Participants at 2011 Alvin Ailey camp have fun with an exercise at the Berkeley Marina, where sailing was also on the agenda. Photo: Tracey Taylor
Like characters in an ancient Roman frieze, eight young boys assume motionless poses, then spring to pumping, rolling, spinning life in front of the Zellerbach Playhouse on the University of California, Berkeley, campus.
It’s a rehearsal, but in light of the fierce pride and near-divine determination in their expression — and exploding from their agile bodies — it impresses as so much more. They are AileyCamp dancers, they are men-to-be, they are special.
AileyCamp is a national program based on the principles of Alvin Ailey, an African American son of a single parent who made his way to the pinnacle of the dance world as a performer, choreographer and founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Along the way, he developed an ambitious philosophy: circumstances do not define the human spirit, and children are often the best place to look in order to learn life lessons. Expanding on his ideas, and using the Horton technique — the modern dance methodology behind the fearless, muscular physicality of the Ailey style — he focused AileyCamp on communication.(...)
Read the rest of Berkeley Alvin Ailey camp teaches more than dance (702 words)
By Lou Fancher. |
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Post tags: AileyCamp, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cal Performances, UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, Zellerbach Playhouse