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While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life.
I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance.
- Hans Bos
“The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.” – Bobby McFerrin
Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell appears as a singer (and occasionally as an instrumentalist) on more than thirty recordings with Sweet Honey In The Rock, and other artists. In addition, she is highly sought after as a master teacher and choral clinician in African American cultural performance. Her workshop “Building a Vocal Community®: Singing in the African American Tradition” has been conducted all over the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Singapore and Australia, making her work in the field a significant source of inspiration and learning for both singers and non-singers, and a model of exceptional pedagogy for educators, and cultural activists and historians. The workshop has been documented in an instructional (boxed) set of 4 CDs and a manual produced by Homespun Tapes, Woodstock, NY.
Nick Page is a Boston based composer, conductor and author who is best known for his song leading. In the 1980’s he was a conductor with the Emmy Award winning Chicago Children’s Choir. Since 1990, he has led Boston’s Mystic Chorale and guest conducted around the word including at three of the four Carnegie Halls (Pittsburgh, New York, and Scotland). His choral works have premiered everywhere from Lincoln Center to humble school cafitoriums. He is the author of three books and has close to one hundred published choral pieces.
SAY HELLO TO MELANIE DEMORE! Born in the Bronx, raised in Anchorage, folks moved all five kids to San Antonio, finished school, got out of Texas, kinda got off on being the only Black folk singer in Taos, N.M, then decided to get back into the mix, took all her stuff and moved to Oakland where she’s been for the last 21 years. (Actually, Mel and Tracy C. had a good laugh one day in San Francisco where they finally met and realized folks had them mixed up all the time. They still do!) Every town Melanie traveled became her teacher and an opportunity to hone her craft as a songwriter, troubadour, and an emissary of tolerance, kindness, and harmony through the sound of her golden voice.
