We Can Breathe: Healing for the Uptown Arts Community

Join us for a FREE 9-video series of inspirational videos centered around Black, Indigenous, people of color in collaboration with artists from the Uptown community. This series is for performers and artists who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color, as well as allies committed to dismantling white supremacy in themselves, their work and the world.

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ABOUT THE SERIES:

In this series we use the breath, stillness and movement exploration as tools for artists to access their creativity. The word inspiration literally means the drawing in of breath! As artists, this is our call to action! To be filled with so much inspiration that our art moves us and others towards change.

Tanya Birl-Torres of SoHumanity and teacher at Bread and Yoga, will lead each video, pairing movement, breath work and space for contemplation with the works of uptown performing artists as a means to ground, inspire and celebrate our community.

As we witness the triple pandemic of COVID-19, systemic racism and climate change, we will use this platform as an opportunity to create space for artists to process the effects of these turbulent times and to liberate their artistic voice.

COLLABORATORS:

WILSON TORRES (PERCUSSIONIST AND WAHI NATIVE)

Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School M.A.P, The Juilliard School Pre College program and F.H LaGuardia High School of Music and Art (Fame). He received his B.M, M.M in Orchestral Performance from The Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Duncan Patton and Christopher S. Lamb. Broadway Credits include Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical “In the Heights”, “Les Misérables” (25th anniversary revival), “Lysistrata Jones”, “The Wiz” (Encores),“On Your Toes” (Encores), “Cabin in the Sky” (Encores), “Invisible Thread” (2nd Stages) and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. Tours: “Lion King” (1st National), “Lion King” (Cheetah) and “Wicked” (1st National). Orchestral credits include San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Staten Island Symphony and Albany Symphony. Film/TV: Smash, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Oceans 8, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Fosse/Verdon, West Side Story and In The Heights. Wilson is the percussionist for Camile A. Brown and Dancers and is a proud endorser of Latin Percussion and Sabian Cymbals.

CURTIS STEWART (Uptown Native & Violinist)

Grammy nominated violinist Curtis Stewart enjoys an eclectic career bouncing between various realms of music: from MTV specials with Wyclef Jean and sold out shows at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and Seal, to stints at the Kennedy center with the Jimmy Heath Big Band and performance installations at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Curtis has performed as a classical soloist at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, as a special guest soloist/curator with the New York Philharmonic, made chamber music appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Newport Jazz Festival. His ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail realize a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures and musics. Curtis has worked with today’s forward thinking musicians including Henry Threadgill, Jason Moran, members of International Contemporary Ensemble, Billy Childs, the JACK quartet, members of Snarky Puppy, Don Byron, Linda Oh, Ari Hoenig, Matt Wilson, among many others.

An avid teacher, he has taught chamber music at the Juilliard School, orchestra/strings/music theory at the Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts for ten years, and is currently the Chamber Music and New Juilliard Ensemble Manager at the Juilliard School, in New York City. Curtis graduated magna cum laude from the Eastman School of Music with a BA of Mathematics from the University of Rochester.

@CURTIS.STEWART_VIOLIN

DANIEL WATTS (Harlem Resident & Spoken Word Artist)

Daniel J. Watts is a 2020 Tony Award nominee and Outer Critics Circle Award Winner for his portrayal of Ike Turner in the hit Broadway musical TINA. He has appeared in nine Broadway shows including Hamilton, Memphis, and After Midnight. He received the Barrymore Award (People's Light) and the LA Ovation Award (Geffen Playhouse) for best featured actor for his portrayal of Sammy Davis, Jr. in “Lights Out: Nat King Cole” opposite Dulé Hill. TV credits include Season 3 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'', Seasons 1 & 2 of “The Last OG”, “Blindspot”, & “Vinyl”.

Off-Broadway he has starred as the title character in Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead” (Signature Theatre) & “Whorl Inside A Loop” (2nd Stage).

A play-on-words, Daniel J. Watts’ THE JAM pays homage to Watts’ great-grandmother who, after making jam from scratch, would share with others what she

was unable to consume herself. THE JAM is Watts’ continuation of that

legacy, blending elements of stand-up comedy and compelling storytelling with his

original spoken word, often set to music and/or dance. The Jam: Only Child was a wide success at the 2020 Public Theatre Under The Radar Festival and will be streamed as part of the Signature Theater (DC) 2020-2021 season.

His original work and musical collaborations are featured on Raphael Saadiq’s newest album “Jimmy Lee”, Tituss Burgess’ “Saint Tituss”, Divinity Roxx’s ImPossible, Nick Blaemire’s “Ampersand”; as a contributing artist for Armstrong Now in conjunction with The Louis Armstrong House Museum; and featured in the young adult anthology “How I Resist” edited by New York Times Best Seller Maureen Johnson for Wednesday Books/Macmillan.

Watts is an artist in residence at ASU Gammage and has also served as an adjunct professor of NYU’s Tisch New Studio.

BFA Graduate Elon University Music Theatre Program. 2011 Young Alumnus Award Recipient.

IG/Twitter: @dwattswords