All eyes turned to Nasha Thomas as she stepped into the dance rehearsal. The room fell quiet. With a few words, the AileyCamp national director commanded the attention of dozens of students as she shared feedback with campers preparing for an upcoming performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in early August.
All eyes turned to Nasha Thomas as she stepped into the dance rehearsal. The room fell quiet. With a few words, the AileyCamp national director commanded the attention of dozens of students as she shared feedback with campers preparing for an upcoming performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in early August. Thomas continued making her rounds, observing ballet, modern, West African dance and a percussion class, offering thoughtful adjustments along the way. “Stagger your positions,” she told one group. “Practice once without music. Get used to dancing without your glasses. Don’t rely on seeing every step. Tuck in loose strings. Remove rubber bands from your wrists. Be ready before the music begins.” Individually, the corrections were small. Collectively, they revealed something larger: Excellence is built through dozens of little habits.
I am standing on the side of the dance studio, debating whether to leave. Having recently returned to ballet classes after a two-decade hiatus, I feel defeated by the instructed footwork. It doesn’t help that the “Balletcore” class I am taking is 21+, meaning that I am auntie age in the eyes of many of my fellow dancers. Our instructor, dancer and choreographer Angela Trimbur, is introducing choreography that feels especially complex. But then she says just the thing to get me back onto the floor: Part of her intention is to fight off dementia. When I ask her about it later, she tells me, “Whether someone remembers every step is honestly less important to me than the fact that they're building new neuron pathways and challenging familiar patterns to shift gears.” Trimbur continues, “When we’re learning choreography, we’re asking the brain to do so many things at once: remember sequences, process music, coordinate movement, adapt when we make mistakes, and stay present with other people in the room. It’s a perfect puzzle for keeping the mind fresh.”
Research suggests engaging with the arts can benefit young people by fostering self-expression and building community — and a partnership between AileyCamp Atlanta and Utopian Academy for the Arts is showing similar results in Georgia. “ It’s the confidence, it’s the transformation, it’s the artistic development of young people that have keen interests within the arts,” said Dr. Artesius Miller, founder and CEO of Utopian Academy for the Arts, the first state-chartered, tuition-free, fine arts school in Clayton County. “And then this is within a short timeframe too, that we have to recognize the impact of this camp because it’s truly remarkable to witness.” Since 2007, AileyCamp has offered a free six-week summer day camp teaching everything from dance techniques to percussion instruments and other creative arts.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is known in Atlanta for its wonderful performances that sell out every February. What some don’t know is that the Ailey dance company doesn’t leave in February. They recruit dancers for the six-week Ailey Dance Camp. Students from Atlanta Public Schools, ages 11-14, are invited to participate. The Ailey Dance Camp operates in 20 cities across the country, providing life skills, including critical thinking, conflict resolution, and more. While some participants may go on to have careers in dance, most will use the poise and discipline they learn throughout their entire lives and careers.
Christopher Taylor still carries Newark with him every time he steps onto a stage. He remembers summers filled with booming house music, crowded park festivals and long days spent dancing in the middle of circles of cheering adults. “My grandmother was a house head,” he said, naming DJs and artists like Black Coffee and Kenny Bobien he heard at home. “I grew up with house music blasting all day.”
Roxbury seniors stepped and swayed with a "teaching artist" from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in a class at Central Boston Elder Services on Wednesday afternoon. Boston's Vivo Performing Arts presented "AileyDance for Active Aging" workshop, so residents could learn movements inspired by Ailey's choreography, the arts organization said in a statement.
ATLANTA, Ga. - It may be a new era for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, but audiences can expect the same powerful and passionate storytelling as the company returns to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre this week. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Fox Theatre stage starting tonight and continuing through Sunday, February 15th for six public performances, including the world premieres of two works and the company premiere of another. It’s a long-running tradition for the groundbreaking company — founded by Ailey in New York in 1958 — to perform in Atlanta during the month of February; while last year’s engagement paid tribute to late artistic director Judith Jamison, this year’s tour marks an exciting new beginning as the first under new artistic director Alicia Graf Mack. Graf Mack was a star Ailey performer from 2005 and 2014, and was brought into the company by Jamison.
Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs (AAIE) has partnered with 92NY’s Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) to launch Finding Grace, a new K–12 dance residency and curriculum inspired by Ronald K. Brown’s celebrated work Grace. Led by Ailey teaching artists, the program fosters social-emotional learning while inviting students to study Brown’s movement style, create movement, and develop cultural literacy.
In 1989, renowned dancer Alvin Ailey launched AileyCamp to transform middle school students by building their confidence and introducing them to a variety of dance techniques. Now, AileyCamp is a six-week intensive dance program in 10 cities across the country, including in New York City.