Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic

A.R.T.: Debut. Ayodele Casel, “a tap dancer and choreographer of extraordinary depth” (New York Times) and one of the New York Times‘ “Biggest Breakout Stars of 2019,” has most recently been named the Tap Choreographer for the much-anticipated Broadway Revival of Funny Girl. As an actor and writer, Ayodele premiered her one-woman show While I Have The Floor at the Spoleto Arts Festival to rave reviews. She is a frequent New York City Center collaborator and served as choreographer for Carole King and Maurice Sendak’s musical Really Rosie for its Encores! Off Center. Ayodele was also a 2019-2020 fellow at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and Artist in Residence at Harvard University.  Born in The Bronx and raised in Puerto Rico, Ayodele began her professional training at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her origins in theater and love for storytelling and tap dance have significantly contributed to the narrative nature of her work, which is rooted in the expression of identity, culture, language, and communication. Ayodele is Artist in Residence at Little Island, a public park on the Hudson River in NYC. Ayodele is also a featured tap dancer honoring the art form of tap on a 2021 US Postal Service Forever Stamp.

Torya Beard is a New York-based director, creative consultant/strategist, choreographer, and producer specializing in dance and theater. Her curvy professional path reflects a deep curiosity about and belief in the boundless possibilities at the intersection of creativity, artistic expression, and social justice. After studying dance at The University of Michigan, she toured with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, David Rousseve/Reality, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance, Deeply Rooted Chicago Dance Theatre, and Donald Byrd’s The Harlem Nutcracker, among others. Torya was a featured dancer in the film Idlewild and made her Broadway debut in Disney’s The Lion King. It has been an absolute joy to collaborate with Ayodele Casel on various projects. Among them: Ayodele Casel + Arturo O’Farrill (Creative Director/Assistant Choreographer), The Joyce Theater; Diary of a Tap Dancer V.4 (Director); While I Have the Floor (Producer); Really Rosie (Assistant Choreographer), City Center Encores! Off-Center; “Rooted” (Creative Director), for the inaugural five-borough tour of New York City Center’s On the Move; Diary of a Tap Dancer V.6: Us (Co-Curator/Co-Director), commissioned by New York City Center. She and Ayodele are Resident Directors of Dance Lab New York’s inaugural Tap Project.

A.R.T.: Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic. Crystal Monee Hall is a singer/songwriter, composer, vocal arranger and producer and music director based in New York City. Her varied career has included roles on Broadway (RENT and Kristen Chenoweth’s For the Girls), sold-out tours with Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) and Ben Platt, and guest appearances on the CW’s “Walker” and HBO’s “High Maintenance.” She has released three original albums, with work from her recent EP If You Breathe called “riveting” by Billboard Magazine. Website: crystalmoneehall.com / Social media @crystalmonee / https://linktr.ee/crystalmonee

Keisel Jiménez is a percussionist specializing in timbal, congas and drum set. Born in 1983 in Camagüey, Cuba. Jiménez worked as a session musician as well as live performer and is especially known for his work with Alexander Abreu y Havana D’Primera and Issac Delgado amongst others. Since 2017, he is an integral member of Arturo O’Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and has regularly performed at renowned venues globally such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany.

A.R.T.: Debut. Anibal Cruz is a Cuban pianist, composer, arranger, and educator from Camaguey, Cuba. He produced his first single, “La Raza,” with Cuban Percussionist Keisel Jimenez in 2021. His music is rooted in classical, Afro, and Traditional Cuban Music with jazz, R&B, and gospel influences. He has recorded and performed with legends including Paquito de Rivera, Berta Rojas, Armando Manzanero, Alain Perez, Joe McCarthy, Pedrito Martinez, Nacho Gonzales, Flavio Lira, Manolo Mairena and Juan Ruiz, and many others.

A pianist, composer, and educator, Arturo O’Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. An avid supporter of all the arts, Arturo has performed with Ballet Hispanico, Ron Brown’s EVIDENCE Dance company, and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written two ballets. Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. Arturo’s most recent album, Four Questions won yet another Grammy award in 2021.

A.R.T.: Debut. TV: “So You Think You Can Dance” (Emmy Nomination), “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “America’s Got Talent,” “The Tony Danza Show.” Producer, Director, and Choreographer at AM Dance Productions: The Text, The Subtext, When Snow Falls, Matt and Anthony, flood (in the dark corner, and flood (redux). Other Performances: Tapaholics, Still Motion, Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, and Diary of A Tap Dancer v.6. Founder and Co-Director at Operation: Tap.

(he/him) A.R.T.: Macbeth in Stride, Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic. Off-Broadway: for all the women who thought they were Mad, Soho Rep; Drunk Shakespeare, vol. I-III, Brass Jar. Regional: The Amen Corner, The Shakespeare Theatre Co.; An Iliad, Long Wharf Theater; Othello, Trinity Rep. Exhibition: Definition: An Installation Experience, Bushwick Starr; Camp: Notes on Fashion (Design Associate), Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute. Educational: Head of Scenic Design Training, NYU-Tisch Dept. of Drama. Education: MFA, NYU-Tisch Dept. of Design.

A.R.T.:Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, ExtraOrdinary. Off-Broadway: Gloria: A Life; Fruit Trilogy; Relevance (Projection Design); Poison; Informed Consent (Projection Design); Nutcracker Rouge (Drama Desk nominations), Company XIV. Regional: Vietgone, Smart People, Denver Center; Top Girls (Projection Design), Huntington Theatre Company; Pinkolandia, Two River Theater; OR, Shakespeare & Company. International: The Ugly One, From the Fire! (Projection Design). Other: KPOP! (Lortel and Drama Desk Nominations), Oneohtrix Point Never’s MYRIAD, Park Avenue Armory. Awards: 2018 Henry Hewes Lighting Design Award, 2017 LIT Design Award (Theater Performance), Bel Geddes Design Enhancement (2015 & 2017), NEA/TCG Career Development Program recipient.

A.R.T.: Debut. International Tour: Tap Dogs; New York: White Christmas, Top Hat Lab. Selected Theaters: 42nd Street, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Rhythmic Circus Holiday Shuffle, World Dance-O-Rama, Tap Into the Night, Tap United; Companies: Dorrance Dance, Caleb Teicher & Company, Jam Project, CPD Plus; Film/TV: NBC’s “World of Dance” Season 1 (Rhythmatic), “Speed Racer: The Next Generation”, “Alientologists.” An accomplished filmmaker and founder of Solarc Productions, Kurt filmed Chasing Magic at the Joyce and is honored to join Ayodele and team in this live production! @kurtcsolak

A.R.T.: Hype Man; Cirque of the Dead, Boston Circus Guild/OBERON. Regional/Fringe: Hype Man (Elliot Norton Award), REVOLT. She Said. Revolt Again., The T Party, Company One Theatre; Parade (Elliot Norton Award), Moonbox Productions. Educational: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare Now!. International: Amour!, Royal Academy of Music. Opera: La clemenza di Tito (Director), Promenade Opera Project. Film: Dialogues of the Carmelites (First Assistant Director), New England Conservatory. Education: BA (Honors), Stage Management, Rose Bruford College.

A.R.T.: Debut. Ayodele Casel, “a tap dancer and choreographer of extraordinary depth” (New York Times) and one of the New York Times‘ “Biggest Breakout Stars of 2019,” has most recently been named the Tap Choreographer for the much-anticipated Broadway Revival of Funny Girl. As an actor and writer, Ayodele premiered her one-woman show While I Have The Floor at the Spoleto Arts Festival to rave reviews. She is a frequent New York City Center collaborator and served as choreographer for Carole King and Maurice Sendak’s musical Really Rosie for its Encores! Off Center. Ayodele was also a 2019-2020 fellow at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and Artist in Residence at Harvard University.  Born in The Bronx and raised in Puerto Rico, Ayodele began her professional training at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her origins in theater and love for storytelling and tap dance have significantly contributed to the narrative nature of her work, which is rooted in the expression of identity, culture, language, and communication. Ayodele is Artist in Residence at Little Island, a public park on the Hudson River in NYC. Ayodele is also a featured tap dancer honoring the art form of tap on a 2021 US Postal Service Forever Stamp.

A.R.T.: Debut. Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in New Haven, CT,  Amanda Castro is a multidisciplinary artist rooted in rhythm. Most recently seen in Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel (Joyce Theater) and The Mayor of Harlem by Jason Samuel Smith, Derrick Grant, & Dormeshia, Castro is a graduate of California Institute of the Arts, where she studied under Glen Eddy of Nederlands Dans Theatre and Andre Tyson from Ailey Company. An active founding member of the all-female percussive trio Soles of Duende and once principal dancer of the renowned company Urban Bush Women, she has starred in musical theatre productions such as Singing in the Rain (Kathy Seldon), Jared Grimes’ 42nd Street, “atomic” performances in Glimmerglass Festival’s West Side Story (Anita, NYT ‘18) and Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Amanda continues to pursue the journey of deepening her practice as a rhythmic storyteller and remains a vessel for the stories that push humanity forward.

A.R.T.: Debut. Anibal Cruz is a Cuban pianist, composer, arranger, and educator from Camaguey, Cuba. He produced his first single, “La Raza,” with Cuban Percussionist Keisel Jimenez in 2021. His music is rooted in classical, Afro, and Traditional Cuban Music with jazz, R&B, and gospel influences. He has recorded and performed with legends including Paquito de Rivera, Berta Rojas, Armando Manzanero, Alain Perez, Joe McCarthy, Pedrito Martinez, Nacho Gonzales, Flavio Lira, Manolo Mairena and Juan Ruiz, and many others.

A.R.T.: Debut. International Tour: Tap Dogs; New York: White Christmas, Top Hat Lab. Selected Theaters: 42nd Street, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Rhythmic Circus Holiday Shuffle, World Dance-O-Rama, Tap Into the Night, Tap United; Companies: Dorrance Dance, Caleb Teicher & Company, Jam Project, CPD Plus; Film/TV: NBC’s “World of Dance” Season 1 (Rhythmatic), “Speed Racer: The Next Generation”, “Alientologists.” An accomplished filmmaker and founder of Solarc Productions, Kurt filmed Chasing Magic at the Joyce and is honored to join Ayodele and team in this live production! @kurtcsolak

Naomi Funaki is a tap dancer from Tokyo, Japan, currently living in New York City working with New York based companies Dorrance Dance Second Company, Caleb Teicher & Company, and Music From The Sole. She is also an alumni of The School at Jacob’s Pillow for their tap program of 2017. Other performance credits include Tap Family Reunion; Vail Dance Festival; Dance Against Cancer, Lincoln Center; Ayodele Casel and Arturo O’Farrill, Chasing Magic Joyce Theater; Infinity, Tokyo.

A.R.T.: Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic. Crystal Monee Hall is a singer/songwriter, composer, vocal arranger and producer and music director based in New York City. Her varied career has included roles on Broadway (RENT and Kristen Chenoweth’s For the Girls), sold-out tours with Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) and Ben Platt, and guest appearances on the CW’s “Walker” and HBO’s “High Maintenance.” She has released three original albums, with work from her recent EP If You Breathe called “riveting” by Billboard Magazine. Website: crystalmoneehall.com / Social media @crystalmonee / https://linktr.ee/crystalmonee

Keisel Jiménez is a percussionist specializing in timbal, congas and drum set. Born in 1983 in Camagüey, Cuba. Jiménez worked as a session musician as well as live performer and is especially known for his work with Alexander Abreu y Havana D’Primera and Issac Delgado amongst others. Since 2017, he is an integral member of Arturo O’Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and has regularly performed at renowned venues globally such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany.

A.R.T.: Debut. John Manzari is an Ovation Award and Helen Hayes Award-nominated artist. Stage: NY Pops Up, 42nd Street, Maurice Hines: Tappin’ Thru Life, The Wiz is 40, and Sophisticated Ladies. Television: “The View,” PBS’s special “Michael Feinstein at the Rainbow Room,” and “The Jerry Lewis Telethon.” John can be seen in the documentary about his mentor titled Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back and the award-winning short film Slip.

A.R.T.: Debut. TV: “So You Think You Can Dance” (Emmy Nomination), “The Arsenio Hall Show,” “America’s Got Talent,” “The Tony Danza Show.” Producer, Director, and Choreographer at AM Dance Productions: The Text, The Subtext, When Snow Falls, Matt and Anthony, flood (in the dark corner, and flood (redux). Other Performances: Tapaholics, Still Motion, Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, and Diary of A Tap Dancer v.6. Founder and Co-Director at Operation: Tap.

A pianist, composer, and educator, Arturo O’Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. An avid supporter of all the arts, Arturo has performed with Ballet Hispanico, Ron Brown’s EVIDENCE Dance company, and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written two ballets. Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. Arturo’s most recent album, Four Questions won yet another Grammy award in 2021.

A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: Black Odyssey Boston, Bedlam’s Pygmalion, When January Feels Like Summer, Underground Railway Theater; The Women Who Mapped the Stars, The Revolutionists, The Nora Theater; Mamma Mia!, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Grease, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, New Bedford Festival Theater; Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Company One. Education: Bachelor of Arts, Northeastern University.