AileyCamp is presented as a partnership between Atlanta Ballet and the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and provides 100 local middle schoolers (ages 11 to 14) from underserved communities the chance to attend a six-week summer camp for free.
NYC Dance Week is in full swing, and Ailey Extension is celebrating by offering dozens of free classes for new students. Instructor Karen Arceneaux says potential students shouldn't be intimidated by the name Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "We have real classes for real people, so if you're a beginner, if you've never taken a class before, you can come in. It's a welcoming environment. It's inclusive, and at the end of class, you feel like a dancer,' Arceneaux said.
On Thursday, June 13, the centerpiece of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Lincoln Center engagement will be The Ailey Spirit gala, which launches the 50th anniversary celebration of The Ailey School. The evening’s honorary chair isaward-winningactressLorraine Toussaint, star in NBC’s “The Village,” Netflix’s “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,” AMC’s “Into the Badlands,” and the recently released supernatural thriller “Fast Color” and also the proud parent of a student at The Ailey School.
When Judith Jamison joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965, there were 10 dancers in the company. Today, six decades after Ailey and a small group of black dancers gave their inaugural performance at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, his legacy now includes more than 250 original ballets, 30 dancers, a robust educational and training program, and sold-out performances all across the globe.
Running five blocks in five minutes, studying flashcards at the ballet barre or learning the Horton fortifications might sound all too familiar for students in the Fordham/Ailey B.F.A. program. The graduating class of 2019 spent eight semesters in a unique program that blends both academic rigor and artistic development as a dancer.
Samantha Figgins is as deliberate and graceful as the dancers by her side. But until recently her experience has been different from theirs. Last fall, she was fitted for the first time with hearing aids.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Ravens tackle Brandon Williams stepped off the football field and onto the stage to show off his dance moves this week with Alvin Ailey's Courtney Celeste Spears at Henderson-Hopkins Elementary School.
Few fans of football and modern dance will ever get to see the two worlds collide on stage. Tuesday afternoon at Henderson-Hopkins Partnership School, about 55 students from Henderson-Hopkins Partnership School and Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women witnessed just that as Ravens defensive tackle Brandon Williams cut the rug with Courtney Celeste Spears, a Baltimore native and a dancer with the acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
To inspire a group of young locals through dance and football, Alvin Ailey dancer Courtney Celeste Spears and Baltimore Raven’s player Brandon Williams will join forces for a panel discussion today sponsored by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust.
Samantha Figgins is currently in her fifth season with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (and was a Dance Spirit cover girl back in 2013!). But what many people don't know is that the gorgeous dancer suffers from single-sided deafness. As a baby, Figgins contracted spinal meningitis, which caused her to lose all hearing in her right ear. She never gave up on her dance dreams, though, and fought her way through uncomfortable situations, never missing an opportunity to learn and grow. Now, after getting her first pair of hearing aids, she opens up about her path to success. —(As told to Courtney Celeste Spears)