RI Urban Teens to Perform “The Harlem Strut” in Providence on August 8
Thursday, July 30, 2015
GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team
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Photo credit: Robb Dimmick
An ensemble of twelve urban teens will be performing some of America's greatest jazz standards in "The Harlem Strut" on Saturday August 8 at the Providence Public Library on Empire Street.
The performance, which is free and open to the public, is at 2 PM, and features youth from Providence, including students from the Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts (TAPA), who have spent the summer rehearsing six hours a day preparing the show under the musical direction of internationally acclaimed musicians Michael Palter and Lynne Jackson, and the artistic direction of Robb Dimmick.
About the Peformance
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The participating youth in the photo are (starting in the back row) Axel Rosario, Drew Parker, Vanessa Oseghale (behind Drew), Janell Brown, Charles Laws, Ari Couto, Kalif Madriaga, Steven Rosario, Luna Abreu Santana, and Jose Baez. In the front row are Sagai Connor and Gian Montiero.
The students learned songs from the jazz tradition, developing vocal phrasing, acting skills and choreography. The original production, conceived by Dimmick and written by Palter and Jackson, celebrates Harlem, freedom and self-determination.
Now in its twelfth year, the summer program "Jazz is a Rainbow" is produced by Opera Providence and funded by the Providence Shelter for Colored Children and the Rhode Island School of Design. It teaches vocal jazz techniques and history to young performers and also takes 50 youth to the Newport Jazz Festival each summer.
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