(woman) Welcome to... a patchwork of stories about the arts, culture, and history in our region.

Hi, I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien.

On this edition of Prairie Mosaic, we'll learn about volunteer groups that help Veterans, listen to poetry read by a state champion, "Through large arrays adjusted eagerly" (Matt) and meet a regional country/pop band whose energy is contagious!

♪ Gotta be blowin' something up or tearing something down ♪ Traditional Chinese dance is a wonder to watch and an honor to behold.

The Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance is a group that's keeping this ancient art form alive and well in the cities of Moorhead and Fargo.

All the dancers have Chinese ancestry and they love sharing their heritage with the community.

[sitar & drum play softly] (Lexy Liu) Oh, that's what we live for!

[laughs] I think any dancers can tell you that stage movements are the magical moments.

In the zone, that's what I feel most natural.

It's almost-- you just forget about everything [sitar & drum play; woman sings] (Gabby Wang) I've always been like, a stage girl.

I feel like, before I'm like, you know, it's okay that I have a little, Whoo!

Then when I'm on stage I'm like, I'm rockin' this!

(Yechun Wang) This is surreal for me.

Like today, I never thought I'd be able to perform in front of a crowd and people that I don't know.

So it's sort of a dream come true, but it's a surprise dream come true.

My name is Lexy Liu, I've been in North Dakota for a little bit over 10 years, moved here with my family in 2015.

So as a kid, I loved dancing.

It was one of my biggest passions, but I didn't get to dance as much as I wanted to because my parents wanted me to gear toward the academic side.

So as an adult I started dancing more, just pursuing it, taking dance classes, learning choreography for free-styling.

So after I moved here in 2015 with my family, the United Chinese Americans, Fargo-Moorhead started hosting Chinese New Year celebration.

That's when like once a year all of the Chinese Americans get together.

So it kind of started slow.

It think was Yechun-- I call her my dance wife, we dance together, we work great together as in CHORD of Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance.

So we started our first Long Sleeve dance in 2017 I believe.

And then just went from there.

I came to the United States in 2002, going to graduate school.

I definitely love dance, I wanted to be a dancer when I was little.

I actually danced on my own randomly when I was little at home.

(Lexi Liu) Then we were like well, you know, since more people are interested in this art form.

Why don't we show it to the local folks instead of just keeping it in our small community?

So that's when Annie, Yechun, and myself, we organized the Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance.

That's affiliated with UCAFM.

We started having more organized dance practices, recruitment, and organizing like public relations to find chances to dance in the community.

So it's been a great journey.

♪ Traditional Chinese dance, the form dated back thousands of years, to Dunhuang, the Silk Road, they have the cave paintings that have-- it's actually one of the sleeve dance that was painted on the wall in the Silk Road.

You kind of got infected that way in a good way.

You learn how-- the story behind it.

So the traditional Chinese dance has many genres, and there are stories behind it, and the musical instruments are often traditional as well.

So as far as the choreography, there's a lot available on the Internet that we can search, search it up and then change it to accommodate to our level.

(Yechun Wang) Then when we moved to this country and realize there's a big cultural differences there, and also there's surprisingly some common stuff between different art forms or between different dance forms, Even some moves in Chinese dance are similar to ballet even.

So it's very interesting to bring it to Fargo in this area to show people the differences and show them the common areas and then maybe we can focus on something new.

The style is a mixture of pop song and Chinese opera.

There's a middle part that's very typical of a Chinese opera passage.

Pretty much every Chinese opera would use that passage to link from section to another section.

My two apprentices Gabby and Cadence, they are wonderful learners, they pick up the choreography so fast.

The Long Sleeve dance references the Tang Dynasty and the Tambourine Dance which is in Yuan Dynasty which is like a little bit more modern compared to the Long Sleeve Dance.

[drum & flute play in bright rhythm] ♪ ♪ We are Chinese American coming from immigrant parents I feel like I'm losing culture a little bit, so being able to dance and perform part of my culture brings me closer to it, and I feel like I should share that.

We actually went back to China this summer, and I got to take Chinese dance lessons from an instructor, and she was very kind, and she really dug deep into the roots.

And I think we also do that at dance and we learned about what the dances really mean which I feel like would definitely bring me closer to my culture.

(Lexy Liu) The one thing I like to teach my apprentices is being a dancer doesn't mean how high you can kick or how many turns you can do-- it's about how can express yourself through the dance.

So reimagine yourself in that culture environment like in that Full Moon Festival like you're curious about everything, and you're just cheerful.

It's a 2-hour class, normally we have-- of course, I learn the choreography first and then I will demonstrate and then they practice.

♪ We have already started to think about what new dances we're going to do.

We are pretty ambitious in that.

I want the audience to first of all appreciate the music itself.

It's obviously different from people here.

And then just purely enjoy the music, enjoy the visual effect that we created.

(Lexy Liu) I think this is something, I didn't think about it when I was in China because I was in there, it was like not that special, but while we are living in here, we have less opportunity to practice, to celebrate, and all the special days seem more special.

Therefore being able to dance with my friends and dance with my own family and the younger generation means a lot to me because I love Fargo.

I love the whole atmosphere in North Dakota, but also want to bring more to here because we want to make a positive influence to the world.

♪ ♪ Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces might carry physical or mental wounds with them for years from combat.

A variety of volunteer groups from throughout Minnesota take veterans on outdoor adventures and other therapeutic activities.

The vets benefit by experiencing fellowship, healing, and support in ways they never expected.

[bass keyboard plays in syncopated rhythm] ♪ [calling a turkey] [loud crack!

of the rifle shot] ♪ ♪ (Samantha Carlson) The benefits that the veterans get out of coming to programs like Mandatory Fun Outdoors or other veterans programs-- there's a lot of therapy in the outdoors.

(Jeffrey Stine) It's so awesome to be able to come out and meet like-minded guys.

Most of us have never met each other before We get together and it's like we've known each other our entire lives.

Who was your Captain?

Ah, Eastman.

(Jeffrey Stine) We get to do all sorts of fun activities that bring us outside.

There's something about being in the woods or in a fishin' boat.

I mean, it's relaxing.

There's just something about the outdoors that is just kind of Zen.

(Samantha Carlson) Something about getting outside and away from everything else and with people who have had either similar trauma, similar experiences, things that they've been through that other people just don't understand.

When you can put them together and get 'em outdoors, outside of the bar, outside of even their family, you get 'em with people that understand because they've been there too.

They start talking, and we heal through talking.

Absolutely-- it's not healthy to keep it in (Justin Lightfoot) A lot of times veterans that come on the events, they're like I just didn't know if I should sign up because I don't feel like I'm deserving, or somebody is more wounded as you would say or needs help more than I do.

They are all deserving-- they all signed on the line, they all left their families-- 4 years, 20 years, 30 years whatever they signed up for-- it's still a commitment to our country for our freedom.

We got 52 people out here right now We've got 12 ice castles.

This is our annual trip, we do this every year.

How you doing here.

Got plenty of room?

(Logan Shiflett) The weather never cooperates, but yeah, it's a fun trip.

Some of these guys haven't seen each other for 10 years or more, they get to meet up again which is great.

Some guys, they've never met each other in their lives and within a half hour it's like they've been best friends their whole life.

It's what keeps me grounded.

It's great to swap stories with all the guys, find out where they were at, what their experiences were how they combated issues coming home as well, just generally make new friends that were in the military with you.

(Andy Graff) It's just really awesome to get a chance to give back to those guys for doing all they did for our country and for their communities and for what they still do today.

It's really important for us to make sure they feel heard and to find healing.

That's what's really big about hometown heroes is the healing aspect.

We call it a form of outdoor recreational therapy.

Doing trips like this out here, Moorhead, Minnesota today chasin' some geese-- this is where I get the center myself, to heal and come back to feeling good.

(Samantha Carlson) We like to offer alternatives to alcohol and drugs and suicide.

We know that suicide in veterans-- it's just awful.

So we are to combat that by offering these events that shy away from the drugs and alcohol.

Okay, a turkey over here.

[loud rifle shot] Oh, I got him!

The name of our organization is Mandatory Fun Outdoors We do outdoor adventures... Well that was excitement!

...for veterans and their family members as well as people who are actively serving.

It's really awesome that there are organizations out there that coordinate this stuff-- I appreciate it a lot.

I got three baby!

Let's go!

(Andy Graff) We are an all volunteer staff.

We have a board, we're active in over 30 states and we do all fundraising.

We do a national raffle, we do banquets.

We get donations from VFW, from Legion.

People sometimes, oh, I want to donate-- it's only $20.

I said well, on a typical trip $20 can go a long way A lot of us when I host a trip myself, it's all my equipment.

Nothing is paid for, my time I said I donate, so then hey, that covers breakfast for the day.

Awesome.

That's a big one, pass that one down.

(Andy Graff) So even a small donation can go a long way with us, and that's what's really important.

When your dollars get donated in the state, we want that to stay, because again, this is helping those in these small communities.

I don't know what it is about Minnesota but when you get a lot of small towns all put together, they could do amazing things, they really can.

(Justin Lightfoot) When we have an event come up, you can put your name in, then we have a lottery to pick who goes on these events.

You get people that don't know each other from different branches of service.

People are kind of quiet at first, then they start to speak up.

On day 2 they start to open up about their service.

And there's always a night where people tell the hard stories.

And there will be tears, and they can relate 2 seconds I had a major...

Thanks everybody.

They're already bonding.

It's hilarious, I love it!

That's my favorite part is listening to them all chattering, talking to each other about all their experiences, what they did, where they went-- that's my favorite part.

(Justin Lightfoot) Things like that are why I've been part of this organization for 11 years.

I remember about 3 or 4, I had a Vietnam veteran.

On the 3rd night he came down, and he was really quiet at breakfast, I'm like, what's wrong, did you not sleep good?

He's like, he says this is the first night that I have slept through the night since I got back from Vietnam because I felt safe and secure with new brothers.

Poetry Out Loud is a high school program that encourages students to learn about poetry while they master public speaking skills and build self-confidence.

Leah Hochhalter, from Valley City High School, is the 2025 North Dakota Poetry Out Loud State Champion.

Listen as Leah recites the poem "Listening in Deep Space" by Diane Thiel.

"We've always been out "Looking for answers "Telling stories about ourselves "Searching for connection.

Choosing "To send out Stravinsky and whale song, "Which, in translation, might very well be Our undoing instead of a welcome."

"Looking into Deep Space" by Diane Thiel.

I love the way that Diane Thiel wrote the poem, the connection she made from humans to the beyond and talking about connecting with each other.

Lately I've just been really drawn to the stars because I've lost friends, and when I look up there, I think of them.

That was the first reason that I got drawn to that.

Then just really looking at the lyrics and the stanzas, All the poems I choose, I really choose them because they have a deeper meaning than just the surface meaning, so I love being able to dig a little deeper.

"Searching for connection."

"We've always been out looking for answers, "Telling stories about ourselves, "Searching for connection, choosing "To send out Stravinsky and whale song, "Which, in translation, might very well be "Our undoing instead of a welcome.

"We launch satellites, probes, telescopes "Unfolding like origami, navigating "Geomagnetic storms, major disruptions.

"Rovers with spirit and perseverance "Mapping the unknown.

We listen "Through large arrays adjusted eagerly "To hear the news That we are not alone."

"Considering the history at home, "In houses, across continents, oceans, "Even in quests armed with good intentions, "What one seeker has done to another-- "What will we do When we find each other?"

Slamabama is a high energy country/pop band who travel the country to share their love of music!

Their talent will intrigue you, but their big hearts, and southern hospitality will ensure you have a great experience!

[playing rock 'n' roll] ♪ ♪ I shoulda known ♪ ♪ He wouldn't be home tonight ♪ ♪ When I drove by ♪ ♪ I shoulda known ♪ ♪ He wouldn't get the phone ♪ ♪ When I called 20 times ♪ ♪ This ain't the first time ♪ ♪ I've caught him in a lie ♪ ♪ He does it just because he can ♪ ♪ I don't know why I let him wreck my life ♪ ♪ I know he can't be trusted ♪ ♪ If it's nice he's gonna bust it ♪ ♪ Boys break things ♪ ♪ They never take care of anything ♪ ♪ Always gotta be blowing something up ♪ ♪ Or tearing something down ♪ ♪ Always up to something out running around ♪ ♪ Boys break things ♪ ♪ ♪ I shoulda known ♪ ♪ When I was eight years old ♪ ♪ One broke the chain off of my bike ♪ ♪ I shoulda known ♪ ♪ When another broke his arm ♪ ♪ Underneath the Friday night lights ♪ ♪ I've seen 'em crash their cars ♪ ♪ I've seen 'em smash guitars ♪ ♪ They do it just because they can ♪ ♪ I don't know why we let 'em wreck our lives ♪ ♪ We know they can't be trusted ♪ ♪ if it's nice they're gonna bust it ♪ ♪ Boys break things ♪ ♪ They never take care of anything ♪ ♪ Always gotta be blowing something up ♪ ♪ Or tearing something down ♪ ♪ Always up to something out running around ♪ ♪ Ooo ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Can't change a thing about 'em ♪ ♪ But we can't live without 'em ♪ ♪ And I'll never understand ♪ ♪ When a heart is in their hands ♪ ♪ Boys break things ♪ ♪ They never take care of anything ♪ ♪ Always gotta be blowing something up ♪ ♪ Tearing something down ♪ ♪ Always up to something out running around ♪ ♪ Boys break things ♪ ♪ They never take care of anything ♪ ♪ Always gotta be blowing something up ♪ ♪ Tearing something down ♪ ♪ Always up to something out running ♪ Around ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh why do boys break things ♪ ♪ ♪ [playing in country-rock rhythm] ♪ ♪ Drivin' in on highway 10 ♪ ♪ It's the first thing that you see ♪ ♪ It used to read 5A Champs ♪ ♪ Back in 1993 ♪ ♪ When Jason and I would climb and rise up ♪ ♪ High above the ground ♪ ♪ All our troubles seemed so small ♪ ♪ When we were looking down ♪ ♪ He'd give his life for this old town ♪ ♪ And now a thin blue line ♪ ♪ Up in the sky ♪ ♪ Is painted over ♪ ♪ That 4-H clover ♪ ♪ A blue broken heart ♪ ♪ Now leaves it's mark ♪ ♪ In lieu of flowers ♪ ♪ Right there on our ♪ ♪ Water tower ♪ ♪ ♪ A 1016 on Cedar street ♪ ♪ Just an ordinary call ♪ ♪ He was the first one on the scene ♪ ♪ Where my hero would fall ♪ ♪ Now there's ribbons all down main street ♪ ♪ And the flags are flyin' low ♪ ♪ I pass that tower one last time ♪ ♪ To look up from below ♪ ♪ The one we used to climb ♪ ♪ So long ago ♪ ♪ Has a thin blue line ♪ ♪ Up in the sky ♪ ♪ Painted over ♪ ♪ That 4-H clover ♪ ♪ A blue broken heart ♪ ♪ Now leaves it's mark ♪ ♪ In lieu of flowers ♪ ♪ Right there on our ♪ ♪ Water tower ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not ♪ ♪ Forgotten ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ A thin blue line ♪ ♪ Up in the sky ♪ ♪ Is painted over ♪ ♪ That 4-H clover ♪ ♪ A blue broken heart ♪ ♪ Now leaves it's mark ♪ ♪ In lieu of flowers ♪ ♪ Right there on our ♪ ♪ Water tower ♪ ♪ Water tower ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not forgotten ♪ ♪ Gone but not ♪ ♪ Forgotten ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ If you know of an artist, topic, or organization in our region that you think might make for an interesting segment, please contact us at... (Barb) You can watch this and other episodes of "Prairie Mosaic" on Prairie Public's YouTube channel, and please, follow Prairie Public on social media as well.

I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien Thank you for joining us for another edition of "Prairie Mosaic."

[guitar, bass, and drums play in bright country rhythm] (Barb) "Prairie Mosaic" is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by the members of Prairie Public.