As if we didn’t have enough fun the first time around – this season really packed a punch! We started in the fall with a partnership with Cultura de Lobo & Miami Dade College for an evening with Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company at the Historic Gusman Theater downtown. This event coincided globally with the 50th Anniversary of Israel, and was a beautiful blend of modern dance, ballet, mime and acrobatics.
Next, partnering with Miami Beach Arts in the Parks, we presented a free outdoor concert by renowned neo-Klezmer artist Frank London (Heard of the Klezmatics? Klezmer Brass Allstars? That’s him…). Along with London, some locally-based Haitian and Brazilian artists came to jam, and a jam it was. The really fun thing about this show was that it was in a public park and you could just ‘happen upon’ some really incredible music.
If you appreciate ‘spoken word’ performances, you would have enjoyed our night in November at the Miami International Book Fair in partnership with Heeb Magazine. Seven local ‘celebrities’ talked for seven minutes each about their Jewish life experiences – we heard from a comedian, writer, a fashion designer, and just some interesting people!
In February we offered an evening of “Music, Comedy, and Kitsch” featuring music-comedy duo Good For The Jews. In partnership with Miami’s Indie music hub, Sweat Records and Birthright NEXT, the evening also featured Miami’s own comics Daniel Reskin and Jessica Gross and the comic band, Ravelstein. Gathering hipsters and club- crawlers of the Tribal persuasion at Sweat, a hotbed of cool, this evening presented a new generation’s hilarious take on the historical Jewish tradition of side-spitting schtick.
The season came to an end with two very interesting events – first, an art exhibition by JT Waldman at the Art Center / South Florida on Lincoln Road, and “Seder as Art”, an evening of local artists’ interpretations of Passover Seder elements through visual and performance art pieces in the Design District. Sound provocative? Stay tuned, because this one is likely to appear in next season’s lineup as well.
