Miranda offering rap lessons
Beatboxing and freestyle courses conclude with show
“Freestyle Love Supreme,” the improvisational rap group whose founders include Lin-manuel Miranda, is looking to share its skills.
The company plans to begin offering classes in March in New York, starting with a foundations of freestyle course that will teach beatboxing and improv.
“Our mission is to foster creative voices,” said Anthony Veneziale, a cofounder of the group, who said he hopes the techniques associated with freestyling — rapping and singing stories spontaneously dreamed up based on words or ideas suggested by audience members or other performers — will help inspire new shows and music. And, he said, the group is hoping to diversify the performers of freestyle.
“Freestyle Love Supreme” was established in 2003 by Veneziale, Miranda, who went on to create “Hamilton,” and Thomas Kail, who became the director of “Hamilton.” The group has performed frequently over the years; it is now performing a commercial run at the Greenwich House Theater that ends Sunday. Guest performers have included Miranda, who was onstage there Sunday night, during the Oscars, which were airing at the time (a film he performed in, “Mary Poppins Returns,” was nominated in several categories).
The group’s school, the Freestyle Love Supreme Academy, will offer eightweek programs, with three hours of class each week and a fee of $550, that will conclude with student performances. The academy will work in partnership with Miranda, Kail, the Ars Nova founders Jenny and Jon Steingart, and Jill Furman, a “Hamilton” coproducer.