Episode 04: Sean “Hobbs” Waters
Sean “Hobbs” Waters - Dancer, Artist, Activist, Race Talks moderator, Owner and Creative Director of City Trolls Clothing | Interviewed By Rashad Floyd
I’m Sean “Hobbs” Waters, I’m fourteen years old and this is my expression.
The most powerful word in the English language is Black. It is both dark and light, but it means so many different things on an emotional capacity and on a spiritual capacity. It is so many different things and we use it so many different times.
I'm a dancer. I'm an artist. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm fluid and I identify with a lot of different things.
Dance is my life! The first time I danced, honestly, I just remember being happy. It's how I express myself. I'm always growing, and this is really when I feel liberated. It is, ultimately, my purpose. That's how I'm contributing to the world. I'm always being tested with dance, physically and mentally, just having that mental capacity to push myself. And you have to look at what you're doing as a milestone and be able to continue to grow. Especially with the pandemic, I've been really tryin' to push myself, and there have been days that I wanna quit and days that I'd wanna just jump into the studio and work my hardest.
Arthur Mitchell is someone that I look up to. He was an emerging African-American dancer during the Civil Rights movement. I’m particularly appreciative of him because he was the first, and I'm pretty sure the only male principal dancer within the New York City Ballet.
He went on to start the Dance Theater in Harlem, and he has influenced so many other, Black dancers and choreographers who have done a lot of different things. Open Haus in NE is where I was commissioned to do my third mural. My lifestyle, at least, is all oriented around art, not only dancing but painting, illustrations, even photography, and music.
Oftentimes, I feel like complicit people come around and then they look at something, and then they don't do anything with it. So with my work, I wanna change that norm. I want people to really reciprocate my work, and then become active.
I didn't actually start producing abstracted pieces until, three years ago. I was definitely reluctant to start going into that medium, but I'm surrounded by a lot of people who push me to con=nue to grow and explore new artistic mediums. I have a lot of my work around town. A lot of my art is really just an adaptation of how I perceive the world, especially because most of my art is oriented around social justice. I like all the symbolism in my work, as well. And all my pieces are like that, and in a way to bring light to issues that I think are neglected or need to be analyzed further.
I am finding myself within my artwork. Like I said, I'm always shifting. I'm always changing, and I don't think I've found my medium yet, but I have a palette of work that ranges from movement to clothing.
City Troll is my urban lifestyle line. Initially, it was another way to funnel money into my dancing, but it's grown to so much more. My clothing line is primarily sold online, but City Troll can be so much more. I like to think of City Troll as a movement. What I'm really tryin' to say is that City Troll is built to break down these White norms by introducing new ideas and new norms that resonate with BIPOC through art.
When people mention my name, I want them to think about my dancing. I want them to think about my art. I want them to think of me as the face of City Troll, as the face of my movement. I'm trying to pave the way for the next generations of dancers who look like me and introduce them to more diverse mediums into the art world. I want them to think of my work and my legacy.
