For Elijah Lancaster, the love of dance took root at age six. The seed was seeing Desmond Richardson perform in New York City with Complexions Contemporary Ballet. “He was on stage in a solo, in a spotlight with a chair, and the moment his leg went up, I saw the muscles,” Lancaster, now a company member at Dallas Black Dance Theatre, recounts in a recent episode of “Rising Artist.”
(NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — At least 600 area students were in the audience at TPAC to watch a Performance by the Ailey II Dance Troupe, a dance company formed by Alvin Ailey in the mid-70s. Most of these students were invited because they take dance or theatre classes at school. The dancers performed for an hour, and then the director and artists answered questions from students about their training and the challenges of their profession.
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage month, Ailey Extension instructor, Katherine Jimenez teaches Sherri Shepherd a high energy NY Style Mambo dance workout.
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage month, Ailey Extension instructor, Katherine Jimenez teaches Sherri Shepherd a high energy NY Style Mambo dance workout.
While attending The Chicago High School for the Arts, Travon M. Williams hoped to eventually join Ailey II, which is billed as The Next Generation of Dance. “When I was in high school, we wrote letters and we couldn’t open them until graduation. In my freshman letter I wrote, ‘I hope you get in to Juilliard or Ailey II.’ Actually I got wait-listed for Juilliard and I’m in Ailey II,” said Williams, who is in his second season with Ailey II.
International master teacher Ana Marie Forsythe has devoted nearly 50 years of her life documenting the Lester Horton technique in an effort to preserve it. “Dance has given me gifts that I never realized were possible when I took my first plié,” she says. “I enjoy sharing my breadth of knowledge of the Lester Horton technique because it has been a real gift to me, and I believe we should share our gifts with others.”
HELL’S KITCHEN, Manhattan (PIX11) — A fun, New York-style mambo class represents the best of National Dance Day and Hispanic Heritage Month. At the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Manhattan Saturday, Katharine Jimenez led a packed studio of enthusiastic mambo dancers. Jimenez, an Ailey extension director, began taking lessons at the theater 20 years ago when she was just 6 years old. And now she’s the leader of this New York-style mambo.
Odds are, your dance students’ Instagram feeds are filled with images of professionals showing off their 180- degree penchés or demonstrating their highest extensions. It’s enough for a student to come to equate the length of their lines with the quality of their dancing—after all, dancers so often hear “long lines” as something to strive for.
Dedicated to D.C. : A few months after its performance at the Kennedy Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater held its Washington Gala at Wolf Trap and raised nearly $850,000 to benefit local programs and scholarships for area students to attend The Ailey School in New York City. Guests enjoyed drinks and dinner in heavenly spring weather. Artistic Director Robert Battle and Board Member/Event Chairwoman Sela Collins spoke to an audience of more than 200.
Newark is one of nine cities where AileyCamp is being held. Instead of going swimming or playing sports at a typical summer camp, some kids in Newark are spending their weeks out of school a little differently. They’re learning various forms of dance and creative skills at AileyCamp, a six-week program that was started by the legendary dancer Alvin Ailey just before his passing in 1989.