“Bridging the Gap” jazz dance and music festival will be held at Salve
The Newport Folk Festival, scheduled for July 26-28, and Newport Jazz Festival, scheduled for Aug. 2-4, are highlights of the summer arts scene, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to Aquidneck Island. To continue the celebration between festivals without skipping a beat, Salve will host “Bridging the Gap: A Jazz Dance and Music Festival” on campus from Tuesday, July 30, through Thursday, Aug. 1.
Curated by jazz dance artists and scholars from across the U.S. and Canada, and in collaboration with acclaimed jazz musician Julius Rodriguez, this three-day festival includes performances, workshops and a public lecture. It augments the rich history and culture of jazz in Newport by featuring musicians and dancers in events at the historic Casino Theatre and Ochre Court.
“Jazz choreographers, dancers, musicians and scholars are coming together in a celebration of jazz for the first time in Newport history,” said Lindsay Guarino, director of the dance program and chair of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance. “This festival highlights the shared histories and values between jazz dance and jazz music, where the dance is in conversation with the music and the music with the dance.”
Julius Rodriguez plays at Newport Jazz Festival while Salve dancers enjoy in the background.
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks Sabrina Naz Comănescu (left) and Kaja Irwin (right).
Jazz dance performances at the Casino Theatre will highlight guest performers, Kaja Irwin and Sabrina Naz Comănescu, from Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) of Calgary, Alberta, in Canada and choreography by Kimberley Cooper, DJD’s artistic director. Dallas-based dancers Sebastian Garcia and Talia Markowski will be performing work by Brandi Coleman, and Salve Dance will perform work by Carlos R. A. Jones of Buffalo, New York. Livia Armstrong ’25, Morgan Dubay ’24, Trinity Leite ’25 and Jala Settles ’25 have also been invited to share their works in this performance. Comănescu and Irwin will also be holding workshops.
The Jazz Lounge at Ochre Court will transform the oceanfront mansion into an immersive jazz club. New York-born and Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Julius Rodriguez will play with his band, and music will be made visual by the Salve dance program with guest performers from across the U.S. and Canada.
“Rodriguez, 25, has been lauded for his tremendous sense of harmony and virtuosity across piano, drums, bass and whatever else he feels like playing any given week,” Marcus J. Moore, esteemed music journalist, wrote in the New York Times. “He can hold his own at a psychedelic free jazz show in Brooklyn, a stadium-size rap concert in Los Angeles, a stately supper-club gig on the Upper West Side.”
The Salve dancers will also be performing at Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, Aug. 3, with drummer and musicologist Marcus Grant, who collaborated with Guarino and Coleman on the first Jazz Lounge at Ochre Court this past February.
Full festival events and details, including artist profiles and links to purchase tickets, are available at the festival’s website. Space is limited at all festival events. Workshops and an artist panel are free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
The festival is made possible by support from Amica Insurance and BayCoast Bank.
Students from the Salve dance program.
