If life were normal this spring, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater would be on the road performing its annual national tour. They'd be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the company's signature work, “Revelations”, described by The New York Times as “modern dance's unquestionably greatest hit.”
For 21 years former Alvin Ailey principal dancer Nasha Thomas has traveled to Atlanta with a singular mission. In an age when many public schools have gutted or cut back on their arts programs, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Thomas - in a long and important collaboration with the city - haven shown the value of art in individual lives. The founder of the renowned New York City-based Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey, who died in 1989, was an advocate for the importance of arts education and believed that bringing the arts to underprivileged communities and to public schools was vital.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is known the world over for its vibrant company of dancers dedicated to preserving the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience. Founder Alvin Ailey was a pioneer of programs promoting arts in education, particularly those benefiting underserved communities. For more than 30 years, a nationwide summer program has also been offering inner city children the chance to enrich their lives through dance. We hear from the national director of AileyCamp, Nasha Thomas, and one of this year’s campers, Jada-Ann Parker, on what this program means to all those who participate.
Few fans of football and modern dance will ever get to see the two worlds collide on stage. Tuesday afternoon at Henderson-Hopkins Partnership School, about 55 students from Henderson-Hopkins Partnership School and Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women witnessed just that as Ravens defensive tackle Brandon Williams cut the rug with Courtney Celeste Spears, a Baltimore native and a dancer with the acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
WNBC Anchor Jummy Olabanji goes behind the scenes at AileyCamp New York for an inside look on how the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues to give back to the community.
THE BRONX - The prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's AileyCamp is celebrating its 30th anniversary. About 1,000 kids citywide are participating in the weekslong, free summer program to learn the art of different types of dance, including ballet, modern, jazz and West African. The kids will get to show off what they learned with a performance next month at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture. This year marks 60 years since the dance company was founded. AileyCamp was the last foundation created by Ailey before his death in 1989. Organizers say the camp is made possible by funding through Children’s Aid.
Tamara Best has long loved Alvin Ailey's dance company- and so she leapt at the opportunity to learn on of its seminal pieces on a sunny evening at New York's Lincoln Center.
What will you do in this decade? These phenomenal women are at #theperfectage to level the playing fields for everyone with experience, wisdom and heart - watch them work. The Dancing Director, Nasha Thomas, 55, former ballet dancer and National Director of AileyCamp, an Alvin Ailey summer camp based in dance for underserved youth.
In my head, I am a lovely dancer: graceful, elegant, deeply attuned to the music. My feet, however, tend to disagree. I was reminded of this tragic reality during a recent workshop with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The company is back in town celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first performance in Boston, and a key part of that celebration was to offer two community workshops last month. The opportunity was irresistible: Join scores of other people, some trained dancers and some not, to learn some of the movements from the Ailey company’s most famous piece, “Revelations.”
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.