Few, if any of a specially selected group of 103 Newark students have ever stepped foot on a stage. But with each new position, leap and plie the magic of Alvin Ailey’s American dance camp weaves in each of them a powerful new story through movement. AileyCamp gives these young people a place where they can feel like it’s home,” said the National Director of AileyCamp, Nasha Thomas.
From ballet and tap to modern and jazz, Aileycamp offers classes for free. “AileyCamp gives them an opportunity to express themselves to a have a platform for creative expression," Nasha Thomas explained. The six-week program, in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society, is celebrating its 27th year in New York serving more than 100 students.
The names Alvin Ailey and Atlanta Ballet are synonymous with great dancing, and once again this summer, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is teaming up with Atlanta Ballet to present an incredible opportunity to some young dancers.
Master teacher and former Ailey dancer Nasha Thomas shared some of her dance moves with students from Bowie Elementary and Charles Drew Charter. The Alvin Ailey Revelations workshop took place at the High Museum of Art in Northeast Atlanta. The workshop is part of Ailey’s new program, Destination Dance.
Some 40 students from Stapleton's Dreyfus Intermediate School spent a Thursday afternoon they won't soon forget. New York City's First Lady Chirlane McCray welcomed the 6th, 7th and 8th graders to Gracie Mansion to participate in an Alvin Ailey Dance Workshop exploring Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's signature masterpiece, "Revelations," to celebrate Black History Month.
When Nehprii Amenii of Brooklyn walked into Newark Arts High School for the first time this summer, she was prepared to be hit with what she called "full cannons of attitude." Since then, she has been spending weekdays teaching creative communication to 11 to 14 year-olds as part of AileyCamp, a full-day summer program offered by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and financed, in Newark, entirely by the Prudential Foundation.
The Prudential Foundation is funding Newark's first AileyCamp, a summer camp that embodies Prudential's belief in arts education as a means of revitalizing struggling communities while educating the future work force.
Dance teacher Wayne Williams stood at the lip of the Newark Arts High stage, his back to the two dozen black-clad students lined up behind him. "Where are your hands?" he asked over his shoulder. "Out" they shouted. "Chin?" he called. "Up," they said. "Stomach?" "In," they replied a few giggles distupting their perfect unison.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed 39 times in December to enthusiastic packed houses at New York City Center, but there was a special quality to the cheering with which an equally large - but significantly younger - audience responded one Thursday morning during the season.
Few dance companies carry the worldwide name recognition of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. And even fewer dance works boast the influential artistic legacy of Ailey's Revelations, which the New York TImes hailed as "modern dance's unquestionable greatest hit."