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.
While a New York native born and bred, Joan Peters moves Caribbean almost everyday and has done so, amazingly, since the age of five. It all started when her great-aunt, who loved to read about Katherine Dunham (the legendary dancer, anthropologist, writer and activist who famously brought dances of the Caribbean to stage prominence) sought out the pioneer’s dance classes for her young niece.
For some New Yorkers, it is a dream to be able to walk to work. Some dance instructors for the Ailey Extension in Hell's Kitchen get to live the reality.
Conan O'Brien's Harlem odyssey continued Tuesday night with a visit to the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, where the lanky late-night host attempted to learn modern dance over the course of one lesson. Under the tutelage of co-director Tracy Inman, O'Brien morphs from a clumsy, uncoordinated and rigid amateur into…essentially the same thing.
One way students can explore dance's past is by learning historical repertory. Ailey/Fordham BFA students take Black Traditions in American Dance and World Dance History, which are often coordinated with repertory classes. "The movement shows you a different side of what you're learning in the classroom," says Marie Paspe, a recent graduate of the program, who learned Blues Suite and Revelations from Ailey II artistic director emerita Sylvia Waters.
Dancers use strength and agility to make midair splits and elaborate lifts look effortless. Take it from these pros, who've mastered everything from ballet to break dancing, then try our flexibility workout to feel long and limber.
It’s Monday night, and the studio at Alvin Ailey in Hell’s Kitchen is bumping. A Missy Elliott song blares from the speakers as 30 hip-hop enthusiasts — ranging from 20-somethings to unassuming moms — high-step, glide and crisscross their arms. But the most enthusiastic booty-shakers are Joseph Laino and George Junco, two middle-aged psychotherapists having the time of their lives.
Since 2005, home for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation has been a sleek, glass-enclosed building on the northwest corner of West 55th Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan known as the Joan Weill Center for Dance.
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater already has deep roots in Atlanta. It has been touring through the city for more than 40 years and hosts a summer camp for underserved youth through the Atlanta Ballet. But Ailey is about to become even more ingrained in Atlanta’s art community through an initiative called Destination Dance.
The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation is raising the roof: It held a ceremonial "roof-breaking" performance on Tuesday to celebrate the beginning of a $25 million construction project that will add three more stories of studios, classrooms and offices to its Manhattan home.