“Don’t forget to count,” Matthew Hill, a percussion teacher at Newark’s AileyCamp said as he used his bare hands to thump a djembe, a West African drum. Tap, tap, tap, tap, slapped Hill in a fast tempo as the loud thuds echoed throughout the Arts High School auditorium.
As a Black New York native, I first heard the name Alvin Ailey when I was very young, even as someone not necessarily inclined toward the performing arts. The pioneering African American dancer, choreographer and activist came up in Texas in the violent Jim Crow South, where he recalled seeing members of the Klan. Eventually, he found his way to California to work on his craft, and then New York City
Celebrating the 35-year anniversary of AileyCamp, KCTV anchor, Shane Konicki, interviews Tyrone Aiken, the Chief Artistic Director of Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey.
As a sophomore at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School in 2013, Camilo Eifler decided to try out for the football team. But there was a catch: He’d never actually played before. He hadn’t even picked up a football.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has graced stages across the world for 65 years. Portia discusses the history of dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey with the people who know him best. Nasha Thomas serves as the National Director of the AileyCamp and Amos Machanic Jr. teaches dance under the Ailey brand. The duo come to the table along with a few students from the AileyCamp to talk about the Alvin Ailey legacy.
Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 at just 27 years old. Ailey choreographed over 100 ballets and was known to showcase the many experiences of African Americans. Today, his legacy still lives at his dance theatre in New York.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The talented kids at Ailey Camp Chicago are rehearsing for their upcoming grand finale, a show you can see for free! It's a program inspired by dance legend Alvin Ailey. He made history with his moves and his trailblazing company. Ailey founded the project to give kids a life-changing experience.
Cherish Jones sat pasting together body parts she had clipped from magazines to form a ballet dancer doing a plie, a move familiar even to non-fans that involves bending both knees outward and dipping straight down. Cherish, 12, was working on an interdisciplinary project at AileyCamp, a six-week program based at Newark Arts High School, where she and 65 other campers study dance and visual arts. The collage was meant to reinforce both forms of expression.
Newark is one of nine cities where AileyCamp is being held. Instead of going swimming or playing sports at a typical summer camp, some kids in Newark are spending their weeks out of school a little differently. They’re learning various forms of dance and creative skills at AileyCamp, a six-week program that was started by the legendary dancer Alvin Ailey just before his passing in 1989.
When I was in high school, my friends at The Chicago Academy for the Arts told me about Lisa Johnson-Willingham, an impressive former Ailey dancer who was teaching Horton at Joel Hall Dancers & Center on Thursday nights. I decided I ought to give her class a try. The first time I went, I didn’t even pay for class. In fact, I don’t think I ever paid for her class. She was tough as nails, but she was always generous. The room was packed with people from all over the city. From modern dancers to professional ballet dancers to young students—everyone wanted to learn from her. Her classroom got so hot from sweaty bodies that the windows completely fogged up and contrasted the cold night outside.