Running five blocks in five minutes, studying flashcards at the ballet barre or learning the Horton fortifications might sound all too familiar for students in the Fordham/Ailey B.F.A. program. The graduating class of 2019 spent eight semesters in a unique program that blends both academic rigor and artistic development as a dancer.
Miami-raised and Fordham-educated, Ally Love is the in-area host of the Brooklyn Nets, an Adidas global ambassador, a Peloton instructor, an Alvin Ailey-trained dancer, a certified health coach and the founder of Love Squad, a company that empowers young women through panel discussions and group workouts.
When Christopher Wilson, FCLC ’17, found out that he had made the company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, he immediately called his mother, who screamed and dropped the phone. “It took, like, a good two minutes for her to come back to me, so I just sort of sat there, just listening to her, and I was also crying at the same time,” he said.
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.
She started dancing at the age of three and that was only because her mother went to a Target store and picked out a ballet outfit just to see how her toddler would look in it. For Courtney Celeste Spears, it's like she never took off the leotard.
With only two weeks left in The Ailey School's Summer Intensive Program, Gabriel Hyman collided with his partner during a rehearsal for the final performance and suffered a calf-muscle tear. "I was told that a recovery would take at least two weeks," said Hyman, who's currently an Ailey II apprentice and a junior in the Ailey/Fordham University BFA program.
She didn't always think she'd be a dancer. For Buckhead native Samantha Jones, ballet has always just been something she's done and enjoyed for the fun of it.
It's only about 300 miles from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Fordham's Lincoln Center campus. But for Chris Bloom, the distance between Middletown, Virginia (population: 1,265) and Manhattan may as well be more. Much more.
Daphne Lee is a junior in the Ailey/Fordham BFA program and an apprentice with Ailey II.
Once upon a time only the wealthiest elite could afford purple clothing. The dye was extremely rare - it came from a sea snail! You don't have to be an aristocrat to wear the royal shade now. We found rehearsal pieces in periwinkle, puce, plum, lavender, lilac, violet, and orchid.