901 Now: Students team up to showcase holiday serenade
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Some Mid-South students are preparing for a dazzling celebration of music and dance this weekend.
Students from the Collage Youth Ensemble and Memphis Jazz Workshop are teaming up to create a magical evening of jazzy joy in the 901 Now.
”Dance is the way to me where I can express the way that I’m feeling without using words," dancer Ruthie Akin said. “And that’s a very powerful thing for me. “
“This performance will be a great opportunity to show everyone else that there’s more than violence in Memphis and that collaborations are important in children’s lives,“ musician Cedric Williams added.
The two students are just one of several students, meeting center stage to combine both classical dance and jazz.
“We have to listen to the music, very clearly. It’s very different from if it was just a track playing,” Akin said. You have to dance together and with the music, so it’s like a partnership. It’s new but exciting!"
There’s excitement and nerves ahead of the big performance for students with the Memphis jazz workshop and Collage Youth Ensemble.
”It’s been a great experience, “Williams said. ”It’s given me a confidence boost while learning to play with other people."
Rehearsing for about four to five months now, the two organizations now looking to get the 901 in the holiday spirit in the best way they know how.
”I want people to see that dance is a language," Akin said. “It is a relationship between the audience and performer. For me, I always want the audience to get a sense of relation with me. We have something in common, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on this upcoming performance.“
The Collage Youth Ensemble and the Memphis Jazz Workshops' “Season Serenade” is Saturday, December 21 at 2:30 at the Crosstown theatre.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter!
Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.
Copyright 2024 WMC. All rights reserved.