Philadelphia

FREE LUNCHTIME SHOW: Kimmel Center Jazz Camp of Philadelphia Plus pixs from Merck Arts Education Center

August 1, 2014 by HughE Dillon

So much happening at the Kimmel Center in arts education for the kids this summer. A few weeks ago I attended The
Kimmel Center Education Department in partnership with Philadelphia Reads is presenting its second
Philadelphia Reads at the Kimmel Center in the Merck Arts Education Center on the 2nd tier.

 There were three rooms. One for crafts, one was dance and the other was story telling.
Over 70 students, ranging in ages from pre-k through sixth grade,
will get to experience storytelling through a FREE performance. This
program is designed to connect literacy through the arts and
provide fun-filled activities and learning for children from
underserved populations throughout the city.

Comedian Jennifer Blaine (Theater Arts) reads from The Snatchabook [Helen Docherty, Thomas Docherty] , known for shedding light on socially relevant newsworthy topics through comedy teaches
Show Stoppers’ Theater Arts.  Blaine has opened for George Carlin, and has performed with Chris Rock and Joe Piscopo
in the past.
She is a graduate from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and
founder of “5,000 Women” which supports work of artists and activists
committed to creating
works that inspire change in the world.

 The day I was there The Lion King was the theme and each of the rooms was exploring the theme in each room. Here Manisha Modi (Visual Arts) displays a few examples of the masks the kids will be working on. She’s a graduate from Temple University’s Fox School of Business (Bachelor
of Business Administration in Marketing) with a minor in Visual Arts
and Management Information Systems. Manisha has over seventeen years of
dance experience including Tap, Jazz, Bollywood
(Indian dance), and Bhangra (Indian Folk dance), and four years of
competitive dancing, including Team Captain at Temple University. With a
passion for teaching dance, Manisha has taught Bhangra as a dance
Instructor for the Kimmel Center’s Performing Arts
classes for over two years, including live web classes for Kimmel
Center/ University of Pennsylvania’s MAGPI program in 2012.
At the end of the two hours each of the rooms performed their creativity which they had worked on.

In a whole other section of the Kimmel Center a Jazz Camp was going on.  TODAY THERE’S A FREE LUNCHTIME SHOW: Kimmel Center Jazz Camp: Completing
their two-week summer intensive, this final concert will feature original compositions written or arranged, with the help of Jazz Camp Philadelphia’s acclaimed tutors
Anthony Tidd, artist-in-resident
Jonathan Finlayson, and veteran international jazz legend Doug Hammond,
during camp and were influenced by the workshop discussions and student creativity. 

Completing
their two-week summer intensive, this final concert will feature original compositions written or arranged, with the help of Jazz Camp Philadelphia’s acclaimed tutors
Anthony Tidd, artist-in-resident
Jonathan Finlayson, and veteran international jazz legend Doug Hammond,
during camp and were influenced by the workshop discussions and student creativity.