Newark Community School of the Arts will host a day of artistic exploration and community expression on Friday, August 21, beginning with Enter Sound Consciousness, dance education workshops led by Dr. Savion Glover, and continuing at 7:00 p.m. with LIVE & Direct, an outdoor open mic hosted by poet and creative producer Tehsuan “Starski” Glover. Though different in form, the two experiences share an interest in a fundamental part of creativity: what happens when an artist moves beyond simply reproducing what has already been learned and becomes present enough to listen, think and respond to what is happening now.

For Savion Glover, that exploration begins not with the step, but with the sound. “We have to identify first that we’re dealing with sound,” Glover said in a recent conversation about the workshops. “We’re left with what we are choosing to use as a tool to say the unsayable. You’re trying to say something that only you can hear. And this is what you’ve got to say it with.”

Enter Sound Consciousness moves beyond the conventional structure of a “tap class” centered primarily on learning and reproducing choreography. Thinking becomes the instrument. Technique becomes vocabulary. Sound becomes an attempt at articulation. Glover’s approach is deeply informed by the generations of masterful artists whose work and thinking shaped him. But receiving that inheritance, in his view, is only the beginning. “After they taught you what you thought, what are you then going to think now?” Glover asks. “You can’t forfeit now. Never.”

That distinction sits at the heart of Enter Sound Consciousness. Improvisation is not simply spontaneity or an absence of preparation. It is thinking in the present with the knowledge, discipline and tools the artist has acquired. “We’re not dealing with a step. We’re dealing with a sound,” Glover said. “You’ve got to take into consideration that one sound is a whole lot of things.” The workshop invites participants to explore what sound can carry — rhythm, memory, sensation, culture, imagination and intention — and to discover their own relationship to expression.

Floors sponsored for this event by Victor J. Perkins, owner of Jaiaboards. For more information: https://jaiaboards.com/

From the Classroom to LIVE & Direct

At 7:00 p.m., that exploration moves outside as NCSA opens its parking lot for LIVE & Direct, an open mic hosted by Tehsuan “Starski” Glover and featuring poets, singers, musicians, storytellers, comedians and other creative voices. The connection between the afternoon workshops and the evening gathering grew from an extended conversation between Savion and Tehsuan about improvisation, presence and what Tehsuan described as “present creativity.”

“I like where you were going in terms of improv and the conversation around presence,” Tehsuan told Savion. “Present creativity. Not rehearsed creativity, but focused, present. The nowness. And what that means for the offering.” Tehsuan connected that idea to something familiar: the creativity that happens in a family kitchen. “What Grandma was doing in the kitchen, she was doing it with what she had,” he said. “This is what we have now. This is going to be a wonderful offering, but we did not go shopping. We’re going to share what we have now.” That philosophy carries into LIVE & Direct.

The poet may bring a written poem. The musician may bring a rehearsed song. The performer may bring years of training. Preparation provides the ingredients, but the encounter between artist, audience and moment creates something that cannot be completely rehearsed. “There’s an interesting place to think about sharing this offering from a place of now,” Tehsuan said, “nowness and improvisation and creativity — and what that dialogue is. It’s grounds for investigation.”

Together, Enter Sound Consciousness and LIVE & Direct offer two expressions of a larger idea for Newark Community School of the Arts: that arts education is not only about transferring technique. It can create the conditions for people to listen, think, investigate, encounter one another and find their own means of expression.

Education can provide that space. So can an open microphone. And on August 21, Newark Community School of the Arts will offer both.

EVENT INFORMATION

ENTER SOUND CONSCIOUSNESS

Dance Education Workshops with Dr. Savion Glover

Friday, August 21, 2026 | 2:00 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.

Newark Community School of the Arts

89 Lincoln Park, Newark, NJ 07102

LIVE & DIRECT

Outdoor Open Mic hosted by Tehsuan “Starski” Glover

Friday, August 21, 2026 | Showtime 7:00 p.m.

Newark Community School of the Arts

89 Lincoln Park, Newark, NJ 07102

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