MOVE;MEANT A.R.T. EXPO – JUNETEENTH

CREATIVE TEAM

Melvin AC Howell (director/choreographer/performer), Director of Heart & Soul Dance Company, is an internationally cultured choreographer and creative director who has transformed and molded lives, while evolving the art of dance, for more than 13 years. His approach is his purpose: “Spread positivity, encouragement, and guidance through dance.” Melvin is an accomplished choreographer, performer and teacher specializing in hip hop, contemporary, jazz, funk, and freestyle dance styles. Recent performance credits include his self-produced BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021), Stewart/Owen Dance’s Still Life at Asheville’s Wortham Center for the Performing Arts (2020) and as a featured artist at the Asheville Area Arts Council’s 2021 Creative Sector Summit. Other credits include: teaching and performing in Guatemala and across Mexico (2021-2023); being a lead dancer in a Sylvan Esso music video directed by Moses Sumney (2021); teaching and lecturing at Mars Hill University and UPENN (2021-2023): and performing across the world with Royal Caribbean (2023).

Amanda Hoyte (co-director/choreographer/performer) has performed with professional dance companies in cities across American. She continues her performance career regionally with recent appearances in music videos for The Get Right Band, Alfred Nomad and Eleanor Underhill. Her stage work includes Melvin AC Howell’s BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021) and Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s The Wedding Singer (2022). Amanda is the Dance Program Director at Mars Hill University where she is working to build a holistic dance program that creates informed and experienced practitioners/performers. Her efforts have led to several scholarly and creative pursuits examining the relationship between dance, music and American Culture. Amanda is a proud graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Psychology, and the University of South Florida with a M.S. in Medical Health Sciences.

Jenny Pickens (visual artist), is an Asheville, NC area native. She is a self-taught artist who has been making art all her life. Jenny works in mediums including acrylics, fiber arts, pencil, pen & ink, pastels, oils, as well as hand built pottery and repurposed jewelry. Her murals cover walls and spaces at Asheville locations such as the Wortham Center for Performing Arts, LEAF Global Arts Center, Stephens-Lee Center, Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium, The Flying Bike, the Peace Garden and a Black Lives Matter mural on the pavement around the Vance Monument. Jenny creates and designs custom artwork pieces for private buyers as well as the Noir Collective AVL, also known as the Block. She curates visual art exhibitions and provides mentorship to emerging artists. Jenny works with children in Asheville City Schools’ TAPAS program and after-school programs such as Youth Transformed for Life and In Real Life. To help young artists curate their talent and love for creating, Jenny took on the role as Project Facilitator in July 2021 at the historic Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School in Mars Hill, NC, becoming the first person to teach in that space since 1965.

Dr. David Gilbert (research advisor), Associate Professor of History at Mars Hill University, is a scholar, teacher and writer whose work centers on African American history and popular culture. His first book, The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace, explores African-American musicians and stage performers in New York City in the first two decades of the Twentieth Century and shows how Black entertainers made Broadway Avenue and Tin Pan Alley synonymous with American national culture. The book became the basis for a long-form liner notes essay to the CD companion of the book (Archeophone Records), which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018. During the 2023-24 school year, Dr. Gilbert will be conducting an ethnographic study of jazz musicians in major European cultural centers.