Dance, Romance, and Gender Fluidity: Aviva Film Discussion

Last season, the Annenberg Center connected our audiences with visionary artists from across the globe, presenting groundbreaking work and sustaining a thriving performing arts community in Philadelphia. We championed performance at Penn, collaborating throughout the University and providing students with meaningful exposure to the professional performing arts. We served as a bridge between Penn and our surrounding community, welcoming our youngest neighbors to professional dance, music and theatre performances. And amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we built on the resilience and adaptability of the arts, pivoting to a digital platform to uphold and uplift music, dance and theatre during extraordinary times. Please join us in reflecting on this exceptional year of programming as detailed in our 2019-20 Impact Report. Designed as an academic year calendar, we invite you to explore our impact from last season, whether you read the report in one sitting, come back to it over time, or even print a copy to hang on the wall as a source of inspiration throughout the months ahead.
Penn Live Arts Debuts Penn Live Arts Recommends Jazz
1. Talk about your background.
As many of your subscribers may know, I grew up in a touring jazz musician family. This means I grew up on the road, sleeping in the back seat of a car with my head propped up against a JBL speaker, stopping at drive-thrus, sitting at the bar or in the green room with my sketchbook while my parents gigged with some of the great jazz legends. You know those old MGM movies about the vaudeville family on the road together? Well, once I turned nine years old and started to sing, that was my life. Learning this music and also the way of the road from the greatest of examples in jazz.