Poetry Electric: Beatella

Sam Sellers, aka Rabbi Darkside, creates radically inclusive spaces through music at concerts, on dance floors and in classrooms. With an expansive discography begun on wax in 2001, a performance career touching 5 continents, and over two decades in Education, there are countless places where you may have encountered him, from head coaching on MTV's MADE to headlining the Blue Note Jazz Festival in consecutive years; facilitating interactive workshops from community centers in Uganda to Teacher's College at Columbia University. He is dedicated to artistic evolution, helping global citizens connect through the cypher, pursuit of clarity in personal pedagogy and deepening his catalog. Recently he was Artist-in-Residence at AIR Cassis, France; released his first self-produced album; added to his C.V. teaching new college courses; headlined Breakthrough Hip Hop Dance Fest in Zurich; and was minted to 2019 End of the Weak Challenge of Champs U.S. Vice-Champion. He's been the official DJ for Saturday Night Live Season 43 & 44 afterparties; spent 4 years as resident DJ/MC at renowned NYC jam session The Lesson; and is in his 8th year teaching university seminars of his own design at The New School, where he is the faculty advisor to The New School Hip Hop Collective student group. He is also an ordained wedding officiant, having performed 14 secular ceremonies. Along the journey, he has shared the stage and studio with Aloe Blacc, bell hooks, Biz Markie, Common, Doug E. Fresh, Kool Herc, Last Poets, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Robert Glasper, The Roots, and Slick Rick, among many others.

Arabelle Luke, aka Airloom Beats, is a New York based beatboxer and educator who aims to connect and inspire people through music regardless of their background. With roots as the beatboxer for Rutgers University's award winning all-female acapella group ShockWave, Arabelle strives to showcase the dynamics within her art form while emphasizing a sense of community. Working through non-profit organizations like BEAT Global, Kids Creative and Get Empowered!, she facilitates professional developments, workshops, and classes in beatboxing, loop station song production, and hip hop culture with special needs populations and participants of all ages across theTristate area. She is a BEAT Global T3 certified instructor, as well as, producer and musical director for Kids Creative's play creation program at Archer Elementary School. Arabelle incorporates her unique, melody-driven beatbox style into original short plays with The Network Theatre Company and creates content for media organizations such as ELLE.com and BET Centric. Along with performing at classic venues The Barrow Group, The Bergen PAC, LaMama Theatre, and The Blue Note, Arabelle has opened for iconic rapper Rakim at the Stanhope House. 2019 finds her earning a position in the Top 16 at the EastCoast Beatbox Battle and becoming Volume 3 champion of the Beatbox House Party Battles. During the quarantine, AirLoom has continued performing on virtual platforms as a “one-woman house band” for MAAAD Late!: The Improvised Late Night Show and PROPS!: The Hip Hop Gameshow. In 2020, Airloom was selected to be a US Hip-Hop Ambassador for Next Level USA, and she is eagerly awaiting to complete her first residency in The Ukraine.

Daniel Carlton is a Harlem-based actor, playwright, storyteller, poet, teaching artist, director.

‍Alex MacDonald is an NYC-based tap dancer, choreographer, dance educator, and singer-songwriter, whose work has taken him across North America, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. He is the original tap soloist for the popular vintage band, Postmodern Jukebox, as well as the passionate hype-man for the Grammy award winning kindie band, Tim Kubart and the Space Cadets. As a Fulbright scholar, he received his M.A. in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick in Ireland. A patient and intuitive teacher, he is currently on faculty at Montclair State University, Steps on Broadway, and Edge School of the Arts (ESOTA).

Dani Murcia was raised by Colombian parents in the eccentric, warm, and care-free city of Miami. She is now expanding her artistry in the more cold and sped up city of New York, all which has helped shape her distinctive soundscape. After losing her father to alcoholism and suicide, Murcia made it her goal to share her stories and innermost dialogues to offer an achingly honest perspective into the journey through grief and loss. With each song, Murcia creates unique worlds through lush harmonies and haunting melodies, in an attempt to stimulate curiosity and open conversation about topics often stigmatized. Murcia covers these subjects in her last project 'Breaking Light’, which was recorded and released in March 2019 while attending Berklee College of Music. She co-produced all five songs with Koa Ho of Shenzi. She is also part of a women-run collective, Her Songs, that she co-created alongside four other artists from around the world: Marie Dahlstrom, Emily C. Browning, The Naked Eye and Emmavie. Their projects “Los Angeles” and “Toronto” Vol 1 and 2 are available on all streaming platforms. She is currently a teaching artist at Beats By Girlz NYC as she also finishes her debut album to be released in 2022.