American Voices to Host Programs in Malaysia, 6/1-16

American Voices will be hosting its first YES Academy program devoted entirely to hip hop. Taking place in Kota Kinabalu (KK) on the island of Borneo, YES Hip Hop KK will offer youth in Borneo classes on hip hop, breakdancing, DJing, beatboxing, graphic design and community leadership.

Members of the HaviKoro Crew of Houston, Texas, including Yung Chris, Mario, Criket and Joe B, will be leading the hip hop and dance classes. The YES Academy KK will host 75 youth from the regions of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Labuan. The program is co-sponsored by the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and with support from local partners including Battle 21, The Rock School Musical Theatre, Music Mart and Malaysia Suzuki Association.

American Voices will host a second series of YES Academy programs in Penang from June 7-17, in conjunction with the George Town Festival.   The George Town Festival is an annual cultural festival that celebrates George Town's addition to the UNESCO World Heritage list.  In Penang, we will hold both a YES Academy Hip Hop program with HaviKoro and a YES Academy Broadway with American Voices faculty Michael Parks Masterson. As part of the YES Academy Broadway program, young artists will learn selections from musicals such as Rent, West Side Story, Hairspray, Footloose, Grease and Wicked.