Something extraordinary is happening at IS 61. For the third consecutive summer, the New Brighton school is hosting AileyCamp Staten Island, a six-week program that offers 80 underprivileged children, ages 11 to 14, disciplined dance instruction in ballet, modern dance, jazz and tap as well as other perks like meals and field trips -- all free of charge.
Seven students in the Ailey/Fordham bachelor of fine arts program traveled to Mexico this past August for two weeks of performances and immersion in Mexican culture.
Dozens of kids from across Miam-Dade are learning to express themselves through dance this summer taught by one of the nation's best dance companies.
Alvin Ailey used to tell his dancers, "You are all gods and goddesses," and it's just this kind of affirmation that is the organizing principle behind AileyCamp. The six-week summer camp for at-risk middle schoolers was launched by the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey in Kansas City in 1989, and since has spread across the country.
Tyrone Aiken, Executive Director of the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey (KCFAA), presents the Final Performance of the 2009 AileyCamp students.
Sitting in the empty audience of Zellerbach Hall, David McCauley talks about AileyCamp, the educational dance project that he is the charter director of for Cal Performances.
The job market may be grim for most college graduates, but for recent graduates of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater/Fordham University BFA program, the future could not be brighter.
There's no shortage of things for Americans to gripe about these days: the crummy job market, swine flu, another season of Wife Swap. But for every headache, there are a dozen reasons why there's no place on earth we'd rather be.
There's not shortage of things for Americans to gripe about these days: the crummy job market, swine flu, another season of Wife Swap.
On Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater unleashed some real choreography.