Join Next Level Director Junious Brickhouse and Next Level Founding Director & Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for a discussion with Next Level alumni, dancer Melanie Aguirre and beatboxer Baba Israel.

This moderated discussion and performance will highlight the goals of the program and underscore hip hop’s ability to grow a global community.  

Melanie Aguirre is a native New Yorker, founder of Rep Your Style, and young community leader in New York City. Melanie provides the NYC dance community with dance competitions, community discussions, charity fundraisers, workshops, and job placement services. She teaches multiple dance styles within the tri-state area, nationally, and internationally. Through her company Rep Your Style, she directs theatrical performances and museum tours. She was selected in 2017 for a cultural exchange program in Paris, France, at La Place Hip Hop cultural center. With these different avenues of outreach, she has been able to inspire creativity through her work. In 2018, she participated in Next Level Turkey.

Baba Israel is an internationally respected beatboxer, MC, and hip hop educator who is also widely considered to be one of the leading figures in contemporary hip hop theater. He is currently working with a variety of leading arts institutions in New York City to design hip hop education and theater programs for a wide range of communities. As a theater and hip hop artist, he has toured across the US, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia, performing with artists such as OutKast, Philip Glass, Rahzel, Lester Bowie, KRS ONE, and Vernon Reid. As a musician, he has released a number of albums and collaborations with artists such as DJ Logic, Ming and FS, Zion I, Invincible, DJ Kiva, P-Money, and longtime collaborator Yako 440, another Next Level alum. He is also a core member of hip hop/soul project Soul Inscribed, who were selected as part of the American Music Abroad program to tour Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Mauritius in 2016. He is co-founder and Artistic Director of Playback NYC Theatre Company, which brings theatre to hospitals, prisons, homeless shelters, as well as theatres and festivals. He traveled to Croatia with Next Level in 2017.

Please register here to receive a Zoom link or reach out to Kara Zelasko with any questions. Audience members will be encouraged to post questions for the group to address during the program.