Juan “Coel” Rodriguez and
Anthony James Kelly aka “AKELLZ”
Photo credit: Ashley Baker
Breakdancing With
Juan “Coel” Rodriguez and Anthony James Kelly aka “AKELLZ”
Tweens Program:
February 8th and 9th | 3:30pm-4:30pm
West Tisbury Library
Limited sign ups
Family Dance Party / West Tisbury Library Performance:
February 10th | 10:30am-11:30am
West Tisbury Library
Workshop participants will have a chance to show their moves to families and friends. Short performance and Q&A with Coel and Akellz. Family dance party to follow!
Adult Classes:
February 12th and 14th 5:30pm-6:30pm
Oak Bluffs Library
Learn the basics and the roots of this hip hop form. Beginners to advanced dancers are welcome, come play! Attendance at both sessions is encouraged!
Juan "Coel" Rodriguez and Anthony James Kelly aka "AKELLZ" of Phoenix, AZ, two accomplished dancers and educators, will be on island teaching public classes February 8th - 14th!
To sign up, call:
West Tisbury Library (508) 693-3366
Oak Bluffs Library (508) 693-9433
or email jessekeller@dancetheyard.org
Photo credit: Ashley Baker
About The Artists:
Juan “Coel” Rodriguez is a dance based artist from Phoenix, Arizona. He began his artist venture training in Urban Styles or Hip hop at an early age, his primary form being breaking. He later attended Arizona State University when he became interested in other artistic practices including postmodern dance, various forms of improvisation and lighting design. His interests now revolve around hip hop research, education, history, improvisation, battling, ethnography and choreography. As both an educator and an artist, Coel wishes to spread hip hop education in order to help broaden the field while challenging the ways institutions represent hip hop culture. This includes opening up spaces for conversation and discourse as well as thinking about how to make the field and its contents available/accessible. Hip hop is for everyone, but how we engage in it is where things differ. It’s in this melting pot of ideas and practice where real exchange happens. Let’s build on that.
Anthony James Kelly aka “AKELLZ” is currently based out of Phoenix, AZ. He is currently faculty at Arizona State University and Glendale Community College. Akellz is a co-founder of "The Sacred G's" which is a touring conscious hip-hop collective with members based around the world. In 2013, Akellz graduated with a B.A in Theatre and a B.F.A in Dance from ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and Arts. During his years at ASU, he created and produced his own shows and original works in both the theatre and dance worlds respectively. He was awarded a Performance arts venture grant through Arizona State University for his artistic entrepreneur ideas. He had the privilege of battling at Juste Debout in Paris France (2013), and represented Team USA at Hip Hop international in 2015. Other Credits include performing for Yahoo!, Redbull, EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) mainstage, Lighting in a Bottle mainstage, and NBA halftime shows. AKELLZ is a longstanding member of Epik Dance Company (A professional street fusion company) where he has created several works of choreography for season shows as well as written and performed original spoken word pieces. He gives back as a resident artist with Rising Youth Theatre and serves as a Be Kind Crew member and Creative Content Manager with The Be Kind People Project. AKELLZ is a proud member of Creation Global, a Chicago Footwork collective focused on spreading the culture of Chicago footwork around the world.