JMArts announces Latin jazz clinic and free public concert supported by Grassroots Grant

SILER CITY, N.C. — Jazz musicians at Jordan-Matthews High School will have an opportunity to explore Latin jazz, learn directly from professional musicians and perform with them in a free public concert — thanks in part to a 2021 Grassroots Arts Grant awarded by the Chatham Arts Council.

Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will begin the day’s activities on January 28 with an afternoon clinic attended by members of the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians from Chatham Middle and Silk Hope schools. Sessions will be conducted for trumpet, trombone, woodwind and percussion musicians.

After the clinic, Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will perform a free, public concert at 7 p.m. in the JM Auditorium with student musicians joining the professionals for one of their numbers.

Gelb is a professional saxophonist, clarinetist, jazz composer and jazz band leader who leads The Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra and has performed with many different groups, including the North Carolina Symphony. He currently directs the award-winning Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, which has been selected five times for the finals of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition and festival, and has served as an interim assistant professor of jazz at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. State University and UNC Greensboro.

La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet includes players from North Carolina, one of whom is originally from the Dominican Republic. The ensemble teaches jazz history, the improvisation process and performs at events all across the state — drawing for its repertoire on music by jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Horace Silver.

“I’m excited that our students will have the chance to learn from and perform with musicians of this caliber,” said JC Harper, JM’s band director. “This experience will give them a great introduction to playing jazz.”

The clinic and concert are being supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2021 Grassroots Arts Grant for $1,550 covers half of the program cost; the rest will be matched by JMArts through member contributions and fundraising project like the current sale of JMArts greeting and holiday cards.

JMArts President Rose Pate, who developed the program and grant application, wanted to do something to bring the entire community together. “We are thrilled to partner with the Chatham Arts Council to bring this opportunity to current and future Jordan-Matthews musicians,” she said. “We also wanted this free Latin jazz concert to be a wonderful event for our entire community."

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Members of La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will perform a free, public concert on January 28 after providing a clinic for members of the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians. (Photo courtesy of Gregg Gelb)

The Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet clinic and concert are being supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Artist Vielka Gonzalez wins JM contest; work selected for JMArts holiday cards

SILER CITY, N.C. — Vielka Gonzalez, a senior at Jordan-Matthews High School, was named winner of the school’s third-annual holiday card art contest during an announcement made on October 21 at the 2021 Fall Showcase concert.

Her painting, “Arctic,” will appear on holiday cards sold by JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, to raise money for JM artists. Gonzalez received an award certificate and $100 for the rights to reproduce her work.

Holiday cards feature the painting on the front with a blank area inside for personal messages. The back lists the name of the artist and her work, along with a very short artist statement about the painting.

“I’m delighted with Vielka’s charming painting and I know this card will have broad appeal,” said JMArts President Rose Pate. "She’s done a wonderful job with what is essentially a commercial art challenge.

Preorders for JMArts holiday cards will be accepted online at JMArtsHolidayCards.com starting November 1.

Cards will be sold online in packets of 15 cards and 17 envelopes for $15, a price that also includes domestic shipping. The domain forwards to a Google form, where you can place your order and pay online with a credit card or through the mail by cash or check.

Cards also will be on sale soon after that for $12 per packet, cash or check only, at Jordan-Matthews High School. Other retail locations will be announced soon on JMArts social media.

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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“Arctic,” a painting by Vielka Gonzalez, is the featured work on this year’s JMArts holiday cards.

Artist Vielka Gonzalez, left, accepts the 2021 JMArts Holiday Card Award from JMArts President Rose Pate. Cards featuring her work will be sold beginning on November 1 to raise money for arts students at Jordan-Matthews High School. (Photo by Elliott Peterson)

Dance instruction returns to JM with spring theater workshop

SILER CITY, N.C. — Formal dance instruction returned to Jordan-Matthews High School for the first time in decades with a two-day workshop that kicked off next school year’s production of the Broadway musical, “Oklahoma!”.

The six-hour stage dance workshop in mid-May was organized by JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, thanks to a Grassroots Grant awarded last fall by the Chatham Arts Council. It taught dance terminology and basic steps, helped students understand what to expect at a dance audition and allowed the performers to work through some choreography for the upcoming theatrical production.

“For most of our students, this was a real challenge,” said JMArts President Rose Pate, who created the workshop. “Only a few have ever had dance lessons. But it was great to see their enthusiasm and delight in learning something new, and I’m extremely proud of how hard they’ve worked. And this dance is going to be a memorable moment in our production of ‘Oklahoma!’ next year.”

More than a dozen students participated in the free workshop. They filled the auditorium stage two Monday afternoons, beginning slowly with stretching before moving into more rigorous steps introduced by workshop instructor Peggy Taphorn, who is in her 14th season as the Producing Artistic Director at Temple Theatre in Sanford.

It was a rare opportunity for young actors to work with someone like Taphorn, who has directed, choreographed and performed across the world, including numerous productions on Broadway, London’s West End, and touring the United States, Canada, South America and Asia.

After learning some basic steps, the pace picked up and focus shifted to choreography for “Kansas City,” a well-known number from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

At times, Taphorn walked methodically through segments of the dance with the entire group. At other times, she split the group in two and worked with each half separately. Every time she turned on the music, things got almost frenetic, with bodies moving across the stage and Taphorn’s voice towering over the score, keeping the rhythm with short words reminding the dancers about their techniques, turns and steps.

Though she works with some of the most talented theater professionals in the world, Taphorn said it’s also rewarding to teach beginning actors and dancers.

“It was very enjoyable to work with such a committed and fun group of young people in this class on learning this classic dance,” she said. “We also talked about a life in the theater and the different opportunities on and behind the stage. A lot of the skills learned in theater and the arts are transferable to 21st century learning, including learning how to cooperate and how to think creatively.”

Judging from upbeat banter during water breaks, enthusiasm on stage and responses after the workshop, it was a huge hit with the students — including junior Wendy Castillo Mejia, for whom it was all a new experience.

“This is my first time doing anything with theater, but the theater kids seem like they have everything together and they are having fun,” she said. “Even though this is new, I’m feeling good. I’m still trying to decide between working backstage and auditioning for the show.”

Sophomore Buck Thornton had a similar reaction to this flurry of activity to kick off the production, “It’s a work in progress, but that’s what makes it fun,” he said. "This is my first time having dance lessons and I am excited to learn more!"

The Grassroots Grant Program that provided funding for the dance workshop is made possible by individual contributions to the Chatham Arts Council’s general operating fund — and by the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Peggy Taphorn, Producing Artistic Director for Temple Theatre in Sanford, teaches steps during the six-hour JMArts Theater Dance Workshop at Jordan-Matthews High School.

Participants in the dance workshop work on choreography for “Oklahoma!”, a musical being performed next year at Jordan-Matthews.

Veteran Broadway actor, dancer and choreographer Peggy Taphorn demonstrates a step for Jordan-Matthews High School students participating in a free after-school theater dance workshop.

The JMArts Theater Dance Workshop was offered with a Grassroots Grant awarded by the Chatham Arts Council and funded through the N.C. Arts Council.