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Parent Category: Onstage

See artists', advocates', and socialites' hidden talents and performances with a TWIST!

By Natasha T. Brown

I love a sophisticated benefit show that’s unlike anything happening! In the midst of tons of hip-hop shows and live concerts, this event offers a great opportunity to see your favorite indie artists unwind, have fun and showcase a different side of themselves! On Tuesday, May 28, artists will hit the stage for the #WR4OK “Twisted” Improv Oklahoma Disaster Relief Benefit Show to help families adopted by Project Giveback following the deadly tornado in Oklahoma last week.

Will Rap 4 Food, Inc., Project Giveback and Think Brown INK have planned an interesting show in which recording artists, advocates and socialites will perform their hidden talents. The performers are well-known faces in the region’s entertainment scene, but their hidden talents will not be revealed until the event. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go towards Project Giveback’s Oklahoma Disaster Relief. Project Giveback is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations are tax deductable. Donations may also be made online at http://www.projectgiveback.org/donate.

Event Details:

Tuesday, May 28, Showtime 9 p.m.

Martin's Lounge, 1919 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

$5 Minimum Donation at the Door; 100% of Proceeds to Benefit Oklahoma Disaster Relief

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Parent Category: Onstage

By Natasha T. Brown

Saturday afternoon at Afterhours Recording Studio was where many DMV music champs linked for a down-to-earth, creative and exclusive afternoon of music making. Artists like Bear Witnez, Mo Betta, Redhead, White Folkz, Pro’Verb, Nick Baker… and many others  ‘vibed’ to hip-hop tracks created by Silver Spring Producer Midas (@MidasIsMusic). The artists were either writing on notepads, free styling, jotting down bars in their iPhones, or simply listening to whoever was in the booth recording.

This experience was called the Pop-up Beat Shop, where a select group of artists were invited to come and meet Midas and then listen, write and collaborate on tracks with their peers.

“It was like a pickup basketball game with a bunch of all-stars. It was the purist rap situation I’ve ever been involved in…” said Mo Betta (@Betta_Mo).

There was one beat called “Sparta” that had at least six rappers’ versus on it. This was a popular track due to its cinematic sound that wove samples from the motion pictures Gladiator and Glory.

“This beat is made for true emcees,” said Midas, who is a classically trained musician, began playing the piano at age four and picked up the saxophone as a musician in the DeMatha High School band. He’s been making music for 10 years, and still plays both instruments, which adds a pure sense of musicianship to his beats. Midas recently linked with Talent Manager Melisa Duncan (@MsMelisaKim). The team, which also includes Midas’ engineer Big L.E.S., plans on releasing a different track created from the Pop-up Beat Shop throughout the summer.

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Parent Category: Onstage

by Natasha T. Brown

“When I was in LA, I was really starting to get my feet wet, but with the opportunity to open Seize The Dance, I immediately thought about my dance friends, who are ridiculously talented but didn’t have the opportunities I had. I didn’t want a dance studio just to teach, because I’m still a student myself. It was really about having the space to open up and share with my friends and others here.” – LaTonya Swann, Seize The Dance

In 2011, LaTonya Swann, 22, felt unfulfilled in college as a double dance and psychology major at the University of Maryland College Park. At that point, she decided that she would pursue dance full time using her next audition as a stepping stone to really jump start her professional career.

Then she received word that auditions were being held for a new series on BET called Born to Dance with Laurieann Gibson. Swann traveled to New York, made it to the audition line at 4 a.m. and was there until 9 p.m. She made the cut from 9,000 dancers in New York to 40, who were called to Atlanta the following month. Only 20 dancers would make it. LaTonya made it through the Atlanta cuts, onto the show and ultimately became the first winner of Born to Dance, proving she was among the best in the industry.

“While I was on the show, I told myself that I was the underdog so I would work much harder than normal. I sat back and watched and tried to take in as much as I could about the industry and dance,” Swann said.

The show aired over eight weeks, but was filmed in four so the contestants shot two shows each day, endured two sets of challenges and two rounds of cuts daily.

“We didn’t have any down time. We were dancing for our lives in the realist aspect of that. Getting to learn dance from one of the best and being around others who wanted it just as much makes you work harder, because everyone around you feels like they were born to dance. You have to prove that you are,” she added.

After winning the show, Swann’s life changed forever. She moved to Los Angeles and was living her dream as a professional dancer and actress, working with entertainers like Chris Brown, Neo, Shakira, Cassie Ventura, Dawn Richards and brands like The Disney Channel.

After about a year in LA, a family friend approached her with the opportunity to open a dance gym in her hometown of District Heights, Maryland. She jumped at the opportunity, because in the back of her mind, she yearned to find a way to help other dancers back home who didn’t have the opportunities that she did. Seize The Dance Performing Arts Gym opened in December 2012.

But fast forward six months later. With a lack of consistent community support of Seize The Dance’s altruistic purpose to be a space for the artists here, DMV’s dream warrior, LaTonya Swann, the first winner of BET’s Born to Dance has been on a mission to keep her community-based performing arts gym open. Many in the arts and business communities have joined a movement called #SAVESEIZE, with a goal to raise the $9,000 needed to keep Seize open. Swann recently spoke with me about her mission for Seize the Dance, the #SAVESEIZE campaign and how she feels about her career and the recent turn of events.

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Parent Category: Onstage

Catch the final production on May 9th at 7pm

By Natasha T. Brown

“I find value in seeing artists use their platform to create change and be about something more than just entertainment. I want people to understand that art and activism have historically been intertwined.” – Khadijah Ali-Coleman, Writer/Director of “In Her Words”

Actress, Singer and Civil Rights Activist Lena Horne was a politically and socially-conscience artist/activist who used her platform to speak about the role of blacks in society. In 2011, area Journalist, Playwright and College Instructor Khadijah Ali-Coleman, founder of Liberated Muse Arts Group heard a 1966 interview with an outspoken Ms. Lena Horne. Ali-Coleman, who is no stranger to research, explains that she was “floored by the interview,” in which “Lena Horne was talking about race [and working for] ‘the man’,” she said.

Ali-Coleman began to research Horne and other great entertainers and writers like Nina Simone, Zora Neale Hurston, Billie Holiday and Lucille Clifton. She wanted to honor these great women, hence came “In Her Words,” – a short 40 minute theatrical piece with music (not quite a full-length play) that is told from the perspective of a college student who is learning about some of her favorite female creative artists.

According to Ali-Coleman, as the student does her research, with the help of her adviser, the ghostly angel and poetic goddess Lucille Clifton, she learns some backstory on Billie Holiday, Zora Neale Hurston, Lena Horne and Nina Simone.

This Thursday, May 9, is the final show of “In Her Words,” 7pm at Charles E. Beatley Central Library in Alexandria, VA. The show is free and donations are welcome. (Click to watch the trailer.)

Below Ali-Coleman shares more about “In Her Words.” This theatrical production is an important opportunity to be inspired by the historical social responsibility legendary black artists possessed.