Maria Broom
Shodekeh
Known as an actress for her recurring roles in HBO's The Wire and The Corner, Maria Broom is also a storyteller and dancer with more than forty years of experience performing and teaching. She is a native of Baltimore and a member of the theater faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Human beatboxer and hip-hop artist Shodekeh can vocally embody many sounds, from didgeridoos and ocean waves to sleigh bells and crickets. He has completed musical interpretations of gallery exhibits at Towson University and the American Visionary Art Museum, and serves as an accompanist at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts and the American Dance Festival, among other places.
photo by La Kaye Mbah
Tribal Intervention
Can you imagine a marriage suffused with conflict and disagreement to the point where the partners have buried their love and are ready to call lawyers to arrange a divorce, but instead they call a dance counselor?
Can you imagine two co-workers having such a deep dispute that a professional mediator is needed to help solve the issues, but instead they call in a drummer and a sounding coach?
Suppose you could sing, growl, and grunt out your irritation, disappointment, or hurt before it turned into anger and rage.
The Skills of Survival
The Skill of Voice ...
... listens with him, The Sounder Blue. Obstacles of throes manifest, attempting to thwart a journey through a hallway of Chaos. The floor flashes, disappearing and reappearing from this reality and the nearest dimension. He views glimpses beneath his feet of a suicidal Archangel, revealing an ever-patient torture of self. Histories of Throat Singing rise from the larynx. Two notes executed at once allow him to levitate across, avoiding descent.
