Directors Cut: Jazz in the Vortex: Poetry, Healing & Self Archaeology

For the “Opening Night” of the exhibition Jazz in the Vortex: Poetry, Healing and Self Archaeology” curated by National Jazz Museum in Harlem October Artist-in-Residence Dr. Yolanda Sealey Ruiz, we will enjoy hors’d’oeuvres and drinks while experiencing art, jazz music, poetry, and a discussion on the power of healing-centered approaches to education and to our lives.

The concept of “Archeology of Self™” in jazz music education is intriguing. It suggests that by delving into personal experiences, histories, and emotions, individuals can connect more intimately with the art form. By exploring the relationship between jazz and self-identity, belonging, and healing, this mini-residency offers a means of fostering connections between Jazz and its audience. The Opening Night seeks to invite attendees into their own healing and understanding how poetry and Jazz facilitates healing as much as it does feelings of pleasure.

The October exhibition features prints from Yolanda’s books Love from the Vortex & Other Poems and The Peace Chronicles along with portrait series that captures the profiles of nine educators, community leaders and practitioners, all of whom have dedicated their lives to — in some shape or form — creating spaces for others to thrive, flourish and heal. We call them the Wounded Healers.

GUEST POETS

Shannell Gabriel
Shanelle Gabriel is an internationally touring poet, singer, nonprofit specialist, and lupus warrior from Brooklyn, NY. Widely known for featuring on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, she has shared her fusion of poetry and singing on stages with artists such as Jill Scott, Nas, Nikki Giovanni, Talib Kweli, Anderson Paak, and Grand Puba.

She competed in the Individual World Poetry Slam Competition, performed at The Vatican, and has penned and featured in national poetry campaigns with Pandora Music, NFL Draft, LifeWtr, Hershey, BET, and more. With a Masters in Education from Teachers College at Columbia University and over 18 years of experience as an educator, she previously served as the Executive Director of Urban Word, the founder of the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, and now facilitates trainings on creating culturally responsive spaces, using the arts for socioemotional learning, and recognizing trauma responses in various settings.

She recently released her third album, Things I Need to Remember, available everywhere, and is the host of the Better Together Series on BlackDoctor.org on living with Lupus. Learn more about her at www.shanellegabriel.com.

Lyrical Faith
Lyrical Faith is a Black American Educator, Activist and Spoken Word Poet from The Bronx, NY. She has been featured at colleges, universities, and venues across the country and globally. She is the 3rd ranked Woman Poet in the World as of the 2022 Women of the World Poetry Slam, a two-time Bronx Poet Laureate finalist, a multi-time award recipient of the Bronx Council on the Arts as well as other arts agencies including the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the 2015 Syracuse University Poet of the Year.

She’s a graduate of the Public Relations program at Syracuse University, a Masters degree recipient of the Higher Education & Student Affairs program at NYU, and a current Social Justice Education Doctoral student at UMass Amherst studying the intersections of arts and activism. Her work has been featured on NPR, Write About Now Poetry, Huffington Post Black Voices, and News 12 The Bronx.

Through her poetry, Lyrical Faith strives to inspire, educate and advocate for intersectional and institutional issues by merging the arts and activism from a faith-based worldview.

About our October Artist-in-Residence

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an award-winning Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students. Sealey-Ruiz appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright”, a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou. Her co-authored book [with Dr. Detra Price-Dennis] Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Toward Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces will be published in April 2021.

Her first full-length collection of poetry Love from the Vortex & Other Poems (Kalediscope Vibrations LLC) was published in March, 2020, and her sophomore book of poetry, The Peace Chronicles was released in July 2021.