AileyCamp

AileyCamp

ACA Accredited Camp | Day Camp | Specialty Camp

The primary objective of Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey (KCFAA) is to ensure that dance is accessible to all individuals. To accomplish this mission, KCFAA implements AileyCamps-KCFAA’s renowned and inclusive program designed for middle school students. AileyCamps goes beyond dance instruction, offering students the opportunity to develop social-

emotional skills, enhance coping mechanisms, foster relationships, and engage with the community.

These physically demanding camps cater to up to 100 students at each lotion. Each year, AileyCamps revolves around a distinct theme, such as FAITH in 2022. The activities encompass daily dance classes covering ballet, modern, and jazz dance. Additionally, students participate in personal development classes where they discuss relevant topics and enhance conflict resolution and coping skills. The creative expression class encourages forms like spoke word and poetry.

In order to ensure that AileyCamp remains accessible and free for students from particularly low-income backgrounds, we rely on support from foundations, individuals, corporations, and government grants. The Camps For Kids matching grant offers opportunities for individuals to contribute to AileyCamp by making an initial donation or increasing their existing contributions. The funding plays a vital role in the success of AileyCamp!

Campers attend sessions Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., spanning six weeks during summer school. The program covers full tuition costs and provides backpacks, t-shirts, shorts, leotards, school supplies, multiple pairs of dance shoes, breakfast, lunch, and transportation to and from camp at no expense to their families.

Campers are grouped by age into four inclusive groups (C, A, M, and P) and remain with their respective groups throughout the camp duration. Ballet classes prioritize aspects such as posture, carriage, alignment, strength, flexibility, style, and the positioning of arms, legs, and torso. Jazz classes emphasis energetic, syncopated movements, isolations, and the freedom to express oneself through rhythm. In modern dance, campers engage in exploring movement in space, including activities like running, jumping, and utilizing various dynamics and imagery. Particular emphasis is placed on the significance of warm-ups and preventing injuries. Tap dance focuses on foundational steps accompanied by intricate rhythms, instilling discipline, hard work, and commitment in students.

Personal development classes promote the nurturing of positive self-concepts, wise decision-making, and the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits. These classes cover an extensive range of topics from the perspective of middle school-aged individuals, fostering their holistic growth and well-being.

Topics include:

– COVID-19 Impact
– Hygiene, Healthy Habits
– Self-Esteem Building, Self-Respect, Positive Self-Concepts
– Empathy/Bullying
– Coping Skills/Stressors
– Control
– Identifying Emotions/Suicide Prevention/Awareness
– Drug and Alcohol Prevention/Awareness
– Puberty
– Team Building

AlieyCamp begins it’s recruitment process in the spring, making applications available in both English and Spanish at school facilities and on the KCFAA website. Applicants and their parents/guardians participate in individual interviews conducted in person or through platforms like Zoom, ensuring that staff gather relevant information regarding living situations and program commitment. The primary beneficiaries of AileyCamp are children and youth aged 11-14, primarily from particularly low-income backgrounds (100% of Kansas City, MO campers qualify for free and reduced lunches). The camp also serves historically marginalized communities, with 77.3% being African American, 11.4% representing Multiple Races, and 5.7% identifying as Hispanic. Additionally, 85% of the campers are girls.

Camp classroom instructors and group leaders are artists and staff members of diverse backgrounds who have previously been AileyCamp participants themselves, serving as strong role models for the campers. At the end of the program, campers showcase their achievements in a professional theater setting during a free final performance event, open to families and the community. KCFAA collaborates with school districits to host the camps, with one camp taking place in Missouri at the Paseo Academy for Fine and Performing Arts in KCMO, and the other camp in Kansas at Carl Bruce Middle School in Kansas City, KS. These camps provide exceptional dance training opportunities for students who would otherwise not have access to such programs, and they also foster the development of skills that have a lasting impact on the participants’ success in life.

AileyCamp embodies the following principles:
– Growing up strong, healthy, and ready to take on the world
– Appreciation of the cultural and recreational resources in Kansas and Missouri, and making use of them
– Hard work, having fun, developing self-discipline of the body and mind, learning new things about oneself, learning about others, and learning about our world

In order to ensure that AileyCamp remains accessible and free for students from particularly low-income backgrounds, we rely on support from foundations, individuals, corporations, and government grants. The Camps For Kids matching grant offers opportunities for individuals to contribute to AileyCamp by making an initial donation or increasing their existing contributions. The funding plays a vital role in the success of AileyCamp!