Summer 2022 - Young Choreographers & Composers Project

It was once again my day job at Fox Family that launched a great opportunity. We were in the middle of funding the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic. Kara Mondino, who was negotiating their grant, sent an introduction to Irene Watson and Alex Floyd of the Young Choreographers Project.

I hadn't thought truly of partnering before, but this was a dream collaboration. Our composers would work with their dancers to create a completely original work. Kids from both programs cross-mentored with Inception and YCP instructors pairing together to make sure their collaborations were activated.

It was a different looking Inception cohort. Although Abby and Jason were going to participate, they were in the middle of moving across the country, so they'd be there at the beginning and the end. The Frishmans traditionally take the summer off. So we were left with new students, all from up north. Kestrel was a guitarist and vocalist. Cedrus played piano. Luke was jazz pianist. And two beginning students from Ear Training, Gianna (guitar) and Kayla (violin) also participated.

Over the summer, Eiko Jin had joined us. Karen remained, but opted to only work with the young girls for reasons of her choosing. Inception ran programming on Saturday. YCP ran their classes on Sunday. They taught choreography and the how to best capture your dance on film amongst a robust curriculum.

Cedrus ended up with two dancers, and really bonded with one. He created some beautiful compositions that were reminiscent of Pixar scores. He played piano on both. Kestrel created a huge piece, and his choreographer had a neighbor who was a filmmaker, and their collaboration turned into something epic.

Abby and Jason returned. Abby began her bond with Eiko working on a sweet dance for Chloe. Jason's piece would eventually evolve into award winning "Charis".

Luke ended up creating a Civil War themed piece for dancer Erin. Erin has a little bit of a disability, but she and her mom are the busiest most engaged, energetic people I've met. She'll probably be President of the United States some day.

I wrote a lot here, and deleted it, because it does not matter. The arc of this story is that like Christopher, Luke was a semi stubborn composer at the beginning. But the greatest thing about Inception is that kids evolve. And two years later, we were pleased to see Luke on his way to Indiana University in music composition. (More on this later.)

Although Luke spent the summer suffering through mentoring with Karen, Eiko, and myself, he was about to meet the mentor that would shape his music career.

I had lunch with Kristine Llanderal and Austin Ali the week before our recording session. I talked loosely with Austin about joining as a Leadership Team mentor and asked him if he wanted to play trumpet on our upcoming session for Luke. Austin is always enthusiastic, and he said yes. I watched the session remotely from up north where I was recording Cedrus and Kestrel. There were some very major players at the recording session, and Austin had to record after they finished. He told me later he had nerves, but you couldn't tell.

The Collaboration flyer. An offset yellow square entitled :Young Choreogeraphers and Composers Project 2022" lists the opportunities for collaboration. The logos for YCP and Inception were combined so a dancer witha. blue head and purple body is seemingly flying trough the air next to the Inception circles. There is also a photo of one of the daners on a mountain against a sunset in silhouette, and Cedrus playing the keyboard outside. Text reads" A PHENOMENAL PARTNERSHIP. Collaborations can surprise you. When the Young Choreographer's Project teamed with Inception oer the summer, the results were stunning.

I'm used to being the sole producer on a show, but in collaboration, the process was so easy. I'm posting in the entire show here. Alex and Irene, I would work with you again any time, any place. Just ask.

Click on the video below for the complete YCCP show.