Dancers wanted to send a message of healing in Five Points. Why were police called?
A public dance project in Five Points meant to create “Healing Zones” morphed into a dispute about art, public space, parking and racial bias.
It also included a call to police, which the artists — many of whom are Black and people of color — said aligned with a trend in the United States of law enforcement being called on people of color for harmless actions.
The business owner who called police asserted, through her lawyer, that race had nothing to do with the issue. Instead, it was about following city ordinances.
In response, Tapp’s Outpost, formerly Tapp’s Art Center, hosted a forum Thursday evening with law enforcement officials, business owners and other figures in Five Points’ cultural scene to discuss who has access to public space and how to better share the area in Five Points.
Caitlin Bright, director of Tapp’s Outpost, said the incident raised questions about how to safely and effectively invite cultural practices into a neighborhood that seems to have a domineering voice of business owners.
“There are social structures and procedures for access but it’s a time to question those,” Bright said.
About noon on Sept. 13, Yuhas & Dancers, a Columbia based group, were on their third and final day of performances in public spaces around Columbia.
The group’s routine, called “Healing Zones,” featured locally produced music and dancers interpreting mundane chores, like typing at work, while bound to each other via wires and cords from electronics, Bright said. Eventually the dancers turned the cords into tools for playful dance moves. They passed out flowers and put out freshly scented essential oil aromas during the performances.
The dance was meant to inspire healing from the social injustice and coronavirus crises of 2020, said Meredith Yuhas, founder of the troupe. The routine was to give onlookers “impulsive moments of joy,” Bright said.
But the joy became “disheartening,” Yuhas said.
The dancers were preparing to put on their choreography in a couple parking spaces on Saluda Avenue, near the Five Points fountain and across from Gourmet Shop, a popular restaurant and shop.
Amy Beth Franks, owner of Gourmet Shop, saw the group and approached them.
How the encounter unfolded is disputed.
Franks, former director of the Five Points Association, “politely” engaged the dancers and asked them to move to the Five Points fountain as parking is coveted and necessary for businesses, Franks’ lawyer, Joe McCulloch, told The State.
Two of the dancers and Bright described the encounter as less polite and as more of a demand from Franks to “honor her request with no rebuttal,” said Brailey Johnson, a performer with the group.
The dancers moved to the fountain, but moments later a police officer showed up, having been called by Franks, her lawyer confirmed.
The officer did little more than check on the situation before leaving without issuing any citations or tickets or arresting anyone, the Columbia Police Department said. But, Bright said calling law enforcement created a larger issue that was difficult to disconnect from race.
The situation reflected what’s come to be known as a “Karen” moment, or a tendency in the United States of white women to call police on people of color who are taking part in innocuous activities, observers said. Such situations have become ubiquitous over social media and turned into national news stories.
The call to police created a level of anxiety that wasn’t fair to the group of Black and brown dancers, Bright said.
McCulloch, Franks lawyer, said she didn’t call to report the dancers to police but to see if they had the proper permits for being in the parking spots.
This wasn’t a matter of race, McCulloch said, but an “innocent instance of a business person saying you have to have permission” from the city to take parking spaces.
McCulloch recognized that Yuhas & Dancers wanted to “do something nice for the community.”
“They just have to have the proper permission to do it,” he said.
The dance was also going to make Gourmet Shop customers uncomfortable because the dancers were going be near outdoor diners, McCulloch said.
Johnson said race was certainly a factor in the call.
“For that to happen to me and other Black dancers unexpectedly while we’re trying to heal our area felt like a slap in the face,” she said. “As a Black woman in this time, it’s really important for me as an artist to feel safe in the spaces I inhabit.”
The online forum hosted by Tapp’s on Thursday night was meant to discuss how Five Points, a tight space with different interests and groups, can better share not only the property but power to use the space.
In that discussion, Five Points Association member and business owner Sean McCrossin, owner of Drip and Scoopy Doo, said he supported the importance of public art but did point out the scarcity of parking in the area.
“I sort of feel like people need a space and a place to express themselves. And I certainly understand the plight of a merchant and the value of a parking space. I do think I value art more than I do a parking space, and in any way that I can help emphasize and help art prosper, then I certainly want to be a part of that,” McCrossin said.
Brian Patrick, a longtime busker in Columbia, spoke on a few negative experiences he’s had with law enforcement and businesses while trying to perform, but also cited the value of the city’s busking ordinance, which guarantees certain rights for licensed performers.
“The important thing is know the law, know the law, know the law,” Patrick said. “This is for businesses, this is for buskers, this is for officers.”
Before law enforcement gets involved, however, another Five Points Association member and business owner, Tzima Brown, urged the dancers and other artists to collaborate with businesses ahead of future performances.
“I would encourage you to, if you have an idea or there’s a performance that you’re thinking about that you think could be really good for Five Points, something that’s positive — because everything that you guys just mentioned about the performance you had recently done, I just think that’s so beautiful and so needed — and so you .... can come and talk to (the Five Points Association), and we will bring it up.”
The dancers did not have a busking permit, they acknowledged. Moving forward, they said they’ll try to work with businesses as they hope to turn a negative into a positive.
“We want to position ourselves to learn and to collaborate with artists, with businesses, with institutions. I hear you. The parking spots are really valuable, and I will remember that, and I will remember the ordinance of busking and what that entails,” Yuhas said. “But what hurts the dancers the most, especially as a very diverse group of Black and brown dancers, is that we weren’t spoken to like people. In my experience of what happened, we were commanded to leave.”
That lack of respect “is not a way to foster trust in our community,” Johnson said. “There has to be better ways to speak in moments of tension and disagreement ... before we call authority figures unnecessarily.”
Their dance was an “intended conversation about how we’re healing,” Yuhas said.
Now that conversations has gotten much louder.
“At the heart of the conversation is a need for understanding,” she said.
After this was written Amy Beth Franks sent the following statement:
As a longtime supporter of the Arts and One Columbia, I find myself in the odd position of defending myself from the suggestion I acted inappropriately in a September 13 encounter with a dance group.
I spoke to the dancers who were gathered on the sidewalk and in spaces in front of my business and who intended to take over three parking spaces in which to perform. Several of my customers dining at the sidewalk tables had expressed concern and were uncomfortable due to the lack of COVID distancing of the dancers and they told me they felt crowded by the dancers. I explained they needed a permit from the City to be able to take any of the very limited spaces on Saluda.
I explained if they did not have a permit, they could go over to the fountain to perform, which was built in part for that purpose. After they moved to the fountain, I called the City to confirm permits were still required, and an officer came and confirmed that was true. The officer then went over to tell the dancers where to call to get a permit, not because I made a complaint. I did not, as a Facebook post suggested, “call the police on” anyone and this had nothing to do with anyone’s race. I was polite at all times and hope One Columbia will help our talented artists understand the City’s rules about public performances, which are so important to our city.
Amy Beth Franks
The Gourmet Shop
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 11:08 AM.