Since the 2008 Dance St. Louis season was announced, many have been anticipating the return of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to the Fox Theatre on April 11-12.
Now students from St. Louis Public Schools, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Jackie Joyner Kersee Center and UMSL have been given a golden opportunity to learn first-hand about Ailey and Revelations – his most celebrated work – through a residency program featuring members of the company.
“They are relating it to other academic areas and to their lives,” said Janet Brown, director of operations and education for Dance St. Louis.
“And it’s a bonus that Alvin Ailey is an African-American company and their dances draw on African-American experiences.”
However, the mostly white, female students in Mr. Caston’s class at McKinley Classical Jr. Academy Middle school found no difficulty in relating to Revelations. The program encourages participants to search within for experiences to inspire them. Caston said the students are learning about “blood memories, long-lasting memories and impressions of things that are deeply personal.”
Led by artist Theara J. Ward, students were asked to write down a blood memory and work collaboratively to create choreography.
“The team becomes the choreographers,” Ward told the students. “The team decides the direction it will go, how it goes and the energy that it has.”
The result were surprisingly fluid and unified pieces that interpret everything from the death of a dog to moving to a new neighborhood.
Ward said the Revelations Curriculum also includes language arts, history and social studies – “it’s dance, but you connect all of those things to make the curriculum happen,” she said.
On the other side of town at Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, the demographic makeup could not have been more different. Students of Ms. Alicia “Sunshine” Williams’ class were all black, a variety of ages and of mixed gender.
Students danced several segments of Revelations from memory, with fervor and dedication – even mouthing and singing the words.
“This is a special opportunity,” Ward told the children. “Not very many people in the world are given this gift.”
Ward allowed students to use what they had learned in call and response by way of a contemporary dance battle.
“I saw such promise in them, and I was excited about the group dynamics and a lot of potential,” Ward said.
She expressed the desire to use the Revelations piece as a tool to show the kids that they can accomplish anything. According to 8-year-old Kennedy Harmon, a student at Dewey International Studies Elementary School, Ward exceeded her goal.
“I’ve learned that when you dance, it’s part of your own creativity,” Harmon said. “I learned that even though you are black, you can still dance and do what you would like to do.”
Williams was impressed and inspired as the three-week residency drew to a close. She said it taught the kids “how expressive we are as a people and how art forms require education.”
Older students were also allowed to learn technique from Ailey’s company through master classes at UMSL taught by Darius Williams (no relation to Alicia Williams).
“Alvin Ailey used to say, ‘Dance came from the people and should be given back to the people,’” Williams said.
Williams himself received the gift of dance through Ailey’s outreach programs, which ultimately led to a 20-year career in the art form.
“Ailey’s vision was to have people share their cultural experiences through dance and learn about their cultural backgrounds through literacy,” Williams said.
“Hopefully, in the end they will have learned how to find their voice – not only artistically and creatively, but academically.”
“A lot of our kids in the black community don’t get a chance to experience something like that because it costs a lot of money,” Alicia Williams said. “Even if they don’t understand now, they definitely will later on – it will become one of their blood memories.”
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will return the Fox Theatre at 8 p.m. April 11-12. Dance St. Louis just announced an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL — ONE WEEK ONLY! Save 20 percent on certain tickets. Offer only good when you redeem it through the Dance St. Louis Box Office by Monday, March 17. Call (314) 534-6622.
In other dance news, Madco will be holding audition April 13 at Touhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL. Doors at 10:30 a.m., auditions begin at 11 a.m. Call 314-341-5407 or visit www.madcodance.com.