Growing up in the suburbs, I participated in no shortage of after school activities—I dabbled in softball, received trophies for kickball, had a few flute lessons in middle school, and even took a karate class or two. What was constant, however, was my thorough enjoyment of dance classes. Talk to almost any Westchester girl at Columbia and I’ll bet she’s taken at least one class (or knows someone who has) at Dance Cavise, a dance school founded by dancer Joe Cavise, who counts a role as Mr. Mistoffelees in the original Broadway cast of “Cats” as one of his many accomplishments.
My shining moment at Dance Cavise—and I remember it vividly—came when I was a six-year-old student in jazz class. While doing our usual warm-up of isolations, my beloved teacher Jamie strolled through the room yelling various corrections. This time, she must have been particularly fired up by the sharpness of my oscillating neck, and when she came around to me, she belted “Go Mollie!” I was, and still am, superb at neck isolations.
My mom, who was a modern dancer for several years, took me to dance performances at a young age. It was always a treat to venture into Manhattan to attend a performance by Alvin Ailey or the Paul Taylor Dance Company. This past summer, my mom and I, ever the dance buddies, were inspired to take hip-hop classes together. We went to a class at the Ailey Extension in the Joan Weill Center for Dance on 55th Street and Ninth Avenue—just a quick shot down the 1 train from Columbia.
A simple peruse of the Alvin Ailey Web site and it is immediately clear that the Ailey Extension was designed to make everyone feel welcome, an idea that stems from Mr. Ailey’s personal belief that dance comes from the people and should thus be readily accessible. Indeed, the Extension’s tag line is “Real Classes for Real People,” and it certainly delivers on this promise, offering a majority of classes on weekends and evenings at a variety of levels—from absolute beginner ballet, to the high energy Zumba, to the less commonly offered Congolese dance—all clearly described on the Web site. Barnard faculty member and West African dancer, musician, and choreographer Maguette Camara also teaches West African dance at the Ailey Extension, which serves as a reminder of how connected Barnard is to the larger world of dance in New York City.
At $16.50, the cost of a single class at the Ailey Extension is on par with many other dance schools in the city, though the facilities are quite possibly the most impressive ones around. Newly renovated, the Joan Weill Center for Dance boasts several floors with spacious, state-of-the-art studios, and the lower level offers a clean locker room and showers. A hub of the company, the Joan Weill Center houses the Ailey Extension, as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II (the company comprised of younger members), and the Ailey School.
So on a particular Saturday this summer, my mom and I enrolled in Basics of Hip-Hop with Jonathan Lee. We entered one of the studios on the first floor, in which two walls have floor-to-ceiling windows so that people can watch from outside—dance is for all to enjoy, after all—and one is completely mirrored, as is common in dance studios.
It quickly became clear that this class was host to people of all technical abilities and ranges of dance experience. If their attire was any indication, some students even seemed to be tourists who had decided to stop in and take a class as part of their city experience. Though the large windows and congregating crowds were intimidating at first, as the group of us let loose and absorbed the choreography, I was proud to share my dance with the onlookers. Perhaps we inspired them to take a class at the Ailey Extension next week, a phenomenon truly perpetuating the shared experience of dance. Mr. Ailey would have been very proud.
Mollie Lobl is a Barnard College junior majoring in anthropology.
West Side Dance Story runs alternate Fridays.
Comments
We're looking for comments that are interesting and substantial. If your comments are excessively self-promotional or obnoxious you will be banned from commenting. Consult the comment FAQ and legal terms.