Jazz lovers will be having a field day on Saturday, literally.
YoungArts is bringing music on wheels as they collide skateboarding and jazz in a 60-minute presentation where a live band will perform while a group of professional skateboarders puts on a show.
“It’s an opportunity to open people’s eyes up to what skateboarding really is,” said Joel Meinholz, a professional and local skater who first hopped on a board 30 years ago. “It’s a great merge of music and art; to skate in a level where it’s taken out of the streets and the perception of what people think it is and to what the emotional feeling is between the merge of jazz and skateboarding.”
Starting at 7 p.m. the YoungArts campus, located on 2100 Biscayne Blvd., will turn into a skate park with a stage for skaters to show off their improvised moves, while The Bandwagon band plays an improvised variation of songs for the audience.
Jazz pianist, Jason Moran will lead the band that will guide the skateboarders in their tricks and moves.
Moran, who skateboarded while growing up before diving into jazz and becoming a recognized musician, composer and educator, is a YoungArts Alumnus and is looking to mesh his hobby from the 1980s with his current passion.
“He does this amazing collaboration between freestyle skateboarding and freestyle jazz that he debuted in San Francisco, and it branched out to Miami. We are just bringing another transformation of this piece to Miami,” said Esther Park, director of campus programming for YoungArts. “Miami has a really deeply rooted skateboarding history, so we were able to tap into the local skateboard community, and we touched a nerve because of the response from the community [which] has been so overwhelming [and] we are so excited for this event to happen.”
Before the performance there will be a Salon Series available, where attendees can participate in an intimate conversation about creative inspiration featuring Moran and pro street skater Mark Gonzales. There will be pre-salon cocktails available at 5 p.m., and the talk will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by the performance at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets start at $35 for general admission, $28 for members and $20 for students.
Outside the Box: Jazz, Skateboarding & New Media for an inspired evening with Alumnus Jason Moran and Mark Gonzalez.
When: Saturday, Feb. 6
Where: YoungArts campus, 2100 Biscayne Boulevard
Time: Salon talk is at 5:30 p.m., performance is at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)
