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Jean Howat Berry

Dia de los Muertos Dayton!

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elegant skeletonAre you one of the 300+ people that made our first El Dia de los Muertos Dayton celebration a huge success last year? We’re doing it again on November 1st 2013!
Dia de los Muertos is a special day celebrated throughout Latin America, on which people remember loved ones who have died. The Dayton celebration will be in the Mexican tradition of celebrating with bright colors, imagery of calaveras (skulls) and more, but recognizes all Day of the Dead and All Saint’s Day traditions. This is a free and family-friendly event.

 

The centerpiece of this celebration is the month-long exhibit at Missing Peace Art Space, commemorating work that local artists have shared, in honor of their loved ones. The exhibit runs through December 1st at 234 Dutoit St. The gallery hosts many exhibits throughout the year, lifting up the human family and our yearning for peace!

 

Dia de los Muertos Dayton is the opening event for this exhibit, a community celebration of size, distinguished by a community parade through the Oregon District! This year, we are proud t be sponsored by Welcome Dayton, an Initiative of the City of Dayton’s Human Relations Council. Look for their float in the parade!

 

Our new event partner, Synergy Incubators, has jumped in big time, hosting the pre-parade party with Zombie Dogz, El Meson Mobile  and other food sunflower galtrucks, selling sustenance for your soul. Special beer tappings from Cavalier Distribuitn include Zombie Dust and Zombie Killer.   It is First Friday after all!

 

While you enjoy delicious food and brew, get your face painted for the parade! We might even have a few masks and t-shirts for sale! Plan on picking up one of Gracie’s cookies! They are works of art. And delicious!!!

The parade will line up on 5th St. in front of Synergy Incubators, stepping off promptly at 6pm! All are invited to join the parade!!! Lots of music, color, dancing skeletons, bicycles, motorcycles, floats and more!

 

The parade will end at the Missing Peace Art Space at 6:45pm where there will be more food for sale, performances in the street and the beautiful Community Ofrienda exhibit inside the gallery!

 

Huge thanks to all who donated online to make this event happen!!! What great community support!!! Special thanks to the Dia de los Muertos Committee for their hard work in planning this event!!! This event is proudly sponsored by: Welcome Dayton, Missing Peace Art Space, The Compassionary and Synergy Incubators.

 

Learn more:

 

bride-groomThe Day of the Dead is a Mexican tradition dating from Pre-Hispanic times. The Ancient Aztecs honor their Dead loved ones along with the goddess Mictecacihuatl. With the arrival of the Spaniards and Catholicism into Mexico, the ancient tradition became a syncretic form of celebrating All Saints Day.  Celebrating the Day of the Dead has transcended religion and has become a cultural tradition that honors the dualities of life and death, happiness and sorrow, day and night.

Indigenous Mexican homes are decorated with altars ornamented with flowers, photos of departed love ones, candles, and a variety of objects that our love ones enjoyed in life. The idea is to invite them to join us in a celebration of their life. The ancient Mexicans believed that for one day, the souls of our ancestors would come and visit and celebrate with us.

The Missing Peace Art Space will display a variety of altars with typical Mexican altars decorated by a multicultural array of Daytonians. Each altar will display items that tell a story about a love one and their special relationship with those who honors them.

In addition, the walls of the gallery will display artwork featuring artists Magda Bowen. Born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, artist Magda Bowen discovered a passion for painting  “Calaveras”.  “La Calavera Catrina” has become a staple of Mexican Day of the Dead celebration. Popularized by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada, the Catrina is the skeleton of an upper class woman. The Catrina or Calaca soon gained iconic status as a symbol of Mexican folk art. Inspired by José Guadalupe Posada, these paintings are festive skeleton characters with bright colored costumes representing a cheerful afterlife. They are properly dressed for a celebration. With their elaborate costumes, they joyfully parade with dignity leaving the physical world and embracing the afterlife. Death is not the end, but a new beginning.

 

For more information, contact:

Gabriela Pickett at Missing Peace Art Space, 369-1373

Jean Berry at The Compassionary, 369-8532!

 

 

Free Spirits: From the Mountain Top to the Jazz Hall + TICKET CONTEST

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Edison Eagles 2013

Edison Eagles 2013

Every year, I become reinvigorated by the scope of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work. The profound nature of his spoken word and the intensity of his action bring clarity to what we as Americans can do to promote justice and engage peace. Dayton does a wonderful job with the holiday celebration! This year, Cityfolk is proud to be among the community organizations celebrating Black History Month and Dr. King’s legacy.

In partnership with Sinclair Community College’s Theatre and Dance Department, Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community program is proud to present FREE SPIRITS: From the Mountain Top to the Jazz Hall, February 15 & 16 at Blair Theatre, Building 2, 8pm.

The performance runs just over an hour and is great for a family audience! Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students! Tickets are available at the door , through the Cityfolk website or by calling the Cityfolk box office at 496-3863

Cityfolk has always been known for jazz programs, especially those that educate audiences. We’ve merged our jazz initiative with CBC this winter, giving focus to one of the great jazz pianists and composers of her time, Mary Lou Williams. Duke Ellington described her work as “soul on soul.” Her distinctive style swings with both lush and spare instrumentation: a testament to the composer’s skill. The Free Spirits project is proud to feature young musicians from the jazz bands at Centerville high school and Stivers School for the Arts. This ensemble of 10 will provide live music for the program: a series of dances that bring beautiful expression to Dr. King’s deeply felt wisdom.

The project involves young dancers from Edison School, Omega Baptist Church, South Dayton Dance Theatre and Sinclair’s dance department. Also from Omega Baptist: an intergenerational group of singers are giving shape to some well-loved Gospel tunes that mark history as well. All of these aspects together bring a depth to this black history celebration.

Cyrah_WardsPoster (1)Guest artists LaFrae Sci from Jazz at Lincoln Center and Jakari Sherman from Step Afrika are in town this final week, working with performers to sharpen skills and affirm the four-week residency commitment by 75 or so young artists. Kent Brooks, director of the Gospel choir at Wittenberg University, has prepared the singers for the project. He will also play the piano for selected dances during the performance. Erica Harvey of Stivers School for the Arts and David O’Connell of Centerville High School have led an outstanding group of teen musicians in preparation for Ms. Sci’s arrival. Jordan Daughtery of DCDC 2 has set Mr. Sherman’s choreography with the Edison students.

DeShona Pepper Robertson, Dance Magnet Director at Stivers, has choreographed a beautiful piece of liturgical dance with some of Mary Lou Williams’ sacred music, secured for us by LaFrae Sci. Interestingly, it is the priest and friend of Mary Lou Williams who holds the rights to her sacred music. Ms. Williams went through a spiritual crisis in the middle of her career, converting to Catholicism and bonding with the priest who later became her dear friend and spiritual guide. Choreographers also featured are Erin Robbins of South Dayton Dance Theatre and Denise Miller from Sinclair. Ceora and Cyrah Ward, student dancers from Stivers, are assisting Miss DeShona.

Rodney Veal, Artistic Director for the project, is thrilled with all the collaborative aspects of this project. “I am amazed at how the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the music of Mary Lou Williams intersect and weave a compelling narrative for our times,” Veal says. “The young performers in the concert have embraced the theme of the show, celebrating tolerance and the beauty of community coming together. I’m hoping that people will gain an appreciation for the musical genius of Mary Lou Williams. This performance will showcase some amazing interpretations of her music.”

The One and the Many

The One and the Many

Teaching tolerance and modeling peace through creativity, this robust group of artists are honoring the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, hoping that all who witness the performance will resonate with the themes! Photographer, Glenna Jennings will show a number of photographs in the Blair Theatre lobby on the theme of Free Spirits. The piece included here (left) – The One and the Many – is a gorgeous example of Ms Jenning’s work with archival images from NCR, bringing Dayton history to new life!

Sponsors for this event include City of Dayton’s Human Relations Council, MetLife, DP & L Foundation, Dayton Foundation and Sinclair Community College.

Dayton Most Metro Ticket Contest

We have TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away for this concert!  Simply fill out the form below and leave a comment saying that YOU want to win tickets from Dayton Most Metro to see FREE SPIRITS, and we’ll pick two random winners on Sunday 2/10 – GOOD LUCK!

CONTEST CLOSED

Congratulations to our winners!

Janie Hummel
Paul Fleitz

Cityfolk & Missing Peace Art Space Present: El Dia de los Muertos – A Celebration of Life

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Cityfolk and Missing Peace Art Space have enjoyed a joyful collaboration of tradition, art-making and community building throughout the month of October. We’ve been preparing a celebration for all Daytonians in honor of our loved ones passed! Many religious traditions celebrate All Souls or All Saints Day. This is the secular Mexican tradition that honors the dead by imagining their presence back with us, just for a day, to laugh and enjoy together once again. Over 250 students have been a part of the residency through creative writing, papier mache, painting, music, building with bamboo and dance! The results are rich, poignant, beautiful memories expressed through art!

Cityfolk  has taken El Dia de los Muertos to schools and centers, with an exceptional team of artists: Gabriela Pickett, Michael Bashaw, Joy Levett and Rodney Veal, working with youth and youth leaders to bring life to All Souls.  The result will be a parade with a dance finale and generous donations for the event: food by Taqueria Mixteca and fresh marigolds provided by The Flower Shoppe.  This Community Ofrienda created by Dayton artists will open on Friday, after the parade. The exhibit will be open for the whole month at Missing Peace! Gabriela Pickett, owner of Missing Peace, and well-known painter MB Hopkins, have combined efforts to fill Missing Peace Art Space with tributes, honors, whimsy and delightful “soul art,” many pieces created by Dayton citizens, to honor loved ones for El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead.)

Let’s celebrate that day together on November 2nd, starting at 6:00pm with the El Dia de los Muertos parade! Everyone is welcome to join! You’ll need something festive to wear, in honor of a lost loved one!!! (This is NOT Halloween – that celebration will have already happened. This is a celebration of life.)  The parade will start at 5th & Patterson, traveling all the way to Missing Peace at 5th and Dutoit in St. Ann’s Hill.  There, parade participants and onlookers will enjoy a dance finale, great food and the opening of the community Ofrienda exhibit!!! Some items will be for sale, in particular – Skeleton Cookies by Gracie’s Baking. El Dia de los Muertos mugs are also available. All proceeds for mugs go to support Cityfolk! It will be a great night to share memories and celebrate life!!!

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Parade the District! el Dia de los Muertos!

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We are kicking off the holiday months with a whopper of a First Friday in November!  Celebrate with us! It’s all about family in all its forms, particularly those we have lost that remain lively in our memories and close to our hearts! On All Soul’s Day, November 2nd, we will honor SOULS with a bit of whimsy and lots of creativity, marching through the Oregon District (5th Street) with a family-festive Parade, all the way to Dutoit for a dance performance and reception! Imagine a cool, autumn evening, full of lights and the magic of memorial, drawn beautifully from the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead!

In Mexico, el Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) welcomes the souls of loved ones, who return each year on November 1 and 2 (All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day) to enjoy for a few hours the pleasures they once knew in life. Elaborate ofrendas—altars—erected in cemeteries and private homes afford friends and family the opportunity to reunite and celebrate with the departed. What was once a pre-Hispanic religious tradition was transformed by the introduction of Catholicism in Colonial Mexico.

Once more, the tradition morphs itself as it becomes part of Dayton’s celebration of diversity emanating from the city’s Immigrant Friendly Initiative. Missing Peace Art Space and Culture Builds Community are hosting an all-inclusive celebration seeking to unite our diverse populations in the common theme of celebrating departed loved ones. Through this event, community members – including you – are invited to explore this long-held Hispanic tradition.

Join us on Saturday, October 13 from 1 – 5 pm to create items for the community ofrenda, guided by artist Gabriela Pickett. We are also accepting submissions that you make elsewhere for the non-juried, community exhibition. All works that fit the theme of the Mexican Day of the Dead will be accepted, unless there is a safety issue. The community ofrenda is family-oriented, so please refrain from inappropriate material and keep submissions in good taste.

The parade is free and open to all on November 2nd! Participants will line up on Wyandot, behind Arby’s and Hauer Music, for a 6:00pm start down 5th St. This parade will lead to the Reception Performance in the outdoor space at Missing Peace Art Space, featuring works in dance and prose created for this event by students from Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community residency. Schools/programs included: Stivers School for the Arts, Chaminade Julienne High School, St Albert’s School, East End Community Center and the Hispanic Catholic Ministries After-School teen program. The parade will include life-sized skeleton puppets, a rolling musical sculpture, parade lanterns, innovative musical instruments, written work and paintings on large, bamboo parade frames, dancers and more! The community altar will be on display inside Missing Peace Art Space through November.

Culture Builds Community residency artists are Michael Bashaw, Gabriela Pickett, Joy Levett, Rodney Veal and DeShona Pepper-Robertson. Many other artists from the Greater Dayton area will participate in the “ofrenda.” You can, too!!!!

Missing Peace Art Space is looking for volunteers to help with various aspects of this community-driven exhibition from now until November 2. Please contact them at (937) 241- 4353 if you’d like to volunteer. Also – supply donations for the large puppets would be gratefully accepted anytime: newspaper, flour and glue. Call for details on where to drop off donations!!

Playing for Change Day 2012

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Playing for Change is an international music education movement that works to break down barriers between people through the universal language of music! Shortened: peace through music! YES! What an incredible initiative! People all over the world follow this movement through videos, concerts and social media. Communities are transformed by shared music, fund drives and ultimately music schools built in their regions to grow the skills and passions of young people through music!

After an inspiration visit with PFC Founder, Mark Johnson, last spring, Cityfolk became engaged in learning more about Playing for Change. The parallels between missions were revealed.  As a traditional arts presenter, much of which has been music, Cityfolk has been driven by the universal language of music in a highly diverse community. Our partnership with the Welcome Dayton initiative has put us in a unique position to explore the breadth of culture in Dayton through our Culture Builds Community program. In a given year, we share a myriad of musical styles and performers. As we talked through the Playing for Change goals, we felt drawn to the tasks. It felt like a call to answer.

Culture Builds Community works in multiples: multiple art forms, multiple ethnicities, multiple schools, neighborhoods and age groups. This outreach arm of the Cityfolk mission was just the place to introduce a year-long commitment to an international movement. In fact, maybe it wouldn’t be just a year. Perhaps this collaboration could really take off! Again, the multiples: multiple staff members, volunteers, musicians and administrators came together and determined that Playing for Change Dayton was going to happen!!!

It all began during the Cityfolk Festival when our street team of musicians, The People’s Music, went out to share music with the gathered crowd. They had lots of interaction with folks there! During our Sunday rain delay, the street team got folks together in the parking garage, spurring a creative experience that motivated all involved: drums, vocals, dancing, over a hundred folks, joining energies to transform disappointment into possibility. PFC Dayton was officially in gear. The spontaneous jam was caught on videotape. Participants shared contact info. Culture was building community, right there, in the eye of the storm. That brings us to current day. Now with a structured Dayton team, a new partnership with Wright State University and lots of interested musicians, PFC Dayton is ready to roll.

This Saturday, September 22nd, is Playing for Change Day! It is celebrated all around the world. Cityfolk has registered an event with Playing for Change Day International here in our Dayton Community. We will be raising money for the local realization of music education across cultures! Our short goal is to share PFC programs in Dayton all year. The long goal: establishing a Playing for Change music school in Dayton. We begin with supporting CBC music programs for the coming year!

PFC Day at the Trolley Stop begins at 6:30 Saturday evening in the beautiful, historic Oregon District! Bring your friends and enjoy the sounds of local musicians with global flare: Son del Caribe, The Odyssey, Eric Jerardi Band, Jay Martinez and Puzzle of Light. This is a fundraiser. These artists are donating their time to support the cause. The event is hosted by Sandy & Michael Bashaw from Puzzle of Light!

(Click here for our event calendar listing where you can listen to the performers)

The Trolley Stop is a local treasure: good drinks, good food, good friends, a lovely intimate music venue and the best patio around! We are grateful for their involvement in Cityfolk projects. (You will notice a giant mosaic banner on the side of the bar when you stop by on Saturday!) We are all cityfolks! Come enjoy the fun! We hope you will give generously!

 

 

Wonder Weaving – Culture Builds Community

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As I stood in a sunny alcove at Stivers School for the Arts, watching a group of young ladies arrive for the Culture Builds Community course (part of the Dayton Summer Arts Camp) it was easy to imagine the beautiful wonder weaving that would follow and the transformations that would take place.

Course descriptions can only take you so far. Words share the ideas, the tasks of the course, maybe something about what leaders hope will take place. Families sign up based on the descriptions that sound most engaging. Truth be told, it is more likely that the power of arts camp on individuals and groups is exactly what they don’t read in short pithy sentences, the stuff talked about but not yet in the room. Let’s call that “wonder”.

Merriam Webster defines wonder as something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience. See also: marvel, miracle. Yes. It’s that connection with something new, something that moves us. Wonder breeds transformation. The action of art, the doing what could only be described: this “other” connection, beyond the directions and the tasks: here is where a journey begins.

As the children entered the space for the CBC course, I watched their eyes wander from thing to thing on the presentation table. Day 1: sand mandala and dance styles from India. They sat in the bright, warm space, responding quietly to the greetings of their instructors. Slowly, the leader invited them into ceremony for the beginning of the Mandala. The cacophony of voices: kids, parents and teachers at registration tables had diminished, leaving, at this moment, the sound of Tibetan chimes and the quiet breathing of a new group of “wonderers”.

Next, the table, the paper, the pattern, each thing interesting in it’s own right, combined to be a receiver of color, texture and promise – the new moon mandala, appearing like magic out of sand, pigment and paper, carefully arranged by a group of children who knew nothing of each other, the artists or the process just 30 minutes earlier. On they went without lapse of attention, with intensity and calm. After an hour, it was time for dance. A short completion ritual of the day’s progress, a break and then into a large classroom, desks removed and space created for dancers.

Onward into the rhythmic, mysterious music of India, vibrant young women wearing beautiful fabrics, and more wonder! This bunch of campers, ranging from age 8 to 15, stood ready to learn. By the end of the first day, they had learned an entire Bollywood-style dance. Day two: they jumped right into Bhangra style dance, confident and full of pride. Transformation was well underway. These young ladies will join their teachers, dancing at the Cityfolk Festival, to the live music of Red Baarat!

A terrific first week ended in true, wonderous fashion, with the ceremonial destruction of the mandala (very moving), the distribution of sand to all the makers and a walk to the river to return the remaining sand to the natural world, flowing all the makers’ intentions throughout the city. I joined the group in their walk down to the river. The melancholy of sweeping away the mandala turned into a joyous celebration walk, culminating in an unexpected and magical way. When we arrived at Webster St. bridge and walked down the path to the water, the fountains came on, all of them, creating a brilliantly colored rainbow with cool, misty refreshment for the weary walkers as they gave the sand back to its source.

Wonder weaving: taking the threads of rich, new experiences that delight and shape us, weaving them together and building the vibrant fabric of our lives. When we share fabrics, one with another, the tapestry of community is woven. When tapestry upon tapestry, fill the rooms of our cities, states and countries, our world is unified: one big colorful house of wonder! May these young students at summer camp be inspiration for us to wonder weave. Culture Builds Community is for everyone. It’s the art of us!

 

Got Soul?

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Step Afrika

Got talent? Got pride? Got commitment? Got compassion? I am pleased to report that the answer is YES, to each and every one of those questions, as they apply to the 80 or so members of the Soul Rhythms Team!! Culture Builds Community: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

It’s a feel-good process! And the list could go on! Got imagination? Got fun? Got friends? Got community? YES! That is our goal with education and outreach – getting to YES!

One of the things I learned early on in theatre training was the unspoken commandment of the YES. Particularly in improvisation, the play forward requires that you say YES to your scene partner. If not, there is no scene. It’s similar in music. While watching LaFrae Sci work with the young Stivers musicians, I was struck by the importance of invitation, making the YES an opportunity to accept. Each of those musicians say YES by the way they follow the “conduction” process: thematic cues, symbols for dynamics and the gesture I will call “invitation” to solo. As LaFrae extends her arm from elbow to fingertips in the direction of a player, he or she is invited to bring their unique skill and interpretation to the moment. It’s an invigorating process!

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We’re held to account in the creative process. Our response to invitation is action. YES does mean work. For sure, you are on the line when you accept such an invitation. You must produce. The invigorating part is when you realize that what you’re producing is yourself. Nobody else. Your talents, your choices, your deepest ideas; even the things you question become part of the product, deserving of your time and exploration. As human beings, we are always “becoming.” The choice, then, is what we become.

LaFrae Sci

As community builders, working through arts and culture, we have a distinct opportunity to invite every Dayton dweller to say YES to the growth of our community, to the tremendous assets, by getting involved, taking action. Yes is an action!!! One thing we strive to teach with Culture Builds Community is that commitment is positive. It is an active response, a YES! Involvement invites each voice in this Dayton portion of our human family to be heard! This Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm at the Masonic Center, Soul Rhythms will unveil a series of remarkable choices made by a troupe that has said YES to commitment, creativity, hard work and big fun! On that stage, YES is the star whose glimmer is powered by the 75 or so performers that accepted the invitation. Youth and adults alike, working in collaboration, making art, sharing traditions, establishing friendships: the YES is working!

Soul Rhythms is a tour de force of percussive dance, multicultural musical form, spoken word, history and tradition. The theme of migration is visual, on stage and screen, with filmed sequences affirming the texture and movement of the dance, and audible in the array of instruments beings played throughout the show. Truly, this is a feast for the eyes and ears. And then, there’s the soul! The rhythms of the soul are well nourished in this performance, as they have been for the past 6 weeks in residency. Seeing young people take on challenges and meet them, artists working with youth as peers, so many diverse traditions sharing in one beautiful effort: it is surely a model to embrace. This is Dayton! We are saying YES to who we are, individually and together.

Got soul? Darn right!

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Cityfolk: Culture Builds Community – Soul Rhythms

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Collaboration is an amazing gift! When you experience it, those moments of joined efforts and creative kinship are downright life changing. This is true in both cultural arts and community building. Collaboration means working together, engaging in common goals and welcoming folks from all traditions to share a common journey. That is Culture Builds Community!

Cityfolk engages in this process throughout the year, through the concert series, the summer festival and CBC. As Dayton’s traditional arts organization, we are grounded in the traditional arts – this generation’s “original,” knowing that it all trickles down to the next citizens/family members/artists to translate anew. Relationship patterns are horizontal and vertical; they thrive at a multitude of levels. Carried at each level are tangible takeaways: dance, cooking, music, poems, jewelry, quilts, paintings, puppets and more. We create it and hand it down. There’s a ladder of love in the abstract, a full life of expression in the real stories. That is Culture Builds Community!

When Cityfolk works in the schools, the effort is in sharing those art forms that represent an aspect of tradition that elementary aged children in 2012 may or may not know from family or educational experience. In some cases, families nourish their ethnic heritage through yearly celebrations or cherished belongings. Plenty of other folks may not know their ancestry, where their people came from. Many of us see ourselves as a fusion of cultures, a mix of many, and we bond with various traditions that move us or bring us joy. Whatever the case, Culture Builds Community celebrates the knowns and the unknowns. Every human being has a back story, a history with connections. CBC helps to both bring unique identity and common experience to the fore. The Welcome Dayton initiative celebrates the immigrant-friendly nature of the city. This inclusive approach fits beautifully with Cityfolk’s mission and CBC’s action.

For the past seven years, Culture Builds Community has lived into its identity by sharing arts-based cultural activities in Dayton’s urban neighborhoods. We’ve been building relationships with neighbors and area youth, through community events and the summer festival activities. Our signature piece is a residency project, bringing Visiting Artists together with Local Artists, Site Coordinators,Neighborhood School Centers and students to collaborate on a theme, through music and dance. This year is the most expansive program yet, involving all five NSC schools, five nationally acclaimed artists and a bevy of local talents and organizers to bring five cultural strands through an educational migration to a dynamic destination, the culminating performance. This year, Cityfolk presents CBC 2012 – Soul Rhythms: Traveling land and heart Through Music and Dance.

Soul Rhythms is engaged with the following schools:Fairview, Ruskin,Edison,Cleveland and Kiser. Each school is hosting a particular cultural expression, blending a team of intergenerational, multicultural folks together to make dances. These dances will be combined with works by visiting artists, local artists and collaborations between them, culminating in a dynamic performance!! While this project is one large collaborative effort, aspects of the whole are being realized in smaller pieces, to afford the most productive use of time and talent. Artists are working together, developing big ideas and sounds, swapping ideas with students; site coordinators are keeping the logistics tight, the attendance strong. It’s a well-oiled machine. Soul Rhythms is unfolding over seven weeks, taking us March through April. During week 1, the following artistic teams came together.

LaFrae Sci

LaFrae Sci

Fairview PreK-8 School welcomed percussionist and composer LaFrae Sci, nationally known artist, actively involved in Jazz atLincolnCenter, international teaching tours and her band, The Thirteenth Amendment. Ms. Sci is a native Daytonian! She is thrilled to be teaching in her hometown. She is working actively with Stivers Jazz band members, Renee McClendon (McClendon Institute) and Sierra Leone (Oral Funk Poetry), creating performance art with a group of 5th – 8th  graders.

Hasan Isakkut

Hasan Isakkut

Ruskin PreK-8, together with East End Community Services, is hosting Turkish kanun player, Hasan Isakkut, who is working closely with community dancers from theTwinTowers neighborhood. These young dancers from the Ahiska tradition will share their folk dance tradition with students from Ruskin. Mr. Isakkut will bring his beautiful music to the dancers, collaborating with LaFrae Sci to include the signature folk dance rhythms for the group.

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Step Afrika

Step Africa

Edison PreK-8 welcomed Step Afrika, nationally acclaimed dance troupe, specializing in the African American fraternity step tradition. They have partnered withCentral State’s Alpha Phi Alpha chapter, to teach advanced step routines to the young people of the Wright Dunbar neighborhood. CSU worked with young people atEdison in February as part of Black History Month.

Hammerstep

Hammerstep

Cleveland PreK-8 is proud to showcase the innovative work of Hammerstep, a dance company blending Irish step and Hip Hop, among other forms, bringing a whole new genre of dance to Daytonians. Founding member Garrett Coleman graduated from U.D, so this is a homecoming of sorts for him. Hammerstep is working closely with Beth Wright, formerly of Rhythm in Shoes, and The Corndrinkers, a long-established, local band, playing old time traditional country music.

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Sones de Mexico

Sones de Mexico

Kiser PreK-8 hosts Sones de Mexico from Chicago, bringing Mexican traditional music and dance to Old North Dayton. They are collaborating with local artist, Imelda Ayala and her local dancers, Orgullo Mexicano, along with Kiser students. The two artist teams bring dance from two different parts of Mexico!

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Artistic Director, Rodney Veal is pulling together the dances and collaborations into a beautiful dynamic sequence, a performance that will keep the audience riveted for an hour and fifteen minutes, packed with the pride of homelands, including our collective home,Dayton Ohio! The dances reflect a rich collaboration on the theme of migration. The performance features the live music of each tradition, film work to augment the various expressions and a masterful sense of the journey. All artists and participants will perform!

The big day is April 22nd, 2012!!! You won’t want to miss this performance!!! There is only one!! Tickets are on sale now – $12 per seat -through the Cityfolk website or in our office,126 N. Main St,. Suite 220. Follow the project on Facebook. Check out videos of CBC artists and previous CBC projects on our YouTube channel. Next year’s plans are already cookin’! CBC will be more places, with more folks involved! We would like YOU to be among them!!! Call 223-3655×3008 for more information.