We recently connected with Denise Lyles-cook and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Denise, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
Both my Parents had a different approach to child rearing. My Mother did not spare the rod and my Dad did. My Mother was abusive to the point of drawing blood and unconsciousness. She would often restrict me from gong to rehearsals, yet was always the first one in the front seat at my recitals. My Father on the other hand would encourage me, drop me off and pick me up from rehearsal, when he could, yet very rarely came to my performances, as he was home caring for my invalid Sister, Bessie Maria. I believe what my Parents got right is that I had a balanced dose of life to live, and to draw from, and to take to the stage.
My Sister Bessie Maria had muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, never walking a day in her life. And yet, she taught me how to dance. My father had purchased a battery operated record player for her and she would play her records and say, “snap your fingers, bend your knees. You don’t dance fast to slow music and you don’t dance happy to sad music” and vice versa. I was a product of my Mother’s affair with a white Jew during a time when “miscegenation” was frowned upon, not withstanding the fact my Mother was married at the time. So you see, this “white girl” couldn’t dance; I had no rhythm. When I was born, I looked as such a white baby, my Father forbade my Mother from bringing me home from the hospital. I stayed the first three months of my life at the hospital until the day my Mother came and got me and gave me away to my G-DMother. Five years later, she and my G-DMother fell out, she took me back, and life was hell until I left home at 17.
How my Parents raised me had a great impact on my life and career in that I had something to overcome, something to prove, something to survive, and I used the arts as my vehicle for expression, sanity and complete acceptance of myself. When you have this foundation of life to draw from, authenticity, sincerity, compassion and passion become second nature. You can’t help but succeed.
Denise, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am number seven of eight children, born as a product of adultery on my Mother’s part. I was born at the beginning of the turbulent Civil Rights Movement, when Black Pride was high. My Father refused me and I spent the first three month of my life in the hospital. My Mother was told to come get me as the hospital could no longer keep me there. The day she brought me home, she gave me to the lady who would be my G-DMother, Lois Novelle Brown, whom would love me as her own, as she could not have children due to a childhood accident. Unfortunately for her, she and my Mother got into a heated argument, drawing zip guns on one another and my Mother took me back out of spite; I was five years old. My Father did the correct thing and embraced me as his own, raising some jealously within my Mother. She was quite abusive, often accusatory of my Father, although it was one of my brothers who was making nightly visits, if you know what I mean.
My Mother’s prediction for my life outcome was bleak, that I would have eight babies, by eight different daddies, because I was a promiscuous teen. My Father’s hope was that I would become a Doctor like him, and although I had the intellectual capacity to do so, my heart was smitten with performing. I started singing at an early age. My G-DMother was my manager and would take me out to auditions starting @ age 5. I could really sing, having a deep raspy adult sounding tone. I specifically remember this one audition with an 18 piece orchestra. We rehearsed and practiced for weeks. The problem was, the day of the audition, only my mother could accompany me, something to do with legal guardianship rules, in case I made the audition. On the way to the audition, my Mother berated me, made threats, expressed she should have been the one to train me and all sorts of negative input. Needless to say, when I finally hit the stage, I froze, in fear of her actually. On the way home, the song I was intending to sing, “The Birds And The Bees” by Jewel Akins, came on the car radio, I began singing and my Mother backhanded me so hard she loosened my two front teeth, and I thought they were going to fall out for a couple months after, that’s how loose they were.
Of course I stopped singing and began dancing after that, only I had no rhythm. I remember running into the bedroom where my Sister Bessie Maria was, crying that they were calling me whitey, and honky, and Casper and laughing at me because I couldn’t dance. Please take no offence, but the adage was, “You dance like a white girl”. My Sister told me to get her portable record player, and from her hospital bed, that she occupied 24 hours of her life, unless we took her off, taught me how to listen to music and how to move my body in rhythm to it. She would say, “listen to the music”, “count the phrases”, “don’t dance happy to sad music and don’t dance sad to happy music”. “Slow down”, “go faster”, whatever was needed, and she taught me to dance. I decided, when in fourth grade, to become a dancer, a teacher and to teach dance in her honor. And that’s exactly what I did, receiving my B.A. in Dance at U.C.L.A. along with my teaching credential from the Graduate School of Education and work completed towards a M.A. of Fine Arts.
These days, after many years of being a dancer, owning dance companies, running dance studios, teaching dance for L.A.U.S.D. for much of my teaching experience, and with the onset of osteoarthritis, I moved onto stage and television, acting, and singing and performing Spoken Word and reciting Poetry.
One of the other aspects of who I am is in my monocle; The ORACLE, a name given me by my late music producer and dear friend, Keg Johnson, Jr. I’m told I say what people need to hear. I say I simply hold the mirror of life that they may see their own truth, and nothing more. What I provide to my clients is insight without ego, without judgement yet laced with an abundance of truth. My Sister Janice says I tell the truth to the point of pain. I say I tell the truth to the point of reality, that most people are uncomfortable with their own reality/truth is all.
What I’m most proud of is my tenacity and personal strength to deal with ME. That’s right, I have a lot to deal with, always have. In addition to my early familial issues, I have ADHD, undiagnosed Autism, Dyslexia, I am peripherally blind. I have no peripheral vision on either side of me, making being a dancer and choreographer quite challenging. I am deaf in the left ear, having stuck a small bobby pin in the ear canal and having it surgically removed when I was seven years old, causing permanent nerve damage, and being diagnosed at age 15 with degenerative arthritis in both hips. A lot to carry and yet I was inspired by my Sister who could not walk and would not be able to do half the things I’ve done.
I am a published author of two books of positive, motivational, inspirational poetry, prose and song, “FULL CIRCLE Balance In Life” and “The Oracle Speaks… just because”, two videos, “Freedom Wakes Me Up” and “American Soldier We Care”, a children’s book series, “What’s Wrong With My ..,.?!, a daily inspirational series, “The ORACLE Presents Ten Pages of Nothing But The Truth” and a CD, “I Gotta Story To Tell”. Currently I am a member of the Inner City Cultural Center II Ensemble presenting the Gil Scott-Heron BLUESOLOGY play here in Los Angeles and we’ll be headed to Off Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse Theatre in New York, Lower Manhattan, in February.
There is so much more, and I don’t want to come across as braggadocios, so I’ll end with this. What sets me apart from others and makes me unique, is I believe myself to be capable of all that I want and care to be. Any time someone told me I couldn’t accomplish something, I set out to prove to myself that I could. I gave the power to me by doing so. Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can or can not do. If you face an adversity, bend in the wind like a reed of wheat made stronger after the storm and find the way through, around, over, under, or side stepping. Stay true to you and do what you must to accomplish You. Easy, no, hard, yes and maybe, worth it, you damn right!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
A most pivotal moment in my life, that changed the way I approached handling business and my personal life, occurred when my eldest of two was in the fifth grade. I was teaching dance at Manual Arts High and was the Performing Arts Department Chair. It was at the time of our upcoming Dance concert and I was hurrying my two little ones to get them to school early, so that I may go to Manual and open the auditorium, for an early dance rehearsal before first period. I was rushing my eldest and didn’t notice that she needed some extra TLC from Mommy that morning. In fact, I snapped at her to “hurry up”, “let’s go”! The look on her face was pure, innocent and sincere when she said, “Gee Mom, it seems like you care more about your students than you care about us. That’s okay, I can do it myself. I’m ready”.
I dropped her off at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary and went to work. Manual Arts High was not more than five minutes away. When I arrived, I waited for almost an hour and not one of the students showed. Apparently they had all forgotten we had rehearsal that morning. As I taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd periods, I had this nagging draw in my spirit and tugging at my heart. By the time lunch came around, I knew what I had to do.
I signed out for off campus lunch, went to my Daughter’s school, knocked on her classroom door, asked her teacher, Mrs. Harrison, if I could speak with my Daughter for a moment. When she came outside the classroom, I knelt down on my knees, apologized to her and promised never to put anyone else’s child before her. A few months later, I resigned from Manual Arts High and began teaching ballet, for free, at my Daughter’s school, Monday through Friday, accommodating all the students there, but especially demonstrating through action, to my Daughters, that I would never ever forsake them again.
The incident afforded me an opportunity to learn a new way of approaching my obligations as a Dancer/Choreographer, Teacher and a Mother. I learned what was most important and how to prioritize towards those ends.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
When once I was a Dancer/Choreographer and Educator teaching dance, currently I am a published author, Poet, Spoken Word Artist. I am a member of the Inner City Cultural Center II/ Poets Jazz House ensemble, performing the Gil Scott-Heron BLUESOLOGY play, headed to New York, New York at the SoHo Playhouse Theatre in Lower Manhattan, for the month of February. We recently participated in the Hollywood Fringe Festival and won the top prize, The International Fringe Encore Series Award. The prize is our performance at the SoHo in New York. We’ll be celebrating Black History Month bringing to life the words and works of Gil Scott-Heron. My energies are currently focused on this endeavor.
My creative journey also encompasses my writing, as I am a published author of two award winning books of poetry and prose: “FULL CIRCLE Balance In Life” and “The Oracle Speaks… just because”, a CD titled “I Gotta Story To Tell”, two videos: “American Soldier We Care” and “Freedom Wakes Me Up”, which debuted at the UN at the G.O.D. Awards in 2013, a series of ORACLE Cards and daily inspirational booklets titled “The ORACLE Presents Ten Pages of Nothin’ But The Truth”, and most recently, a children’s book series titled “What’s Wrong With My?! …. (teeth/ears/nose/feet/mouth).
The particular goal driving my creative journey right now, hinges on the fact that I am 66 years old and I am motivated to do as much as I can artistically and creatively before I tire or my time is up. We are none of us guaranteed an exact date of expiration and I endeavor to live and to love and to create and to give as much as I can to elevate, inspire and share with others the joy of self-love. That is my goal, to share as much as I can about self-love, embracing it, then releasing it to the Universe for the benefit of all. Hence my Mantra, “all-ways remember to love yourself, 24/7, 365 days a year. Because if you don’t, humph, who will?”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theoraclespeakstruth.com
- Linkedin: Denise Cook, ORACLE Publishing , Independent Publishing Professional
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@theoraclecook
- Other: ReverbNation.com/TheOracleSpeaksTruth
TicToc: @oraclespeakstruth
