Home delivery plus 2021 SeRIeS Dizzy Spellz SEAN JONES & BRINAE ALI PREMIERING FRI, MAR 19, 8pm (ET) STREAMING ON DEMAND THROUGH THU, MAR 25, 11:59pm (ET) Dizzy spellz Dizzy Spellz is an investigative process with an Afro- extremely triggering. Oppression and systemic futuristic lens that looks at the intersecting cultural racism are practices that are embedded in the and spiritual dilemmas within Black America. It fabric of America. It is one of the very reasons why challenges mankind to imagine a world of freedom, our country is so divided. Sean Jones and I not only liberation, and justice through the music of Dizzy re-imagine Dizzy’s music, but we decode messages Gillespie. From his coming of age through the racial that are like a road map or a compass to our own and social dynamics in the Deep South, creating and path of liberation and healing. curating the Bebop movement in New York, to his This piece offers a sacred space to release trauma spiritual journey to Africa and his delve into Afro- and celebrate joy for people of all walks of life. Cuban music and the Bahá’i Faith, Dizzy was very Although the present is deeply connected to the past, much ahead of his time. our imaginations are the keys of possibility to create Dr. Joy DeGruy’s theory of what she calls Post- the future that we envision. It is a reminder that our Traumatic Slave Syndrome resonates intensely spirits are having a human experience. We are just a throughout this work. Events such as the murders guest or visitor to this place called Earth. of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the Black – Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley Lives Matter protests during a pandemic have been CREATIVE TEAM PERFORMERS Written, choreographed, and conceived by Brinae Ali Trumpet: Sean Jones Musical director/composition: Sean Jones Vocals/Tap/Spoken Word: Brinae Ali Bass: Kris Funn Artistic advisor/director: Paige Hernandez-Funn Keys: Alex Brown Visual art: Josama Palabra Drums: CV Dashiell III Wardrobe consultant: Carmia Marshall Percussion: Menes Yahudah Makeup: Ciara Terry Turntables/Beatbox/SoundFX: Wendel Patrick More Info, Series Sales, and Donations: WashingtonPerformingArts.org 1 about the artists Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, Dizzy Spellz, fuses tap, bebop, hip-hop, and Afro- born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Cuban music to articulate the African American is an interdisciplinary artist who experience through the music of Dizzy Gillespie believes in using the power of the from an Afrofuturistic lens. arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. When she is Music and spirituality have not traveling and performing, she always been fully intertwined in is giving back to young people and the artistic vision of trumpeter, grassroots organizing. Currently, Ali is the Assistant bandleader, composer, educator, Artistic Director of Tapology, Inc., a youth-based and activist Sean Jones. Singing outreach program in Flint that believes in preserving and performing as a child with the art of tap and jazz culture through education the church choir in his hometown and performance. As an educator, she has collab- of Warren, Ohio, Sean switched orated with After School Activities Partnership, from the drums to the trumpet at the age of ten. East Park Revitalization Alliance, Philadelphia Clef Sean is a musical chameleon and is comfortable Club of Performing Arts, Raise It Up! Youth Arts in any musical setting, no matter what the role or and Awareness, Flint Youth Theatre, Mural Arts of the genre. He is equally adept at being a member Philadelphia, Young Audiences of New Jersey, of an ensemble as he is at being a bandleader. Queens College, Long Island University, Ping Sean turned a six-month stint with the Jazz Chong and Company, and New Jersey Performing at Lincoln Center Orchestra into an offer from Arts Center and was an artist in residence at the Wynton Marsalis for a permanent position as lead Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo, Dominican trumpeter, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In Republic. She has also served as an adjunct 2015 Jones was tapped to become a member of the professor at Queens College and Long Island SFJAZZ Collective, where he was a member until University. Ali has traveled and performed around 2018. During this time, Sean has managed to keep a the world in countries such as France, Germany, core group of talented musicians together under his China, and Brazil. She also traveled with a team leadership, forming the foundation for his groups of tap dancers to Russia for a tour of five cities, that have produced and released eight recordings working with the U.S. Embassy for its cultural on Mack Avenue Records. The latest is his 2017 exchange program celebrating National Tap Dance release, Sean Jones: Live from the Jazz Bistro. Day. Her Broadway and off-Broadway experience Sean has been prominently featured with a number has gained her positions as Assistant Dance Captain of artists, recording and/or performing with many for Shuffle Along: the 1921 Sensation And All That major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Followed, choreographed by Savion Glover and Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne directed by George C. Wolfe; Company Member Reeves, Gerald Wilson, and Marcus Miller. Sean of the New York and Touring Casts of STOMP; was selected by Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne special features in the Cotton Club Parade (which Shorter for their Tribute to Miles tour in 2011. later became After Midnight) under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis and New York City He has also performed with the Cleveland, Pitts- Center’s Off-Center production of Don’t Bother burgh, and Youngstown Symphony Orchestras as Me, I Can’t Cope, directed and choreographed by well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore, and in a Savion Glover. She also took part in a two-week chamber group at the Salt Bay Chamber Festival. tour in Italy celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’s centennial. Sean is also an internationally recognized educator. As a playwright and songwriter, she has created He was recently named the Richard and Elizabeth award-winning works such as her one woman Case Chair of Jazz at John Hopkins University’s show, Steps (Best Short Play at the Downtown Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Before coming to Urban Theater Festival), and Destination Forever: Peabody, Sean served as the Chair of the Brass Vol.1 EP (Vox Populi Independence Music Award). Department at the Berklee College of Music in Her current work with trumpeter Sean Jones, Boston. 2 Paige Hernandez is a multidis- his passion for the visual arts through oil painting. ciplinary artist who is critically Josama immersed himself with his newfound love acclaimed as a performer, and began studying the works of various Renais- director, choreographer, and sance masters, Mexican muralists, and contemp- playwright. As an AEA equity orary painters. actress, Paige has performed The combination of Josama’s vagabond lifestyle, on many stages throughout the artistic upbringing, and devotion to hip-hop culture, country. She has collaborated are the factors responsible for his unique artistic with the Lincoln Center and has been commis- expression. Josama’s work can be defined as a sioned by several companies including the National living dreamscape that cross-pollinates historical New Play Network, the Smithsonian, The Kennedy moments with pop-culture iconography and Center, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Glimmerglass everyday street life. Infusing elements of symbology, Festival. She is the recipient of an Individual Artist psychology, and spirituality, Josama’s pieces are Award from the Maryland State Arts Council as engaging and evoke a thought-provoking analysis of well as four Helen Hayes nominations for choreo- the imagery conveyed. graphy, directing, and performance. Paige has also been named a “classroom hero” by the Huffington Carmia Marshall graduated Post, a “Citizen Artist Fellow” with the Kennedy cum laude from Howard Center, “40 under 40” by the Washington Post and University with a Bachelor of one of “Six Theatre Workers You Should Know” by Arts in communications. Her American Theatre Magazine. She is elated to be love for fashion and storytelling the Associate Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre led her to a diverse career in in her hometown of Baltimore, MD. With her entertainment, with successful company B-FLY ENTERTAINMENT, Paige continues positions in myriad sectors such to develop and tour original work internationally. as costuming, styling, personal shopping, fashion paigehernandez.com design, and writing. “Life is but a dream…” The poetry Carmia has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest etched in Lewis Carroll’s 1903 blockbusters, such as Ocean’s 8 (star dressing poetic masterpiece so tunefully Rihanna), George C. Wolfe’s movie adaption of mirrors the essence embodied in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for the paintings of Josama Palabra. Netflix, (star dressing Viola Davis), and Darren Born Jose Antonio David in the Aronofsky’s Noah (star dressing Russell Crowe). Dominican Republic and raised For fashion-driven plots, where clothes are a major in New York City, Josama studied character in the movie, her credits include Tracy fine arts at Altos De Chavon, a sister school to Oliver’s television remake of First Wives Club, in Parsons. As an only child, Josama was raised and which Carmia dressed music legend Jill Scott. artistically inspired by his mother, Ingrid Madera, She also worked on the iconic Sex in the City 2, in the internationally renowned sculptor, artist, and which she dressed male principals and other cast survivor. Josama’s childhood was nomadic, moving members. incessantly throughout various neighborhoods, While working on major film and television shows, boroughs, counties, and states, including Man- she was co-owner/vice-president of a fashion label hattan’s Lower East Side, Chelsea, Harlem, called Sistahs of Harlem.