By Wendy Finklea and Merry Lynn Morris
From Backstage to Center Stage
Arts4All Florida Celebrates 40 Years!!
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From gifted musicians who are blind, to dancers with mobility differences, to emerging young artists with autism and Deaf dancers, From Backstage to Center Stage 2022 celebrated February 18-March 2, was a melding of diverse people and experiences with talents intersecting through art-making.
This dedicated Arts4All Florida program serves to recognize the outstanding accomplishments in the performing arts by renowned artists that have a disability. As the organization celebrated their historical 40-year dedication to arts education and cultural experiences for and by people of all diverse backgrounds, a year-long multitude of events throughout Florida was planned.
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This culminating program was a unique collaboration involving Arts4All Florida, a nonprofit headquartered in the USF College of Education, and USF College of the Arts faculty and students. Dr. Merry Lynn Morris, Interim Chair of Dance in the USF School of Theatre and Dance, serves on the Arts4All Board and regularly collaborates to produce A New Definition of Dance – a platform showcasing professional dancers with disabilities, initiated in 2015.
For this recent celebratory event, depicted by Tom Kramer‘s evocative images, Arts4All Florida invited back professional artists with disabilities who have worked with the organization over the years, including dance, music and theatre artists.
Additionally, Arts4All Florida Young Performer winners Hailey Buxton, Lawrence Carter, Kevin Franco and Carson Monticello were featured in the concert, receiving mentorship opportunities throughout the week with USF faculty and guest professional artists.
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Dr. Clint Randles from the USF School of Music coordinated the musical aspects of the performance program and Dr. Merry Lynn Morris managed the dance aspects and overall performance program structure, as Artistic Director.
In conjunction with this event, the USF Dance program brought Marc Brew, an internationally acclaimed choreographer with a physical disability to set a work on the dance students, supported through the Holloway Endowment. Professor Elizabeth Bourgeois from the USF School of Theatre and Dance designed the costumes for Marc Brew’s piece.
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The USF dance students also had the opportunity to perform with five dancers with disabilities in the work – this was an exceptional experience for them. Movement and communication norms were challenged, and new discoveries made through collaborative, creative problem solving.
Students remarked at how unique an experience this was for them, causing them to grow in new dimensions as artists. The entire program also traveled to Miami and was performed there.
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As a practitioner and champion of integrated dance, Dr. Morris shares, “These artists have my deepest admiration – their talent, their creativity, their life journeys, their tenacity, and their passion, focus and commitment to be seen in a field and a society where they are so often unseen, where doors do not open easily for them – and yet, they persist.”
In sharing a deeper understanding of the invited artists, consider Scott MacIntryre, the American Idol singer/songwriter alum who is blind, sharing his voice and musicality to lift us up, while Luca “Lazylez” Patuelli, founder of ILL-Abilities international breakdance crew brought his passionate educational skills and belief in “No Excuses, No Limits” to the classroom and the stage.
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Antoine Hunter and Zahna Simon from the Urban Jazz Dance Company representing the Deaf dance community magically transformed sound into movement and dancer-actress Zazel Chavah O’Garra, founder of the ZCO/DanceProject in New York City hit the stage with strength, grace and a dynamic presence.
Our very own Matt Weihmuller, Tampa Bay area saxophonist and jazz band instructor at the Patel Conservatory of the Arts strengthened the creative diversity of the ensemble, expanding the musical textures within the performance.
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Anita Hollander, also a past guest artist with Arts4All, participated through video performance, due to an unexpected circumstance which prevented her being in person. Her original song, “Body of Fighter,” evoked just that sentiment in song lyrics and vocal intensity and passion. Previously, Ms. Hollander facilitated a pandemic online artist in residence with Theatre eXceptional students and the song she and they cowrote together, “I Believe in Me” was performed by the group. A special tribute to retiring Arts4All Director of Programs, Wendy Finklea was also performed by Anita.
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Each incredible artist serves as a leader in their communities supporting disability rights and educational art initiatives. Each spent the week leading up to the performance facilitating workshops and masterclasses at USF and surrounding communities.
The extraordinary culminating performance on February 25 at the University of South Florida was made possible in part by a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Gobioff Foundation, the Florida Division of Arts and Culture, and the Rolling Dance Chair Project.
Photos by Tom Kramer
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