Living Jazz Childrens Project

Choral Instructor

“Branice McKenzie sings with a sensitivity, intonation and eloquence that mark her as a fine proponent of Jazz in song” ~ allaboutjazz.com

With her four-octave range, this artist has partnered with greats touring the world from Harry Belafonte to Gregory Hines, Hugh Masekela, Roberta Flack, Dianne Reeves and Iyanla Vanzant to name a few. She has graced the stages of The Newport Jazz Festival to the Umbria Jazz Festival, from Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow to the great Carnegie Hall in New York City. Ms. McKenzie is an award-winning composer, has garnered a 14 year tenure as Vocal Faculty at the stellar Oakland School For The Arts and is the Founding Minister of Music Emerita at Heart and Soul Center of Light in Oakland, CA. Most recently, Branice garnered the honor of being nominated by the Bay Area Theatre Awards for Best Music Direction.

As an educator, Branice has worked as a teaching artist weaving it into her life as a performing artist. Her workshops are innovative and they ignite the childhood in children. As a composer, Branice moves brilliantly from Jazz to Gospel to Children’s Music (that resonates for the child in us all).

Branice received her B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and an M.A. in Music Education from New York University.

She is an educator, a vocal alchemist and a voice for our time.

Choral Instructor

Bryan S. Dyer is a multi-talented musician who not only sings but plays and teaches several instruments including bass guitar, percussion and piano; writes and arranges music, conducts choirs and groups, and works in television, radio and film. A veteran of some of the Bay Area’s top vocal groups including Street Sounds, SoVoSo, Slammin All Body Band, Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, CHELLE! and Friends and Bobby McFerrin's-MOTION. He also performs with The Funk Revival Orchestra, Rankin Scroo and Ginger, Juke Joint and the percussion and dance ensemble, Crosspulse.

His musical experiences have taken him around the globe including several trips throughout Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Jamaica and many legendary stages including Montreaux Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Lincoln Center in New York. Bryan’s talents have landed him alongside such artists as Al Green, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the soundtrack for the movie “La Mission” with Benjamin Bratt, and recording and performing with Huey Lewis and The News to name a few. He is also a member of The Recording Academy and a voting member of The Grammy Awards.

Rhonda Benin

Rhonda Benin is a San Francisco Bay Area based vocalist. Rhonda’s impressive resume includes her 22 year stint as a member of The GRAMMY-nominated vocal ensemble Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage. She appears on the CHC’s 7 Cd’s and has toured 30 countries. As a solo jazz and blues artist, Rhonda has performed at SF Jazz, Yoshi’s, MOAD, The Healdsburg, Sonoma, Burlingame, Sausalito, Filmore, and Calistoga Jazz Festivals. In the summer of 2012, Rhonda traveled to Hangzhou, China for a 3-month engagement at the JZ Jazz Club and was the 2014 USA headliner for The Kigali Up Music Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. In addition to singing, Rhonda is the producer and founder of the Women’s History Month’s show “Just Like A Woman,” a tribute to Bay Area Women In Music, heading into its 9th year in 2023.

Accompanist

Simon Russell is a singer/pianist/composer/lyricist born in Hempstead New York and has been performing for the last 37 years with some of the worlds best musicians. Including Pete Escovedo, Sheila E, The James Brown Band, El Debarge Performed for Quincy Jones for Black History month. Simon received most of his training under Jazz Masters Rafael Grinage (bass player for Earl Father Hines) and Jim Grantham (retired Professor at Berkeley in Boston and San Francisco State). He is currently working with the Oakland Symphony. As an educator of 17 years, Simon has been the founder of two music schools and a non-profit to raise awareness for music education for underserved youth. He was the Senior Choir Director for the La Honda Camp 2022. And he is currently the Choir Manager for the Oakland Symphony.

Dance Instructor

My name is Hector “Intricate” Ascencio Im from Hayward, CA. I’m currently 27 years old. I’m a Tutting / T.U.R.F. Dancer. Ive been dancing for 16 years in both styles. I’m a 2x WOD champion & 2x Fusion Concept Invitee, RedBull "Dance Your Style" Oakland Champion 2023 & Chicago National Final Qualifer. Over the years ive experienced and work with many artists such as G-Eazy, Kendrick Lamar, & Troyboi. The Crews I represent is Unknown, Tutgodz, Assassins Crew & Izakaya Squad

Dance Instructor

Johnny Anthony Lopez better known as “Johnny5” was born in Oakland, California on December 18th, 1989. He is a 32 years old Mexican/Latino, professional Turf Dancer, and the founder of TURFinc, a local Oakland/Bay Area based company that hopes to instill positive changes in the community through dance. Johnny is involved in every single aspect of his company from talent scouting to MC’ing the events. TURFinc is currently on its 100th event and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. Along with being an entrepreneur, Johnny5 also gives back to the community by teaching dance classes all over SF-Bay Area, California, amongst many other local venues. In the near future, he hopes to have a global impact and travel around the world teaching TURF dancing and using it as a healing mechanism for Trauma while taking TURFinc to the next level by opening up his very own dance studio to serve the community of Oakland/SF-Bay.

Dance Instructor

Ramon Ramos Alayo founded Alayo Dance Company in 2001 and is currently the resident company of CubaCaribe. As director and choreographer, his work is an innovative fusion of Afro-Cuban modern, folkloric, and popular Cuban dance. He eloquently articulates his aesthetic vision through a synthesis of these dance styles, citing from each tradition, movements, narratives, and concepts indicative of Cuban culture. It is far more diverse than most of the modern dance circuit. In Cuba, at the National School of Arts, all dance students are taught modern and traditional styles of dance and music, and the forms are not considered as disassociated as they are in the United States. Combining elements of both to produce Afro-Cuban contemporary dance allows the artist to tell a rich story from a broad palette of movement styles that is indicative of Cuban culture, but the combination of which is rarely seen in the Bay Area.

Alayo Dance Company was featured in "Dance Across America," published in National Geographic Magazine (2006). The Company has performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at venues such as Theater Artaud, ODC Theater, Dance Mission Theater, Herbst Theater, Laney Theater, Sonoma Country Wine Theater, and La

Dance Instructor

Tainah Damasceno is a teaching & performing artist, producer, and Artistic Director of BrasArte: a Berkeley CA based cultural arts non-profit. Her work is primarily focused on cultural arts education-- sharing with people of all ages across the Bay & USA how multiplicit Brazilian culture, history, and dance can be. Tainah began dancing at the age of 3 with her mother: Brazilian culture bearer Conceicao Damasceno, followed by five years at the San Francisco Ballet School. Later on, she reconnected with her roots and began studying Brazilian folkloric and contemporary dances with renewed intensity under various master artists from diverse regions of the country. Today she continues her research in the Reconcavo region of Bahia (birthplace of the samba, maculele & capoeira), as well as touring as a teaching artist in the United States and performing in the Bay Area. In her 10 years of teaching, Tainah’s goal has been to offer an inclusive, safe space for expression, and for participants to dive into the joy and force that permeates Brazilian culture.