Community and culture

AileyCamp

AileyCamp, the nationally acclaimed youth program, conceived by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and administrated by Cal Performances, teaches dance and life lessons to Berkeley/Oakland middle school students. Follow three 2005 Ailey campers from beginning impressions through the grand finale performance.

6.2007

Combining ballet, jazz, modern, and African dance instruction with personal development and creative communication classes and field trips for middle school students, ages 11-14, from the Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and Albany Unified School districts, AileyCamp is the nationally acclaimed 6-week youth program conceived by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and locally administrated by Cal Performances. AileyCamp is not a training ground for professional dancers but, instead, uses dance as a vehicle for developing self-esteem, self-discipline, creative expression and critical thinking skills among underserved 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.

Following recruitment presentations in schools, individual applicants are interviewed by AileyCamp staffers and volunteer community leaders. All campers receive full tuition scholarships, breakfast and lunch, camp uniforms and dance clothing, and in many cases, transportation to and from their neighborhoods. The camp is supplemented with weekly educational and recreational field trips. AileyCamp targets students with academic, social and domestic challenges—criteria that often determine a child's risk of dropping out of school—but also welcomes students who have little opportunity to develop their artistic interests. An important aspect of the program's success is in providing positive adult and peer role models for underserved youths. At the end of camp, students leave with valuable life skills and a sense of accomplishment before they enter the challenging high school years.

The Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp at Cal Performances is the first West Coast site of the highly respected program, which has operated successfully in New York, the Kansas Cities (Missouri & Kansas), Boston, Chicago and Bridgeport, Connecticut in previous years. Founded by Alvin Ailey and the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey in 1989, the AileyCamp curriculum includes daily technique classes in ballet, Horton-based modern dance, jazz, and West African dance. Classes in techniques of performance and creative communications deepen the students' awareness of their potential for self-expression; and personal development classes provide counseling in nutrition, conflict resolution, drug abuse prevention, decision-making and goalsetting.

2006 Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp is supported by Berkeley Community Fund, California Savings Bank, Citigroup Foundation, Stephanie Clark, Francis and Ruth Cushing, East Bay Community Foundation, The Robert J. and Helen H. Glaser Family Foundation, Beth Hurwich, Tobey Roland, Carol and Duff Kurland, Ruth MacNaughton, Precious Cargo, The San Francisco Foundation, Michelle Shiota, Patty and Lawrence Siskind, Valerie Stewart and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.