Film Screening & Discussion Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back
Saturday, December 9th | 12 pm – 2 pm
Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back is a portrait of the charismatic song-and-dance man from his tap-dancing childhood to today. Maurice and friends—Chita Rivera, Mercedes Ellington and Debbie Allen—tell tales from his seven-decade career, including Broadway shows, a co-starring role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club and about his loving yet complex relationship with his superstar brother, the late Gregory Hines. Ever battling the challenges of being a gay, black man in show biz, Maurice shares his story with humor and grace. Join husband and wife filmmakers John Carluccio and Tracy Hopkins for a post-film conversation on Mr. Hines as we celebrate his upcoming birthday on Dec 13. The conversation will be moderated by interdisciplinary artist and tap dancer Brinae Ali.

About Our Guest:
John Carluccio | Director, Producer, D.P., Editor
John is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker who is best known for documenting obscure pockets of urban society and the creative process. His documentary project Battle Sounds (1997) has a large underground following and is considered to be the first film to document the Turntablism movement in the 1990s. John’s short films have aired nationally and internationally. In a 20-year span, John created over 500 short films as an on-staff producer/director for TV and digital networks including Current TV, BRIC TV and Dubspot Music School, and for clients such as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Native Instruments, and Sozo Artists via his production companyCINQUA | Creative Documentary Agency.  

Tracy E. Hopkins | Writer, Producer
Tracy is an award-winning and widely published arts and entertainment journalist. With over 25 years of experience, she has interviewed hundreds of performing artists and written and reported for numerous print and digital media outlets including The Associated Press, PEOPLE, Essence, AARP, Entertainment Weekly, Rollin Stone, Broadway World and Dance Business Weekly. As an editor and researcher, Tracy has worked with Time Inc., Rodale Press, Conde Nast and T Brand Studio. Tracy has produced segments for BRIC TV and as an Associate Producer she has worked on two documentaries for Drifting Cloud Productions.

About Our Moderator:
Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, born and raised in Flint, Michigan, is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in using the power of the arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. When she is not traveling and performing, she is giving back to young people and grass roots organizing. Currently Bradley is the artistic director of Tapology, Inc. a youth based outreach program in Flint, that believes in preserving the art of tap and jazz culture through education and performance. As an educator she has collaborated with After School Activities Partnership, East Park Revitalization Alliance, Philadelphia Clef Club of Performing Arts, Raise It Up! Youth Arts and Awareness, Flint Youth Theatre, Mural Arts of Philadelphia, Young Audiences of New Jersey, Queens College, Long Island University, Ping Chong and Company, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and was an artist in residence at the Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Apollo Theater Education with Wadleigh High School in Harlem NYC. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Queens College and Long Island University.  Internationally Bradley has traveled and performed around the world in countries such as, France, Germany, China, and Brazil.  She also travelled with a team of tap dancers to Russia for a tour in 5 cities working with the U.S. Embassy for its cultural exchange program celebrating National Tap Dance Day.  Her broadway and off-broadway experience has gained her positions as assistant dance captain for  “Shuffle Along: the 1921 Sensation And All That Followed” choreographed by Savion Glover and directed by George C.Wolfe, company member of NY and Touring cast of  STOMP, special feature in the “Cotton Club Parade” which later became “After Midnight” under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis, New York City Center Off -Center production of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” directed and choreographed by Savion Glover and was a part of a two week tour in Italy celebrating Ella Fitzergerald’s centennial.  As a playwright and songwriter she has also created award winning works such as Best Short Play at the Downtown Urban Theater Festival for her one woman show “Steps” and the Vox Populi Independence Music Award for  “Destination Forever: Vol.1 EP.” Currently she is developing a work in progress with trumpeter Sean Jones called “Dizzy Spellz” fusing tap, Bebop, Hip Hop, and Afro Cuban music to articulate the African American experience through the music of Dizzy Gillespie from a afrofuturistic lense.