Article By: Robert Stinson Photos By: (Above) Jennifer Martinez (Right Page) David Fuller Popped Culture has been focusing a lot of attention on artists who have lived in Manhattan lately, so it came as a surprise to us at NUG that the citizens of New York collectively raised their voices in support of Gay Marriage. Hopefully, this momentous decision will have a cascading effect throughout the country, because someday people are going to have to wake up to the fact that gays have always been an integral part of society and deserve the same rights as everybody else. In response, we decided to take part in the San Diego Pride Parade this year. We had a contingency of marchers walking along the parade route with the NUG banner and free giveaways. For this issue of NUG, I decided to focus our attention on an unsung hero of our community. Mitchum Todd is a San Diego local who has been instrumental in developing arts programs throughout the state. He was a resident performer for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and is a personal friend of Bobby Miller, the house photographer for Studio 54. NUG Magazine had the pleasure of meeting with Mr.Todd at Chicano Park to discuss his work in bilingual education. Can you tell us a little about your background with the Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham Dance Companies? In the early ‘80s, I attended the Alvin Ailey American Dance School on scholarship, which subsequently led to me dancing with the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble. The company I was with mainly toured the U.S. I also trained with the Martha Graham Contemporary School of Dance. What did it feel like to be on stage with so many talented performers beside you? It was awesome. At the time, I think I was really naïve because the people I was performing with were just blossoming into their dance careers, so it was a real honor to grow alongside them. I agree with the people that say performing on stage is a spiritual exchange with the dancer and a higher consciousness.
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For a few hours, you get to slough off the trappings of your life and become a different person. We recently did an interview with one of your friends, Bobby Miller. You met him in NY, right? Yes, I met Bobby when I was living in New York City. He was part of a group of visual artists, dancers, musicians, and Broadway actors – all talented individuals who engaged in an exchange of ideas. At that time, Bobby Miller was very prominent and famous throughout the artistic community, being that he was associated with the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe and was a house photographer for Studio 54. I felt really inspired being around so many creative types, but at the time, I didn’t understand the cultural significance of what I was a part of. You were heavily involved in Dance education in California, which was rooted in bilingual education. What was the motivation behind your decision to leave New York and move to California? Maxine Green of Columbia University’s School of Teaching saw me teaching a workshop for kids when I was living in NY. She invited me to the Lincoln Center Institute for Aesthetic Education, which was a program of instruction for educators of K-12. When I was there, I led and created workshops through experiential investigations around specific works of arts. While I was there, I heard about a program in California called SUAVE (Socidos Unidos Para Arte via Educación), which was a program financed through the California Center for the Arts. SUAVE was an arts integrated approach to teaching and learning in multi-cultural and multi-lingual settings. Using the arts as a medium for instruction offers students a forum for translating ideas and creating representations and metaphors for specific understandings. It was their contention that translation is essential to intellectual and emotional development. Considering that you have invested so much of your life in the education sector, how do you feel about the state of our county school districts that can’t even afford to keep their arts programs?