Charisa the ViolinDiva, soul jazz violinist/vocalist has devoted her career to challenging every preconception of what a violinist can accomplish in contemporary music. Classically trained, her diversity has allowed her to travel the world, recording and performing with as Lauryn Hill, Vivian Green, Kim Burrell and Cyndi Lauper, to name a few. Charisa is also a teaching artist in public schools. She has developed the New Urban Strings Curriculum targeted at reaching young minority string players; which reaches 200 Black and Latino students annually. Charisa has proudly called Newark, NJ her home for the last ten years with her producer and drummer James Rouse. She has collaborated with several Newark organizations and cultural icons, including NJPAC, Bethany Baptist, Newark Symphony Hall, Lincoln Park Festival Jazz Day, the Oliver Street School, the Shani Baraka Resource Center, Weequahic Park Gospel Series Concerts with Liz Black and WBLS, Essex County Cultural Affairs Department and many more. On the national stage, she has won the Apollo Amateur Night Competition, performed for senators and dignitaries, rocked next to Patti Labelle and Misty Copeland on BET Black Girls Rock!, won the McDonald’s Gospelfest Competition with her unique fusion of soul, jazz, hot pink violin and voice. Charisa has a Newark based boutique music company, Angaza Music Group, that specializes in everything strings – from Bridgerton-style string quartet StringsNation, to the hip hop meets jazz orchestra featured in the inaugural North to Shore Festival in 2023. StringsNation has recorded and performed with everyone from Ashanti, Ryan Leslie, Vivian Green, Demi Lovato and Lauryn Hill, to many many more.
Maurice Chestnut, is a young tap dancer who is prominent among the next generation of hard-hitting rhythm-tappers. He began dancing at the age of five with Pepsi Bethel jazz dancer Alfred Gallman. He turned professional at the age of nine when he joined Deborah Mitchell’s New Jersey Tap Ensemble. Quickly recognized as a rising young star, he was featured on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show “My Kid’s A Star” segment, where he proudly proclaimed that he loved to dance and that he would keep doing it “until I die.” After winning a gold medal in the NAACP Act-So Competition, he was crowned “Top Dog Performer” at the Apollo Theater. At age 14, the Newark Star Ledger named him “one of the 20 New Jersey faces to watch for in the new millennium.” In 2003 at the age of 19, Chestnut joined the national touring company of Savion Glover’s Broadway hit Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk. He continued to work with Glover as a member of his Improvography and Bare Soundz tours, as well as performing in such Glover shows as Classical Savion, Tappin’ Into Monk and Invitation to the Dancer. In addition to performing with his own band, Chestnut has toured, as a special guest artist, with jazz artists Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, Thelonius Monk III and the Geri Allen Trio. As a featured soloist and choreographer, Chestnut develops his style of “playing tap” as a “live instrument,” seamlessly weaving complex dance steps to interplay with musical notes to create a powerful and distinctive energy that resonates with audiences.
While Chestnut has been inspired by such legendary tap dancers as the Nicholas Brothers and Jimmy Slyde, he feels the urgency to connect with his own generation’s urban culture, dancing with truth, soul, and power to inspire the next generation of rhythm tap dancer.
