Janasia Johnson, 14, visited the White House and met first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday on behalf of AileyCamp Miami, a program that works with local middle schoolers and which received a national award for its work.
A Miami teen who learned to cope with her mother's incarceration through a local arts program will meet first lady Michelle Obama. Janasia Johnson, 14, who was inspired by the Adrienne Arsht Center's AileyCamp Miami, will accept an award for the program at the White House on Tuesday.
Thursday, Aug. 11, more than 100 youngsters will take the stage at Hostos Center for Arts & Culture for a festive performance that caps their six-week summer at CAS/AileyCamp New York. They will showcase skills nurtured by the innovative program that combines dance and classes in creative communication and personal development to give kids ages 11 to 14 tools that help them reach their full potential by encouraging self-awareness, self-esteem and discipline.
Attracting boys to dance has never been easy. It doesn't matter that football players like Hall of Famer Lynn Swann or the New York Jets' Steve McLendon took ballet an it improved their game, or that Lionel Messi looks like a ballet dancer when he shows how to control the soccer ball.
When Chanell Lewis, a 14-year-old from Jeremiah Academy in Miami Gardens, heard about AileyCamp Miami, she signed up to take the dance-intensive course expecting nothing more than just dance. After her fourth week in the program, though, Chanell has not only learned various dances, but she has also taken youth empowerment courses.
You probably danced on your way into work this morning. Every move you made, down to the rhythm of your steps, had a potential story to tell.
Dr. Contessa S. Bryant, principal of Lenora B. Smith Elementary, has always believed in the importance of integrating art into the education of her students. Throughout the school year, students are taken to see theater performances and musical presentations, but last week, it was their turn to make the moves and dance.
Dancers showed off their skills during their end-of-camp performance in the Bronx. After six weeks of practicing, more than 100 campers from the Alvin Ailey Dance Camp performed at the Hostos Community Theater.
Dozens of local middle-schoolers took center stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center Saturday as the seventh AileyCamp Miami drew to a rousing close. After six weeks of hard work trying to nail every little step, these young dancers had to battle those butterflies in the stomach, but they conceded the show must go on.
One of the nation's most celebrated dance companies, Alvin Ailey, is running a summer camp in Manhattan. As NY1's Lindsey Christ found out, AileyCamp, as it's called, is about more than dance.