For the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced performing arts students to adjust to online Zoom classes, putting many of the performances on hold. NBC News’ Isa Gutierrez spoke to teachers and students, including Ailey Extension Director Lisa Johnson-Willingham, about how they have adapted to learning and teaching remotely.
Ailey Extension instructor Janelle Issis shares how she will have you moving and shaking in her BellydanceBURN class, available online through Ailey All Access.
If you are lucky enough to go, the sensations of Dakar – the smell of grilled fish and spiced coffee, the feeling of an impending downpour, the bone-rattling vibrations from a dozen drums – stay with you long after you leave. And while it is impossible to fully experience this West African city without making the trip, there are ways to capture at least a sliver of its magic. Unsurprisingly, considering the integral role of music in Dakar’s daily rhythms, it is hard to spend any time in Dakar without coming across some of the many dance styles of the region. Check out the Alvin Ailey Extension school, which offers regular online West African dance classes, led by the Senegalese dancer Maquette Camara.
Glenn Allen Sims and Linda Celeste Sims did something many couples do: They had a baby. But they're no ordinary couple. As two treasured veterans of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — Glenn for 23 years, and Linda for 24 — they have long persisted in jobs that have pushed them to their physical limits. With the birth of their son, Ellington James Sims, in April 2019, they faced a new challenge.
Yoga instructor with Ailey Extension, Pilin Anice shares some professional yoga tips made easy.
Sandra Bookman sits down with Director of Ailey Extension, Lisa Johnson-Willingham to discuss the Kids and Teens Sunday Dance Series and all classes offered through the Ailey Extension, bringing “real classes for real people.”
Why do you dance? Because you live it? To compete, to perform, to express yourself? In the Afro-Cuban folkloric tradition, dance is so deeply entwined with music, storytelling, and religion that almost everyone dances, and there's almost always a reason to be dancing. "In life, there are so many celebrations to dance about," says Noibis Licea, an NYC-based dancer and choreographer from Bayamo, Cuba, who graduated from the National School of Arts in Havana.
Every so often a great dancer transcends her own brilliance, somehow expanding its outer limit. Last week at City Center, Linda Celeste Sims, a member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 24 years, did just that in a rapturous performance of Ailey's 1971 "Cry," a 16-minute solo dedicated "to all black women everywhere - especially our mothers." This season Ms. Sims, 43, danced the work for the first time as a mother - she gave birth to her first child, Ellington, in May - and something shifted.
In celebration of Pride Month, Ailey Extension’s Vogue instructor Cesar Valentino hosted a special Vogue Workshop and Mini Ball. Voguing is a style of modern dance that has become popular once more thanks to the hit FX TV series "Pose."
When Brenna Crowley gears up for her workout, she slips into four-inch peep-toe stilettos instead of sneakers. "I thought I knew how to wear heels," she says. "Then I tried dancing in them." Since 2017, Ms. Crowley has been strutting an imaginary catwalk and striking a pose at The Ailey Extension's Vogue class.