In the midst of new chapters beginning and old ones ending in my career, I couldn't think of a more appropriate question to ask myself than why I dance. The last couple of years have been extremely challenging emotionally and physically. Having to adjust to a management position while maintaining my body as a dancer at 38 is no joke!
Christopher Cuomo, ABC News 20/20 anchor and extreme-fitness investigator for Men's Health, goes toe-to toe- with Alvin Ailey's dancers to learn how they develop world-class jumping power, insanely strong cored, and outrageous flexibility.
The dance company that was part of the civil rights movement - the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater opens its summer season in Paris to standing ovations.
"I believe that dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people," said Alvin Ailey. His esteemed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the most highly celebrated dance companies in the world probably for that very reason - they know how to engage an audience.
Gifted with a mother's second sight, Catherine Johnson knew her daughter Jacqueline Green better than the child knew herself. In 2004, the eighth-grader insisted she had absolutely zero desire to study dance. "Oh, Mom," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why would I want to do that?"
"In July 2008, I suffered what I thought was a career-ending injury - a cartilage tear in my knee," says Alicia, who's danced with Alcin Ailey since 2005. "I was devastated. But my mom reassured me that whether or not I came back as a dancer, anything I decided to do next would be brilliant."
In middle school, Sarah Daley came to Chicago's Auditorium Theater to see ALvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform. She left inspired, but never anticipating that a few years later, at 25, she would be getting ready to perform on that very stage as part of the acclaimed company.
When Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings its show to The Auditorium Theatre this week, it'll be the first time Gary native Renaldo Gardner dances in Chicagoland as a member of the legendary main Ailey company.
Dancer Sarah Daley is living her dream as a new member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the 54-year-old modern dance company world-famous for celebrating African-American culture. Dancing with the Alvin Ailey company is something that Daley - a former resident of South Elgin and Bartlett, among other places - planned for at an early age.