By Sally Deering

 Tucked inside the downtown Jersey City community on Coles Street is a rather plain looking storefront that when you step inside makes you feel like Dorothy landing in Munchkinland in “The Wizard of Oz.”  

 Welcome to the Grassroots Community Space, an intimate one-room studio rental where dancers, actors, drummers and other artists teach classes and put on performances. Warm and welcoming, the Grassroots Community Space has a vibe that seems to say “letâ€s have fun and create something” and it serve an even greater purpose as a small business incubator for local artists to try their hand at teaching their craft. Some groups, who have rented the Grassroots Community Space to teach classes have gone on to start their own business in their own space.

 Jersey City is home to many professional artists, actors, singers, dancers, writers and poets from all over the world, but performance space is limited – and pricey. In 2008, with a couple of partners, Chelo Mercado of Jersey City saw the need for a community space where local artists could teach and perform. The trio decided to fill the gap and open Grassroots Community Space for artists to share their artistry.

 Seven days a week, Grassroots Community Space bustles with activity.  Bollywood Funk classes on Thursdays; Hula Hoop fitness and Egyptian Belly dance Classes on Mondays; Musical Theater, Guitar, Hatha Yoga, Tap Dance, Baby Music/Movement, Sign Language, Afro-Caribbean Dance, Drumming, Zumba, Salsa, and Song and Dance classes are held throughout the week with new classes forming all the time. There are special events, too, like the Saturday night Drum Circles, art shows and performances that keep the space humming while  Mercado and his wife Sirena Mari Mercado keep it growing.

 Recently, Chelo Mercado took time out of his busy schedule to share with Riverview Observer his thoughts on the importance of creating performance space for artists and how Grassroots Community Space sprouted from that need.  

 RVO: Chelo Mercado, how did you become founder and CEO of Grassroots Community Space?

CM: When I moved to Jersey City, I discovered the Jersey City art scene and I wanted to help the talent here, people who didnâ€t have the resources to make their art a viable way of making a living, I decided to get involved. I saw a void and I wanted to help fill that void and create a space that was open to and interested in developing this city artistically. So in December of 2008, I opened Grassroots Community Space with two other partners. The following April we had our first customer, a Brazilian martial arts group. Fortunately they opened up their own studio about two years after they were with me.

 RVO: How did it actually come about?

CM: A friend of mine Lex Leonard had a gallery here, the Lex Leonard Gallery, and he would periodically rent the space to artists. They would paint and do various things of that nature. Along with a local entrepreneur friend of ours, Lex and I discussed getting a location and continuing to support the art scene and making space available for artists. From there we found a space. In the beginning it was the Grassroots Community Café, but there were too many cafes in Jersey City.

 RVO: What is the mission of the space?

CM: Grassroots Community Space is an organic movement thatâ€s paying attention to the needs of its surrounding community. We are a small business incubator. Any entrepreneur who has gotten certified in a discipline can approach us with a small business idea and get started with us. Weâ€ll give them the support to start their business. Some classes have been with me almost since the beginning like Belly dance, Zumba, Hula-hoop fitness. What we offer is space, our community, and the network weâ€ve built over the years. And through Sirelo Entertainment , the company my wife and I own, we offer a lot of events where these disciplines can be put on display and promoted, giving them more opportunity to grow.  Weâ€ve helped about 30 small businesses. Some have come and gone, some have been able to open up their own space.

 RVO: What are the most interesting classes at Grassroots Community Space?

CM: We have many multi-cultural classes like Bollywood Funk, Afro-Caribbean  and Egyptian Belly dance. At the end of the day, we are all welcoming if you will. We have a diverse schedule. We are all encompassing as long as all of the groups are all-inviting.

 RVO: Letâ€s talk about drumming, is that something you teach?

CM: We have a monthly drum circle at Grassroots called Community Rhythm. Weâ€re into drumming and percussion, Thatâ€s been my induction to the arts.

 RVO: How much does it cost to rent the space?

CM: Our rates are competitive with other non-profit spaces in Jersey City.

 RVO: Can you offer advice to others who may want to open their own community art space?

CM: Itâ€s not an easy thing. Thereâ€s a lot of backend work, but if youâ€re hungry and open enough to go after your dream it is something that can be achieved. Ask yourself, do I want to open my own space and deal with the costs of leasing the place for a number of years or do I test it somewhere where my only commitment is a month-to-month  hourly basis where you can see if this is something you can and want to do.

 RVO: I imagine you have a pretty big fan base of artists?

CM: Iâ€m very fortunate. They thank me and I thank them back.  I wouldnâ€t be here if it wasnâ€t for their energy. I feel we are creating a community of interest and improving the quality of life. Jersey City is my home. This is the place where I want to live and see the arts survive.

 Grassroots Community Space

54 Coles St

Jersey City

(201) 500-LIVE

www.grassrootscommunityspace.com

www.chelomercado.com

   

The post Grassroots Community Space in Jersey City – A Small Business Incubator for Local Artists first appeared on River View Observer.

by Sally Deering 

 In the 1920s, when Shirley Temple tapped into America’s hearts with her bouncing ringlets, ruffled crinolines and shiny black tap shoes, mothers from Canarsie to Kenosha trundled their daughters off to their local dance school dreaming of their baby girl’s name in lights. Nowadays, child stars go by first names like Britney, but the local dance school still thrives as the only training ground for kids who dream of a dancing career.

 One local dance pioneer who has kept the stage lights burning in her neighborhood dance studio for the past 34 years is Diane Dragone, Artistic Director of The Kennedy Dancers, a professional dance company and dance school that stands in the wings of New York City.  Through her school and with her years as a teacher and choreographer, Dragone has trained and enriched the lives of thousands of inner-city kids – some who became professional dancers — and she has brought modern and classical dance performances to the multi-cultural and economically-diverse Hudson community.

 On Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8, dance-lovers will have the opportunity to see Dragone’s dynamic troupe perform when The Kennedy Dancers take the stage at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in their beautiful theater space on Summit Avenue in Jersey City. This Spring Dance Concert will feature contemporary choreographer Sean Curran’s “Force of Circumstance,” and three Dragone choreographies:  “Caven Point” – about a Jersey City encampment during WWII; “La Dolce Vita,” Dragone’s valentine to her Italian heritage with songs by Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin and Louis Prima; and the World Premiere of “My Obsession with Cats,” – a choreography that’s close to Dragone’s animal-activist heart.

 A successful business-and-Renaissance woman, Dragone runs a dance company and school, choreographs , raises a family, performs community outreach and rescues stray animals – all in a day’s work. And at the heart of it all, she is a dancer teaching others the “language of dance” so that they may feel the thrill she has known twirling across the stage, leaping into the air and springing into a dance partner’s arms. 

 “Dancing is ageless, I believe that,” Dragone says, sitting at her desk while a teen ballet class is in progress in her studio on Central Avenue.  “Everybody can dance; you have to break through those inhibitions.  Dancing can be a healing process. It’s excellent for your body, mind and soul.”

 FELINES AND THE REPERTOIRE

The Kennedy Dancers performances on May 7 and 8 in the theater at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind will feature the professional company and the Inner-City Youth teen company composed of students who have trained with Dragone since they were toddlers in tights and taps. One of the highlights of the program will be Dragone’s “My Obsession with Cats,” a choreography about the felines Dragone adores and rescues with the help of her husband, teacher and professional videographer Tom Horan and their children Gigi, 17, and Danny, 15.

 “Cats are beautiful, their movement is beautiful and their personalities are all distinct. They’re a great source of inspiration for dance because they move in many ways,” Dragone says while her two studio cats Sylvester and Silvio are busy cat-napping near her desk. “There have always been cats in my life from the time I was little.”

 Dragone has choreographed hundreds of dances and currently, The Kennedy Dancers perform about 30 dances from the repertoire in venues throughout the tri-state area. Committed to bringing dance to all members of the community, Dragone offers ballroom and exercise classes to seniors; ballet and tap to toddlers and adolescents; ballet, tap and hip-hop to teens and ‘tweens and Zumba and Yoga to adults. A certified dance teacher by the New Jersey Department of Education, Dragone has taught special education dance at Hudson County Schools of Technology and brought dance to children and adults with physical and learning disabilities at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City.

“They loved the dance classes,” Dragone says of the children with disabilities. “It was very emotional for our teachers because some of these children are encapsulated in their own world or they never really experienced creative movement before and you could see they loved dancing. If you can’t see very well and you’re afraid to move, this was a really freeing experience.”

 That program lost its funding. So did the program teaching dance to incarcerated teenagers at the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center in Secaucus, which was funded by the New Jersey Council on the Arts.  Dragone hopes someone will come up with the funding to reinstate both programs. The students looked forward to it, she says.

 “I think dance gave them something beautiful and challenging,” Dragone says.

 A LOAN TO BUILD A DREAM ON

Creating beautiful and challenging dances was the most important thing to Dragone back when she first opened her studio in 1976 with money she saved and a loan from her parents Anne and Daniel. It was a tiny, bohemian studio on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City that her dad helped her paint and where she used her training as a dancer and her certification as a teacher to teach ballet, tap and jazz to kids and teens. 

 “The dance students are the mainstay of a company,” Dragone says. “You’re developing young minds and bodies and your goal is to give them an aesthetic, enjoyment and a sense of physical accomplishment. The beauty of dance inspires children and adults to keep coming back to the dance studio.”

 And if the students can’t come to the studio, then Dragone goes into their living rooms with the cable-TV show she hosts and produces with her husband, Tom.  “Dance Vista,” features interviews and choreographies by contemporary dance artists and, after 13-years on the air, the show is now seen on cable stations throughout New Jersey and New York.

 THE STUDENTS’ SUCCESS

Many of The Kennedy Dancers’ students go on to professional dance careers and Dragone is thrilled by their successes. One former student is performing in the musical “Buddy” in London’s West End; another is currently in a show at the La Mama theater in New York.  One dancer joined the Miami Ballet, one is with the Martha Graham dance company and another is featured in the Julie Taymor film, “Across the Universe” – and those are just recent accomplishments.

 “I’m thrilled for them and proud of them,” Dragone says. “I love it.”

 Determined to bring The Kennedy Dancers to new heights, Dragone’s choreography “God Bless America,” was recently named a finalist in the NJN Hispanic Dance competition to be held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in May. And last year, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts gave Dragone and The Kennedy Dancers an Award for Excellence for their outstanding work and Dragone’s compelling choreography.

 THE DANCER IN HER SOUL

So, how does a choreographer make dances? What comes first, the movement or the music?

 “I see people walking down the street, kids dance around, the windshield wipers move;” Dragone says, “I sit in the car listening to the radio and someone walks by to the rhythm of the music – all things can inspire your dances.”

 And that goes for cats, too.                                                                                         

 The Kennedy Dancers present their Spring Dance Performances on Fri, May 7 and Sat, May 8 at St. Joseph‘s School for the Blind 761 Summit Ave, Jersey City.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door; $18 for students and seniors with ID.

Call 201-659-2190 for tickets and class information or visit www.kennedydancers.org.

 

 

 

 

 

The post COVER STORY-Leading The Kennedy Dancers first appeared on River View Observer.