Conan O'Brien's Harlem odyssey continued Tuesday night with a visit to the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, where the lanky late-night host attempted to learn modern dance over the course of one lesson. Under the tutelage of co-director Tracy Inman, O'Brien morphs from a clumsy, uncoordinated and rigid amateur into…essentially the same thing.
One way students can explore dance's past is by learning historical repertory. Ailey/Fordham BFA students take Black Traditions in American Dance and World Dance History, which are often coordinated with repertory classes. "The movement shows you a different side of what you're learning in the classroom," says Marie Paspe, a recent graduate of the program, who learned Blues Suite and Revelations from Ailey II artistic director emerita Sylvia Waters.
Dancers use strength and agility to make midair splits and elaborate lifts look effortless. Take it from these pros, who've mastered everything from ballet to break dancing, then try our flexibility workout to feel long and limber.
It’s Monday night, and the studio at Alvin Ailey in Hell’s Kitchen is bumping. A Missy Elliott song blares from the speakers as 30 hip-hop enthusiasts — ranging from 20-somethings to unassuming moms — high-step, glide and crisscross their arms. But the most enthusiastic booty-shakers are Joseph Laino and George Junco, two middle-aged psychotherapists having the time of their lives.
Since 2005, home for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation has been a sleek, glass-enclosed building on the northwest corner of West 55th Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan known as the Joan Weill Center for Dance.
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater already has deep roots in Atlanta. It has been touring through the city for more than 40 years and hosts a summer camp for underserved youth through the Atlanta Ballet. But Ailey is about to become even more ingrained in Atlanta’s art community through an initiative called Destination Dance.
The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation is raising the roof: It held a ceremonial "roof-breaking" performance on Tuesday to celebrate the beginning of a $25 million construction project that will add three more stories of studios, classrooms and offices to its Manhattan home.
Work begins this week on a $25 million expansion to the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation's home in Midtown West. Ailey company dancers and students marked the occasion with a performance that included excerpts from the choreographer's signature work, "Revelations."
When Alvin Ailey founded his modern dance company in 1958, with the idea of reflecting the African American experience on stage, he could never had imagined that it would become one of his country's pre-eminent cultural exports. And it is international tours, such as the one that was launched in London on Tuesday, that have helped to set the seal on the troupe's amazing success.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are back in the UK for the first time in six years, including two shows at the Royal Concert Hall. Kelly Apter speaks to dancer Linda Celeste Sims.