the extra ones to different tribal entities or other

conservation partners, like county conservation boards or groups like that that are looking to start their own conservation herds.”

Bison donated by Neal Smith to Meskawki in 2006 started the herd maintained by Meskwaki Natural Resources Department (MNR). There are now approximately 45 to 55 bison on just over 200 acres of mixed pasture and forest at the Meskwaki Settlement-Buffalo Refuge Area, according to MNR’s site.

“MNR treats the buffalo with Respect and treats them as Wildlife,” the site explains.

Polk County also received some of the bison moved from Neal Smith in 2006. The county has maintained a small number of bison at Jester Park since 1960.

By far the largest number of bison in Iowa can be found at Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve in Plymouth County, about 17 miles north of Sioux City. It’s also the largest continuous prairie in the state, featuring remnants of the original tallgrass prairie. The 3,300-acre preserve in the Loess Hills is owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that is the world’s largest conservation organization.

“We operate in over 70 countries, in all 50 states,” TNC’s Iowa Director Graham McGaffin told *Little Village*. “We were founded in 1951, and we’ve had an Iowa chapter since 1963.”

TNC currently has 17 properties in Iowa, preserving a wide variety of endangered ecosystems, from Broken Kettle in the northwest to Land of White Swamp Oak Preserve in the floodplain of the Cedar River in Muscatine County.

Work on Broken Kettle began in 1992, with the purchase of the first section of prairie that makes up the preserve. It has expanded 21 times since then, with the most recent acquisition in 2022. The first bison arrived in 2008.

They were added to Broken Kettle, not just to create a new conservation herd, but also to work. Just like they do at Neal Smith.

“Our director of lands would say, we don’t

have the prairie for the bison, we have the bison for the prairie,” McGaffin said. “They are a management tool to help us take care of the preserve for the other wildlife that use it.”

From the original 18 that arrived in 2008, the herd has grown to more than 150.

“We had a herd-size that was larger a few years ago, but we reduced its size during the three-years of drought we’ve just gone through,” McGaffin said. “Now that the drought has ended, we can think about increasing the number again.”

When Broken Kettle had to reduce the size of the herd, bison were transferred to TNC properties in other states wanting to start or expand herds, and they were also donated to the Intertribal Buffalo Council to be distributed to tribes looking to grow their herds.

The bison at Broken Kettle roam freely in a 2,000-acre enclosure that is separated from the rest of the preserve by strong fencing.

“That part of the property isn’t open to the public for their own safety,” McGaffin said. “But hundreds of acres at Broken Kettle are.”

As large as they are, Neal Smith and Broken Kettle together represent just a fraction of the prairie lands and bison herds that Iowa once had, and the state’s most widespread effort to reintroduce tallgrass prairie plants covers just a fraction of those two big operations.

The Tallgrass Prairie Center at UNI has been working to support county roadside management agencies around the state interested in planting prairie plants along their roads since it was founded in 1999. In fact, the center’s original name was the Native Roadside Vegetation Center.

In 1988, the Iowa Legislature passed a law making it in the public interest for roadsides to be used for diverse purposes. Roadside planting was recommended to support wildlife in addition to looking good. A roadside vegetation office was established at UNI, and eventually grew into the center.

“It was very natural to call it the Native Roadside Vegetation Center, because that’s where the money came from,” TPC Director Laura Jackson said.

The center still works with county roadside management agencies—“About 1,200 acres per year” of roadside are planted in prairie, Jackson explained. “Some counties opt out. They’re not interested in doing it.”—but its name was changed in 2006 to reflect the broad range of research and work it does.

One of the most important things the center does is make sure seeds from native Iowa prairie plants remain available.

“You can buy seed from a seed company that says ‘wildflower seed,’ but where did it come from?” Jackson said. “Everything is wild somewhere. The least expensive seed, especially when

people started doing a lot of prairie planting, was from Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. There’s seed from Oregon and Pennsylvania. You can buy seed that comes from the Netherlands, that’s supposedly a native species, but it’s been bred for the cut-flower trade.”

“We want to be able to provide seed companies in our area with seed that comes from Iowa remnant prairies,” she continued. “We go out and collect seed in small quantities, and maximize the range of plants that we’re collecting and the range of locations, so that we get a lot of genetic diversity.”

The collected seeds are planted in the center’s greenhouse, and grow into plants that produce more seed.

“We harvest that seed and hold onto it in a cooler—we’ve got a big database, we know how old the seed is, where it came from, all that—and then when a native seed company decides there’s a market for something like wild strawberry, we release some of seed to them for a small fee,” Jackson said.

TPC’s newest big project is Irvine Prairie near the town of Dysart. The land was donated to the UNI Foundation by Kathy Irvine in memory of her husband David. The couple shared a love of the tallgrass prairie, and Kathy wanted to honor her late husband by having the land he used to farm in Benton County used for prairie restoration. Irvine donated 77 acres in 2018, and followed that up by donating a further 215 acres in 2023.

“We’ve been planting about 25 to 30 acres a year,” Jackson said. “Our last planting will be in the fall of 2028. When we’re finished planting it, it’ll be 292 acres with a very diverse species. We’re up to over 100 species of plants that have been established so far.”

“It’s beautiful. It’s open to the public, and we have hiking trails through the south unit of the property.”

As successful as the restoration efforts at Irvine Prairie are, Professor Jackson is clear that restored prairies will never reach the same level of complexity as the original prairies, in part because our understanding of the ancient prairie is limited since so little of it remains. And those remnants are threatened.

“Remnant prairies are being taken over by invasive species,” she said. “The remnant prairies need a lot more care, they need a lot more resources going into managing them with fire, with grazing, if possible.”

“Having a remnant prairie in your neighborhood is kind of like having a medieval cathedral. It’s so special, so rare. It takes time and effort to take care of it properly. We really have a responsibility to future generations to protect that little bit that’s still left.”

Support the businesses that make Iowa unique.

living History

The never-ending art of bonsai bonds Des Moines gardeners across the generations.

By lIly WASSERMAN AND EMMA MCClATCHEy

There are, of course, no bonsai seeds—only bonsai trees. Most tree species can be “trained” to become bonsai through a sophisticated, often obsessive process of cutting, potting, pruning, wiring and styling a plant into a miniature, meticulously sculpted version of itself.

The art form is rooted in centuries of Japanese and Chinese tradition, but there is a bonsai tree in Iowa that also has a (relatively) long history.

The

In the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden there is a ginkgo biloba, or maidenhair tree, that began its training to become a bonsai in 1865. That Civil War-era tree was donated to the Botanical Garden by Ruth Ladany. Ladany and her late husband Jules had fallen in love with bonsai during a trip to Japan in the 1950s. They became devoted collectors, and helped found the Midwest Bonsai Society. Ladany gifted the impressive bonsai collection she and Jules collected to Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden when it first opened in 1979.

Tyler Erickson / Little Village

At that time, the Ladany’s collection was valued at $100,000. In today’s dollars that would be almost $410,000.

The 154-year-old bonsai is the oldest tree in the Botanical Garden’s collection, and is under the supervision of a team of caretakers who embody just the right blend of botanist and artist. Its primary caretaker is Scott Allen, president of the Iowa Bonsai Association and a bonsai enthusiast for two decades.

“If a tree looks like it’s undernourished, I advise on what we should be feeding them,” Allen said. “If a tree happens to get some kind of a disease then I advise on that. I keep trees that grow fast pruned so they’re looking good to be on display in a collection.”

The Iowa Bonsai Association was founded in

“I talked to my dad and my dad said, ‘If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything, what would you do?’ And so I told him I’d do bonsai. And he said, ‘That’s what you should do,’” After that, he quit his job and committed to the art of bonsai full-time. —Todd Schlafer

1979, growing alongside the Botanical Garden and their bonsai collection. (That also happened to be the year Pope John Paul II visited Living History Farms, but that’s a story for another day.)

Bonsai curators prune and wire branches into silhouettes, the desired shape of the tree. DMBG bonsai are silhouetted in a traditional Japanese style, with asymmetrical triangles and clean branches.

How often they prune depends on the tree, as some grow faster than others. Allen prunes the Russian Olive once every two weeks. Pruning

bonsai is a difficult art to master, as too much can kill a plant, while pruning too little can lead to overgrowth.

“Every tree has different growing characteristics,” Allen said. “A lot of that influences how we would prune a tree. But it’s up to the owner, it’s their piece of art. So they prune it to how they like it.”

Because bonsai is a living sculpture, they’re one of the few works of art that are never “finished,” explained Todd Schlafer. Schlafer’s been involved with the Greater Des Moines Botanical

Des Moines Botanical Garden’s oldest bonsai began its training in 1865, a year before the first railroad passed through the capitol city.

Garden since 2017, when Allen put out a call for a new bonsai collection curator.

“I basically base my life around my trees and my wife,” Schlafer said. “But she’s very understanding.”

A lot of bonsai art revolves around planning for the future, since the artist must consider what the plant will look like five, 10, perhaps 50 years along the line.

Before he became a bonsai professional, Schlafer had a career as an art director for a pet toy company. But as time went on, he struggled with impatience.

“I talked to my dad and my dad said, ‘If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything, what would you do?’ And so I told him I’d do bonsai. And he said, ‘That’s what you should do,’” Schlafer recalled. After that, he quit his job and committed to the art of bonsai full-time.

Though he lives in Denver, Schlafer comes to Des Moines three times a year to check on the collection. In early spring, he focuses on repotting; in June, he focuses on pruning; and in October he focuses on cleaning them and preparing them for their time indoors in the winter. He always checks the wiring and soil. While he’s gone, he communicates with Allen about what the trees need.

“There’s this reverence that you have to have towards [bonsais], and just an amount of respect,” Schlafer said.

This respect has helped him gain his patience back.

“It’s very fulfilling to see work done and then see the tree respond and grow after that work is done.”

Aaron Harpold, director of horticulture at the Botanical Garden, said he hopes the collection inspires visitors to attend one of the center’s Bonsai for Beginners classes, a two-part course held twice a year.

“[Bonsais are] an opportunity for people to tactically engage with nature, albeit in a very controlling way, but in a very different way,” Harpold said. “Any way I can get folks to slow down and pay attention to what’s around them through plants, it’s good for me.”

Bonsai may be an ancient art, but it’s always evolving. Allen said about five years ago he noticed a few of the bonsais in the Botanical Garden’s courtyard terrace began showing burn marks from sun exposure. It’s become an increasing problem, but Allen hopes putting up a shade cloth will help.

Still, the trees are extremely hardy, surviving years upon lifetimes with a much less dedicated team looking out for them.

“The collection has had its ups and downs,” Allen said. “Right now the collection is looking better than it has in a very long time.”

All Day, Baby

The breakfast menu never expires at these central and eastern Iowa diners.

By SEETA lEE

Sometimes you just want pancakes for dinner— specifically, a stack of hotcakes fresh off the seasoned griddle of a local diner, presented with a carafe of syrup, crispy hashbrowns, eggs any style and a cocktail or two.

Whatever your dream brinner may be, there are plenty of restaurants in the Des Moines and Iowa City metros with mouth-watering breakfast menus served into the afternoon, evening and, in some cases, past midnight. I reviewed about a dozen below.

Des

Moines

Beaver Tap

4050 Urbandale Ave, Des Moines

Open Mon-Fri (8:30 a.m.-midnight), Sat & Sun (8:30 a.m.-2 a.m.) Beaver Tap is the definition of a hole-in-the-wall eatery,

tucked behind Ace Hardware in a Beaverdale strip mall. The breakfast bowl with eggs, choice of meat, potatoes, peppers, onions and gravy is a steal at only $10. Available for delivery on DoorDash and GrubHub.

Chelsie’s Courtyard Diner

300 W Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy, Des Moines

Open Tues-Th, Sun (11 a.m.-10 p.m.), Fri-Sat (11 a.m.-midnight)

A new addition to the Des Moines dining scene, Chelsie’s Courtyard Diner is open late for drinks, dinner—and breakfast. Though the breakfast menu is smaller than most, Chelsie’s has six trusty choices, including the Marry Me Benedict, a grilled croissant with Canadian bacon, eggs, asparagus, asiago and a hollandaise sauce.

Sprockets

2314 University Ave, Des Moines

Open Mon-Fri (11 a.m.-11 p.m.), Sat & Sun (9 a.m.-11 p.m.)

While not all of their breakfast items are available for dinner, Sprockets in the Drake neighborhood has something no one else does: wings and waffles. The

eatery also serves a breakfast flatbread that is so loaded with toppings, it’s almost too much. If you do happen to get there before 2 p.m., Sprockets served my dining companion a perfect pancake that, in his words, was so good he “lost [his] ability to do math.” Available for delivery on DoorDash and GrubHub.

Drake Diner

1111 25th St, Des Moines

Open Mon-Tues (7 a.m.-3 p.m.), Wed & Sun (7 a.m.-9 p.m.), Fri & Sat (7 a.m.-10 p.m.)

I’d be remiss to not shout-out Drake Diner in the all-day breakfast game. Traditional blue plate special-style meals are always available, but their more creative options are delightful. Cap’n Crunch French Toast Sticks seem like they should be on the kid’s menu, but the crunchy, fried sourdough bread is more of an indulgence for everyone. The pumpkin pancakes are my favorite, and they’re available year-round.

Other late, great options: The Ankeny Diner

133 SE Delaware Ave, Ankeny

Open Tues-Sun (6 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Highlights: Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs, Diner Special Omelet (Iowa sausage, mushrooms and mixed cheese), the Sunday Brunch Buffet

Cozy Café

8385 Birchwood Ct, Johnston Open Mon-Sun (7 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Highlights: Cozy Mess (hashbrowns with ham, bacon, sausage, peppers, eggs, toast), Best Homemade Biscuits and Gravy, Pork Chop (with three eggs, hashbrowns, toast). Available for delivery on UberEats

Papa Kerns

304 E 30th St #3718, Des Moines Open Tues-Sat (7 a.m.-8 p.m.), Sun (7 a.m.-2 p.m.)

Highlights: Kicken Texan (taco meat, hashbrowns, peppers, two eggs, etc.), The Stacker (country biscuits, hashbrowns, sausage gravy), Denver Omelet, Hot Cakes

Ames/Nevada

Dutch Oven Bakery

219 Duff Ave, Ames

Open Tues-Fri (6 a.m.-5:30 p.m.), Sat (6 a.m.-5 p.m.)

Van Hemert’s Dutch Oven Bakery

Ethan Edvenson/ Litt

IMAGINE. CREATE. DISCOVER. EXPLORE.

PLAY!

Located in Coral Ridge Mall | 319.625.6255 | theicm.org

Midtown Family Restaurant

1069 IA-1, Iowa City

Open Mon-Sat (7 a.m.-7:30 p.m.), Sun (7 a.m.-2 p.m.)

200 Scott Ct, Iowa City

Open Mon-Sat (7 a.m.-8 p.m.), Sun (7 a.m.-2 p.m.)

Highlights: Eggs Benedict, Veggie Skillet, Western Omelette, Sirloin Steak and Eggs.

Cedar Rapids

lucky’s on 16th 86 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Sun (6 a.m.-10 p.m.)

Czech Village is the place to while away an aimless afternoon—wandering through the antique stores, picking up some sweets and finally, settling in to a dinner of breakfast at Lucky’s. Feel free to spin the wheel; all the options are winners. Some highlights, though, are the breakfast wontons—cream cheese and bacon in crispy-fried wrappers with hollandaise and gravy for dipping—or the eggs benedict, which comes in four varieties and can be ordered as a flight. If you really want to hone in on the breakfast/ dinner crossover, try the breakfast mac and cheese: bacon, sausage and ham with a fried egg, all with some primo mac.

Cruz’s Cafe

568 Boyson Rd NE #190, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Sat (6:30 a.m.-8 p.m.), Sun (6:30 a.m.-2 p.m.)

Sidle up to the charmingly miniaturized diner-style bar, hang out in the patio seating, or just find a seat—whatever you choose, you’re in for a great breakfast from morning till evening at Cruz’s Café. Old standards mingle with delicious specialities like their Tex-Mex shipwreck, a delectably seasoned pile o’ cheese, thin-cut steak, potatoes, eggs, salsa and more that’ll prove a formidable adversary to the hungriest diner. With 10 (ten!) different breakfast meats plus vegan eggs and sausage for the non-carnivores, there’s a spread to satisfy your whole party.

Midtown Station

715 2nd Ave SE, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Th (7 a.m.-midnight), Fri & Sat (7 a.m.-2 a.m.), Sun (7 a.m.-8 p.m.)

There’s a sweet spot where a restaurant is just big enough that it doesn’t feel cramped, but small enough to feel intimate. Midtown Station hits that spot well, though with their patio behind the restaurant and seating arranged around the center bar, you’ll probably still find a seat when it gets crowded. Try the Rumchata French toast, a sweet-tooth-haver’s delight, build your own shipwreck, or pay homage to the firehouse across the street with the Firehouse Burrito’s chorizo-jalapeno-pepper-jack kickiness.

Other late, great options: Czech Town Station 69 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Th (7 a.m.-10 p.m.), Fri & Sat (7 a.m.-midnight), Sun (7 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Highlights: Down South Benedict, Salmon and Eggs, Avocado Toast, Breakfast Griller. Available for delivery on UberEats.

Breakfast Barn and lunch House

3980 Center Point Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Th (7 a.m.-8 p.m.), Fri & Sat (6:30 a.m.-8 p.m.), Sun (6:30 a.m.-4 p.m.)

Highlights: Breakfast Quesadilla, Cinnamon Apple Cakes, Barn Shipwreck, Grits Bowl. Available for delivery on DoorDash, Grubhub and UberEats

Tommy’s Restaurant

393 Edgewood Rd NW, Cedar Rapids

Open Mon-Sat (6 a.m.-8 p.m.), Sun (6 a.m.-2 p.m.)

Highlights: Egg-Cellent Sandwich, Oven Roasted Turkey Skillet, Cinnamon French Toast Combo, loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Available for delivery on DoorDash, Grubhub and UberEats

Malcolm MacDougall contributed the Cedar Rapids reviews to this piece.

Cinco hombres, un camino

The belt-buckled Bronco are a staple of Tejano pop music, with swooning fans the world over (including West Liberty).

By KEMBREW MClEOD

When Bronco takes the stage at the Val Air Ballroom, the iconic Mexican group will weave into their live show a tapestry of musical influences imbued with layers of cultural history. Originally hailing from Apodaca in the northeast state of Nuevo León, this five-piece grupero ensemble has been around since the mid’70s, when they were known as Los Broncos de Apodaca. Since then, they have continued to be fronted by founder José Guadalupe Esparza.

Tapestry is a useful metaphor for the music played by Bronco, whose songs echo those kinds of textile designs that contain rich, complex patterns and imagery, laced with meaning. In short, Bronco builds on several resonant musical traditions to create something unique, joyful and moving, with a driving beat that you can dance to.

“Bronco has been part of Mexican and Latin American popular culture since the 1980s,” journalist Tar Macias observed. “I’ve been aware of them since their popular song ‘Sergio el Bailador’ released in the late ’80s. … Like any artist, Bronco has had to reinvent themselves to stay relevant throughout the years. But their popularity is rooted on their long artistic trajectory and their many hits.”

The group has been part of the soundtrack of Macias’s life since he moved with his family from Mexico City to Moline, Illinois on July 4, 1987 at the age of 14 (he is the fifth generation in his family to live in the U.S.). Since he began working in the communications industry in the ’90s, Macias has interviewed Bronco frontman Esparza three times, most recently in 2018 as the publisher of Hola Iowa and Hola America News.

“They are very popular internationally and with the Spanish-speaking audience in the U.S.,” Macias said, contextualizing Bronco for Englishspeaking readers who might not be aware of the group. “I would say they are like a popular country band that has stayed relevant for almost five decades.”

One of the prominent styles that the group incorporates is Tejano, which translates roughly as Tex-Mex, a hybrid musical form that evolved from crosspollinations that flowered in the wake of immigration, colonization, and (eventually) commercialization. The roots of Tejano can be traced back to the 1830s, when large numbers

via M&M Group

of Germans and Czechs migrated to Texas and Mexico, bringing with them accordions and the oompah oompah polka beat.

This cultural hybridization also occurred in Iowa and other neighboring Midwestern states, which produced their own distinctive regional blends that incorporated country and folk, which are sometimes referred to as “Dutchmen” style. In the case of Tejano music further south, it melded traditional regional genres like mariachi, ranchera and corrido with the elements of European folk music favored by Germanic and Polish settlers.

By the ’70s, performers such as Freddy Fender and Flaco Jiménez introduced country, rock and other contemporary influences into the mix—setting the stage for groups like Bronco. With their matching jumpsuits, synthesizers and regular appearances on a popular telenovela, Dos mujeres, un camino, Bronco can hardly be characterized as a traditional folk group, but their music teems with aural echoes of the past. Instead of holding tightly to the “authenticity” of their roots, an impulse that can turn musicians into museum acts, Bronco gravitated to what made modern crowds move.

“They have never been shy to explore many genres in their style of music,” Macias said, “even collaborating with many other popular artists in pop music like Cristian Castro, Julieta Venegas and Ricardo Montaner. I recently read they would even consider recording a Reggaeton song, but in their style. I don’t know if I can visualize that, but I wouldn’t doubt they could pull it off. They always had.”

Father Guillermo Trevino, Jr., pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in West Liberty, Iowa, has been a huge Bronco fan since he was a toddler. They have remained part of his life into adulthood,

when he was once asked to bless the band when he was invited on their tour bus. Born in 1986 in San Antonio, Texas, he moved with his family to Moline at the age of 3, and while growing up he saw Bronco on Univision broadcasts of Dos mujeres, un camino, watched their music videos, and heard them on the radio throughout the ’90s.

“They transcended music by being on a soap opera, and their music videos in my opinion were ahead of their time,” Father Guillermo said. “They stood out and were just top of the line for that era. That’s why Bronco were so big at that time.”

“As a little kid,” he continued, “they were always my favorite band, even though when I was little and I didn’t really know what they were saying in their lyrics, aside from stuff about, like, horses and cowboys. But it was just the great beat that I always enjoyed. It’s easy to dance to, and as a person that isn’t really a big dancer, it’s an easy beat to move around to because it’s just very catchy. I almost enjoy the beat as much as the lyrics, so that’s half the fun for me.”

The bookkeeper at Father Guillermo’s church is a huge music fan who has turned him on to more Spanish-language bands, and he has attended performances with her and other concert buddies in recent years. This is an example of how music can bring people together, Father Guillermo said, because he has made friends with folks on social media that he has met at those shows, many of whom are looking forward to seeing Bronco on Aug. 4.

Bronco

Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines Sunday, Aug. 4 at 8 p.m.,

“There’s several people that want to go—some from my church and some that aren’t church members but are like, ‘Next time, Father, let us know and we’ll travel together!’ So I’m making some new friendships and stuff. For the Bronco concert, it looks like several people are going to travel from all over Iowa to Des Moines.”

The last time Father Guillermo saw Bronco live, in Davenport, he wound up meeting his childhood heroes after hanging around after the show while trying to get a photo of himself in front of the tour bus. He got to talking to the band’s driver, who told him, “This bus has been all over the Americas—North, Central, South America,” which speaks to Bronco’s widespread popularity in the Spanish-speaking world.

“I didn’t ask to get on the bus,” Father Guillermo said. “I just wanted a picture of me with the bus as a keepsake, and the driver was willing to do that. But then he said, ‘You can get on the bus and say hello to the group.’ So, I got on the bus. I was on the verge of being starstruck because you know, they were my favorite since I was little! And then they go, ‘Well, Padre, can we get a blessing for the road?’ Because they had another concert later that same day. So, I did the sign of the cross and did a quick prayer for safety on the road and that everything goes well.”

In recent years, more Iowa music promoters have begun to cater to a growing population starved for artists like Bronco, which means that Father Guillermo and others no longer need to drive to Chicago and other major Midwestern cities to see live music. In return, he and other likeminded fans try hard to support Spanishlanguage musicians when they visit this state, in part because it reminds them of who they are and where they come from.

“Seeing bands like Bronco brings a little of our culture to us here in Iowa,” Macias said. “And the nostalgia factor is certainly a factor for the people in Iowa to see these bands that they grew up listening to.”

“I think that promoters realize just how much the population has grown,” Father Guillermo added, “even if maybe it’s not like Los Angeles or Texas or Florida. In West Liberty, yes, we’re just a little town, but we always get a festival in September, and they bring in bands as well— maybe not as famous as Bronco, but they still have a fiesta and people come from all over to listen, so hopefully this music thing keeps growing here.”

Kembrew McLeod first got into Tex-Mex music 30 years ago when he stumbled across the Texas Tornados—a supergroup that included Flaco Jiménez, Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender—which sent him down several musical roads.

A-list: Eastern Iowa

The Z Axis

Brazilian Zouk is setting dance floors ablaze from Rio de Janeiro to Iowa City.

By CHuy RENTERIA

One of the most popular contemporary partner dances was almost stifled out of existence at the end of the 20th century.

“When people say Lambada, people think, ‘Oh, the forbidden dance?’ That is the first thing that comes to mind for people. And that’s a very wrong idea, actually, because it’s a sensual dance, but it’s not a sexual dance,” explained dancer Gabriel de Carvalho.

“Basically, Lambada was a big hit in the ’80s and ’90s in Brazil. The dancers produced the music. The big record companies started to boycott because they didn’t own the rights. It was this whole movement of ‘how are we gonna suppress this culture?’ There were

events sponsored by the big record labels, ‘The Death of Lombada.’ They literally controlled the market. They had the radio. Radio was a very strong part of music, especially in Brazil, because we didn’t have streaming services. How do you get your music? Especially in a third world country? MTV? No, it’s the radio.”

Radios restricted the public’s access to Lambada music. Fortunately, Brazilian culture has a long history of resiliency. The so-called “Death of Lambada” became another adversity to overcome, and dancers did so by incorporating new music and moves.

“It was more of a necessity to find music that you could use to dance to. But with that also came this big variety,” de Carvalho said. “Like, I can dance to Kizomba. Oh, I can dance with some Cabo Verde music, it’s really similar to that tempo. Oh yeah, I can dance to Reggaetón.”

“We always say that it’s like we have the mother and daughter,” he added. “Lambada is the mother. Zouk is the daughter.”

It was this decentralizing and

embracing of multiple musical genres, Caribbean Zouk in particular, that informed the development of Brazilian Zouk. And, of course, the dancers behind the moves— no one more than “Queen of Zouk Lambada” Renata Peçanha, who many credit with creating the style.

“She had so much love for the dance that she was like, I cannot let this dissolve. So she and other teachers started to do a movement to migrate from the name of Lambada to a different form, but it’s still preserving that way of dancing.”

De Carvalho joined Peçanha’s dance company and immersed himself in her teachings for more than a decade. With fellow dancer Verity Rose, the pair are perhaps the most prolific Zouk practitioners and instructors in Iowa.

The two met in Iowa, both attracted by the state’s nascent Zouk scene. Unfortunately, they arrived right before the pandemic, when that scene, like so many other artistic landscapes, was almost extinguished. But de Carvalho and Rose weathered the storm, sticking it out long enough to

Aprenda a Dançar

Want to learn some Brazilian Zouk moves? Here are the classes and key events throughout the state this summer.

MONDAyS

Zouk 101 7–8 p.m. at PS1Close House, Iowa City

Zouk 201 8–9 p.m. at PS1Close House, Iowa City

TuESDAyS

Zouk Basics 8:30–9:30 p.m. at Des Moines Ballroom

Zouk Intermediate 9:30–10:30 p.m. at DSM Ballroom

WEDNESDAyS

Zouk Lab (Open Practice) 8–10 p.m. PS1 - Close House, Iowa City

FIRST SuNDAy OF THE MONTH

Zoukchata: Zouk & Bachata

Dancing 2:30–6 p.m. at Kindred Coffee, Iowa City

see the scene blossom again. Today, they both consider themselves fulltime Zouk professionals, Rose focusing on organizing local events while de Carvalho regularly travels the Midwest to teach classes.

“You’ll see some elements of [a wide variety of dances] within Brazilian Zouk,” Rose said. “It’s really a beautiful mix and if you take a class in Samba de Gafieira, Bolero, Forro, if you take a Soltinho class, you’ll see these elements that are in Zouk. So it’s like a whole history within one dance. Not only that, you can dance it to almost anything. You can dance it to hip hop, R&B, soul, you can dance it to salsa.”

This musical versatility was on display at a beginner session Rose held at Iowa City’s Public Space One the day before our interview. After a warm-up we are asked to self-identify as either leaders, or followers. The musical genres flipped with each track as followers paired with leaders. As we learned the “abertura frontal” (literally translated as the opening frontal step), Rose asked the followers to move on to the next leader while she added more cues to our basic step, and so on.

I can be a bad follower. At one point, I took the lead and tried to zig when my leader wanted me to zag. It is a rookie mistake that we both laugh at. Then the song changes and the followers are whisked away to our next leader.

As I moved from partner to partner, holding hands in the “open position” taught to us, I realized that this was the first dance class I’ve taken since the pandemic. The first class where it felt, for me, comfortable

touching someone else in the ways that we were.

That Rose was able to sustain the programs and community she built around Zouk throughout the pandemic is a testament to her dedication to the art form. A lifelong dancer, Rose didn’t discover Zouk until the 2019 FUZE Afro Latin Dance Festival in Iowa City.

“I just remember seeing the dance and not understanding it. It’s very interesting to me because I’m usually able to see those patterns. It was just the 3D-ness of it, you know? You’re not just working with the X and Y planes, you’re working with the Z plane,” she said.

It wasn’t until later, when she got some instruction that it clicked for her. “In that class, I thought, OK, this is it. This is my dance. I’m just hooked on it now. It’s like, that’s my heart.”

This love held the scene together, and eventually led me to Rose’s own beginner class.

“Zouk has taught me more about myself than any other social dance has,” she said. “It opened up other worlds for me as well. I was organizing events, teaching and developing myself as an artist. But I found a knack and a passion for event organizing.”

The goal, de Carvalho said, is to not only see Zouk Lambada develop a life of its own in Iowa.

“For me, I want to be able to have the sense of community that I experienced in Brazil to exist here,” he said. “And that I don’t need to be here for things to work. That it’s self-sustaining. That is my big dream.”

I’m not a robot

Real Music Real People AND NEITHER ARE WE!

Real Instruments

Listener-Supported Public Radio from Kirkwood Community College www.kcck.org

Gabriel de Carvalho (right) leads a dancer in a Zouk 102 class at PS1’s Close House in Iowa City. Ian Bennett / Little Village

A-list: Central Iowa

Birds of a Feather

The Swan Prjct uses people power to craft barn-burning dance performances.

By CHuy RENTERIA

It is the end of a fruitful rehearsal for the Swan Prjct dance company. The high school contingent has just finished running through their performance to “My Queen is Harriet Tubman” by Sons of Kemet, its frenetic afrobeat stylings rattling the walls of SEEDS Studios in Des Moines’ East Village. The dancers raced into a line, snaked across the floor; as the song ended, they collapsed onto the ground in perfect timing.

The company’s middle schoolers cheered them on, shouting affirmations. Someone asked the dancers how they were feeling. “Tired! Sweaty!” they replied.

Though there seemed to be enough energy in the room for a few more run-throughs, Swan Prjct founder and artistic director Sarah Jae instead told her troupe to, “Go to your hearts. Find some calm.” The kids settled onto heart stickers on the studio floor, breathing as the speakers began to play “BLOOD.”, the sparse opening track of Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. They moved through an adagio—arms lift and transition from one ballet position to the next. The moment is stillness.

Before Swan Prjct had a name or a distinct mission, it began as an adult beginner ballet class taught a few days a week by Jae in 2011 as a way of making dance more accessible.

“During that time, a dancer I taught, Yvette [Zaród Hermann of Art Force Iowa], encouraged me to work with youth again. I had been creating preschool art programs and other dance spaces for adults since I was 18,” Jae said in an email.

Swan Prjct has grown into a community of its own, with Jae still teaching adult classes but also heading a dedicated youth contingent of the group.

“I am most proud of the community that Swan is creating, and to be working with and collaborating through dance with so many different ages and generations all together in one space … from age 5 to 75,” Jae said. “In the program we have teachers who are in their teens, and instructors in their 70s. I have the honor of co-teaching a class with Cynthia Hunafa, who is one of the original members of Gateway Dance Theater— the first dance company to bring dance accessibility to our community, 50 years ago.”

Swan Prjct will collaborate with Gateway on

“Swan Prjct exists to break stereotypes and strengthen community. It serves dance and movement initiatives for youth and adults, while committing to decolonization, reproductive justice, and abolition work in the community.”

––Sarah Jae, Swan PrjctArtistic Director

SEEDS Dance Performance, Choreography by N’Jelle Gage Thorne Des Moines Art Center, Friday, July 19 1t 1:30 p.m., free

a project later this year. This summer, the junior high and high school members of the group performed their third-annual showcase at Des Moines’ historic Hoyt Sherman Place. Called (((WAVES))), it was billed as a contemporary ballet and “a journey honoring Afrofuturism and the water in its many forms.” The showcase was produced by SEEDS, a nonprofit co-founded by Executive Director Dontreale Anderson in 2019,

Left: The Swan Prjct’s Hoyt Sherman Performance on June 14, 2024. Above and right: preparing to take the stage ahead of the show. Anthony Scanga / Little Village

with Jae joining a few months after its inception.

“Swan Prjct exists to break stereotypes and strengthen community. It serves dance and movement initiatives for youth and adults, while committing to decolonization, reproductive justice, and abolition work in the community,” Jae explained.

“Our elders and our kids are the most disregarded and disrespected members of society, and their wisdom matters most to me, so creating spaces where everyone feels seen, heard, respected and led towards self empowerment is really the most honorable and important thing I feel like our program is offering.”

Something struck me as I sat against the wall on June 13, watching Swan Prjct’s last rehearsal before the (((WAVES))) showcase. This was not the first time in Iowa I’ve been among a group of dancers whose Black and brown complexion reflected my own; contrary to what many might think about Iowa, my years of breaking and hip-hop dancing in the state provided countless opportunities to share rooms with dancers of marginalized identities.

But the hint of leg warmers underneath sweatpants and brown skin ballet flats gets at something else. The beginning warmup combination—up onto releve. Pas de bourrée. Plie and lift. Tombe. Pas de bourrée—reinforced it. While hip hop was created out of the ashes of poverty in the Bronx by Black kids, nurtured and sustained by brown kids and embraced by

SMOKE SHOP &

all kinds of artists the world over, ballet is an entirely different beast, tracing its predominantly European lineage to King Louis the XIV in the mid-1600s. Mainstream ballet companies have only started to become more diverse in the last decade or so.

So it feels significant that this is the first time I’ve been in a room filled with kids of color, who call Iowa home, rehearsing a ballet performance.

I was pondering this sentiment during a quieter moment in the rehearsal, right before the energy expenditure of the Sons of Kemet section: when the Jhené Aiko song “calm & patient” played over the studio speakers. —“Down in my darkest hour / You lift me up, you pick me up / You gave me so much power”—while the dancers continued to fine-tune and adjust.

Anyone who has worked in the nonprofit sector knows how volatile the landscape can be, and Jae is certainly no exception.

“We are making a few changes to programming in our upcoming season out of necessity,” she said. “This has not been a visibility issue, or inability to provide quality arts programs, but it is mostly due to the toxicity of the nonprofit system—the lack of funds and lack of care from local entities—that have been called to action, know of our struggle, and have not come through like they should.

“Going forward Swan Prjct can only exist through people power,” she continued, “and these self-sustaining practices will need to be a big factor in keeping this initiative moving forward in the direction it needs to go. … If you’re interested in supporting SEEDS or Swan Prjct’s all-volunteer led crew, we would greatly appreciate the support for our work.”

SEEDS Studio’s next performance will be at the Des Moines Art Center on July 19, in which students will present two public performances after participating in a weeklong intensive workshop with visiting artist N’Jelle Gage Thorne

But on June 13, after two hours of all-out dancing, the evening’s work came to a close. At the last huddle, a logistical point from the top of the session was reinforced by Jae: “We all know we’re coming performance-ready, right? So how are we showing up?”

Someone, perhaps a little frayed from the late hour and full rehearsal, belted out, “6 o’ clock!”

“No, no—show ready!” The others corrected before Jae had a chance to. Soon the dancers began to trickle out, picked up by parents and guardians. But a majority of the group was still on the floor by the time I left, socializing. Going over moves. Planning for tomorrow. Finding themselves.

“Remember to smile at each other,” Jae had told them. “Give each other some eye contact, connect with each other. Have fun.”

A-LIST: July 2024

Planning an event? Add it to littlevillagemag.com/calendar! Please include event name, date, time, venue name/address, admission price (or range) and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). Contact calendar@littlevillagemag.com with any questions.

Des Moines Area

MUSIC

Tuesday, July 02, 7:30–11 p.m., Little Feat: Can’t Be Satisfied Tour, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 3, 7–10 p.m., Dirty Blonde, Kensett, Carly Rene & The Fools, xBk Live, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 3, 7:30–11:30 p.m., Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Sunday, July 7, 7:30–10 p.m., The Kid LAROI First Time Tour 2024, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Thursday, July 11, 8–11 p.m., Pam Tillis, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Friday, July 12, 8–11 p.m., Jeezy: Playlist Concert, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Saturday, July 13, 7–10 p.m., Mountain Grass Unit, xBk Live, Des Moines

Sunday, July 14, 6–9 p.m., Doug Deming & The Jewel Tones, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, July 16, 7–11 p.m., Eric Johanson, xBk Live, Des Moines

Thursday, July 18, 8–11 p.m., PROF, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Friday, July 19, 8–11 p.m., The Band CAMINO: The Taking Shape Tour, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines via the event

Friday, July 19, 8–11 p.m., Modern Life Is War w/ Glass Ox and Greg Wheeler & the PMC, xBk Live, Des Moines

Saturday, July 20, 7:30–10 p.m., The Head and The Heart, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Saturday, July 20, 7:30–11 p.m., Thirty Seconds To Mars - Seasons World Tour, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Saturday, July 20, 8–11 p.m., Great Caesar’s Goat, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, July 23, 7:30–9:30 p.m., Bowling for Soup, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 24, 8–11 p.m., An Evening with Stick Men, xBk Live, Des Moines

Thursday, July 25, 8–11 p.m., Off With Their Heads, xBk Live, Des Moines

Friday, July 26, 8–11:30 p.m., Maren Morris - RSVP Redux Tour, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Tuesday, July 23, 7:30–11 p.m., Chevelle, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Sunday, July 28, 7–10 p.m., Dave Hause, xBk Live, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 31, 7:30–11 p.m., Steve Earle: Alone Again, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Friday, Aug. 2, 7–10 p.m., The Guilty Pleasures, xBk Live, Des Moines

The latest from acclaimed playwright Lisa B. Thompson, The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body gained shape from a choreopoem that explored Black women’s experience, particularly the experience of middle-aged and older Black women. Come for the meditations on Black identity, stay for the audience dance party and invitation for participants to share their own insights. Running through July 7.

Friday, Aug. 2, 7:30–11:30 p.m., Counting Crows, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Friday, Aug. 2, 10:30–12 p.m., Sam Barber, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 3, 8–11 p.m., Heads in Motion: A Talking Heads Tribute, xBk Live, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 3, 10:30–12 p.m., The Red Clay Strays, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Sunday, Aug. 4, 8–11 p.m., Bronco: Tour 45, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Monday, Aug. 5, 8–11 p.m., Magic Sword w/ Essenger, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 7–11 p.m., Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy and Hamell on Trial, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 8–11 p.m., Joss Stone, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 10, 8–11 p.m., Gooseberry w/ The Crust, xBk Live, Des Moines

Sunday, Aug. 11, 7:30–10 p.m., Ben Folds: Paper Airplane Request Tour, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Monday, Aug. 12, 7–11 p.m., Ghost Funk Orchestra, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 7–11 p.m., Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 7:30–10 p.m., Graham Nash: More Evenings of Songs and Stories, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 7–10 p.m., Robert Jon & The Wreck, xBk Live, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 17, 6:15–9 p.m., Ice Nine Kills & In This Moment: Kiss Of Death Part 2, Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee

Saturday, Aug. 17, 8–11 p.m., Me Like Bees, xBk Live, Des Moines

Sunday, Aug. 18, 7–11 p.m., The Motown Songbook Featuring The Finesse, xBk Live, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 24, 8–11:30 p.m., Buxom Bibliophiles, xBk Live, Des Moines

Sunday, Aug. 25, 7–10 p.m., War Hippies, xBk Live, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 8–11 p.m., Joshua Quimby w/ Mason Via, xBk Live, Des Moines

Friday, Aug. 30, 8–11 p.m., Jake Kohn, xBk Live, Des Moines

LITERATURE

Wednesday, July 3, 4–5 p.m., Des Moines Art Center: Creative Journaling Workshop, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 10, 6:30–8 p.m., Nia & Katie J. Chiaramonte, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

Monday, July 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Writers’ Workshop 2024, Des Moines Public Library, Des Moines

Des Moines Performance Squonk

Brouhaha,

Friday, Aug. 9–

Sunday, Aug. 11,

Free Billed as, “an immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with rollicking music, dazzling imagery, and the thrill of audience participation.” Brouhaha is the brainchild of Squonk, a multimedia troupe with roots in Pittsburgh and over 30 years of creative experience.

Tuesday, July 16, 6:30–8 p.m., B. John Burns III, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

Tuesday, July 23, 6:30–8 p.m., Meet the Poets: Abraham Smith and Steve Timm, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 24, 6:30–8 p.m., Wini Moranville, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

Monday, Aug. 12, 6:30–8 p.m., David Claassen, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

Saturday, Aug. 17, 1–3 p.m., Bookstore Romance Day, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines

PERFORMANCE

Friday, July 5, 7:30 p.m., The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, Des Moines Performing Arts Center, Des Moines

Des Moines Community

Yoga on Cowles Commons,

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 8 a.m., Free

Join the Des Moines yoga community for a free morning outdoor yoga session. The Cowles Commons area provides a special setting mixing the urban landscape of downtown DSM with the lush greenery surrounding the commons. Bring your mats for those morning sun salutations.

David Rubin

Saturday, July 6, 7:30 p.m., The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, Des Moines Performing Arts Center, Des Moines

Sunday, July 7, 2:30 p.m., The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, Des Moines Performing Arts Center, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 10, 6:30 p.m., El Circo, Sunrise Park, Ankeny

Thursday, July 11, 10 a.m., El Circo, Union Park, Des Moines

Thursday, July 11, 6:30 p.m., El Circo, Fairmeadows Park, West Des Moines

Friday, July 12, 10 a.m., El Circo, Nature Lodge at Racoon River Park, West Des Moines

Friday, July 12, 5 p.m., El Circo, Easter Lake Park, Des Moines

Saturday, July 13, 10 a.m., El Circo, Pete Crivaro Park, Des Moines

Saturday, July 13, 12 p.m., El Circo, Pete Cravaro, Des Moines

Friday, July 19–Sunday, July 28, The Prom, Stoner Theater, Des Moines

Friday, Aug. 9–Sunday, Aug. 11, Squonk Brouhaha, Cowles Commons, Des Moines

Tuesday, Aug. 20–Sunday, September 1, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Des Moines Civic Center, Des Moines

FILM

Sunday, July 21 , 1:30 p.m., 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 3 , 3 p.m., X/Pearl Double Feature, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines

Wednesday, July 3 , 7 p.m., MaXXXine, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines

COMMUNITY

Wednesday, July 3, 8 a.m., Yoga on Cowles Commons, Cowles Commons, Des Moines

Friday, July 5, 5–8 p.m., July First Friday, Mainframe Studios, Des Moines

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 8 a.m., Yoga on Cowles Commons, Cowles Commons, Des Moines

UPCOMING EVENTS

sponsored by: marcus-fitzpatrick team of blank & mccune

Iowa

City Music Ana

Tijoux,

Saturday, Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m., $15–$43

Tijoux’s music can be found in all sorts of places, from Breaking Bad to FIFA games and come August the Englert stage. Dubbed “nothing less than a Latin American Lauryn Hill,” by Rolling Stone magazine, the French-born Chilean musician broke through the Latin American music scene as the M.C. of the hip-hop band Makiza before making it as a solo artist.

Sunday, Aug. 25, 9 a.m., Dancing on Cowles Commons, Cowles Commons, Des Moines