AileyCamp for inner city teens
NEW YORK - This summer over 80 inner-city teens participated in AileyCamp, an innovative program focused on dance, creative expression and personal development. Jointly produced by Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc., and the Children's Aid Society, AileyCamp is a six-week program that provides a safe environment for young people to develop invaluable life skills before entering the challenging years of high school. Through a series of workshops, field trips and dance training, educators and teaching artists nurture creativity, self-esteem and foster the value of commitment and self-discipline. This year, the AXA Foundation continued its longstanding support of this program by once again sponsoring AileyCamp in New York City.
AileyCamp's daily curriculum included disciplined dance classes, ranging from ballet to modern, jazz, tap and West African; creative writing workshops; and personal development sessions that explore peer pressure, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, nutrition, sexual responsibility and interpersonal relationships.
In addition, there were field trips to recreational facilities and cultural institutions, including a trip to the Ailey studios to observe a rehearsal of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. This year, in preparation for the final AileyCamp performance, "Techniques of Performance" were added to the set of courses. The class taught performance etiquette, theater lighting, application of stage make-up as well as dance history. AileyCamp boasts a large professional faculty with some of the most skilled dance instructors and youth educators in the nation.
Originated by Mr. Ailey and Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey in 1989, AileyCamp has been tremendously successful in offering young people a profoundly personal development experience. Inspired and influenced by this comprehensive summer program (now in its tenth year), AileyCampers have gone on to explore their creative and leadership potential. Several students have successfully auditioned and pursued training at The Ailey School and The Juilliard School, among others. Each year three AileyCampers are awarded scholarships to the Junior Division program at The Ailey School.
In New York City, AileyCamp has reached out to children of Washington Heights, Central Harlem, East Harlem and other ethnically diverse communities. Campers do not have to be dancers or artistically inclined to participate and fees are determined based on family income.
Alongside the New York City program there are AileyCamps in Kansas City, KA; Kansas City, MO; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA and Bridgeport, CT. Next year AileyCamps will be launched in Berkeley, CA and Washington, D.C.