Arts and Culture
Kids Dance Their Hearts Out at Ailey Camp
Courtesy of UC Berkeley News
Sixty-one underserved middle-school students from schools in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and Albany danced their hearts out Thursday, July 30, in the finale of Cal Performances’ 14th annual Berkeley/Oakland Ailey Camp at UC Berkeley.
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The youth performed in “One Person at a Time, “ an original production by David McCauley, the director of the local Ailey Camp and a Cal Performances teaching artist. McCauley said the program title came in answer the question “How do we build community?”
The T performance showcased summertime training of 11 boys and 50 girls in ballet, jazz, modern and West African dance, before a packed audience at Zellerbach Auditorium.
The camp is designed not to train professional dancers but to promote self-esteem, self-discipline, creativity and critical thinking, relying heavily on positive peer and adult role models.
The Berkeley/Oakland Ailey Camp, one of 10 such programs held each summer across the country, is the only one that is offered on the West Coast and on a university campus..
