West African Dance Class Last Night at Alvin Ailey -- Dancing into the Future

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September 21, 2007

West African Dance Class Last Night at Alvin Ailey

Last night I took a beginner West African dance class at Alvin Ailey with Maguette Camara. This was first West African class I've ever taken and it was probably the most fun I've ever had dancing - all though I need to be in a little better shape. From the beginning of the class, the focus was on learning bits and pieces of the routine that we eventually did across the floor in groups of 3 or 4 students. So it was all dancing all the time - perfect. Plus, Maguette along with two other drummers provided live accompaniment for the class - there's really nothing like having live music.

Alvin Ailey

I'm definitely going to continue taking this class, which takes place Mondays and Thursdays at 6:30 PM. Maguette, who is a West African choreographer, musician and teacher, said that he'll continue with the same choreography for the next few weeks. So, I'll have enough time to get the hang of it.

Google map of where I've been taking dance classes in NYC - Alvin Ailey is at 54th and 9th Ave.:

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Dance Bloggers on Dance Classes

Dance bloggers are thinking about dance classes lately:

- DC blogger Maria in "A Time to Dance" asks whether you Can you simultaneously engage in two dance addictions?

- Amanda Abrams in DCDanceBlog takes modern class with Helanius Wilkins at Joy of Motion.

- Tonya Plank of Swan Lake Samba Girl takes Flamenco at 92nd Street Y.

Posted by Doug Fox on September 21, 2007 7:09 AM

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3 Comments

Kelly Mayfield said:

ah... I LOVE West African class. The sense of community, work and FUN all in one class. YAY for you... can't wait to hear more.

Added: September 21, 2007 1:31 PM | Permalink

Maria said:

Doug, it's good to see you blogging more regularly again. I hope your move went well and you're feeling settled in NY. I imagine that the whole dance education scene is much bigger than in DC, though I would find it hard having so much to choose from!

Added: September 22, 2007 6:05 PM | Permalink

Doug Fox said:

Kelly, there is definitely nice sense of community. At end of class, the drummers continue and anybody who wants to can do a short solo. I'll write more.

Maria, I'm actually still moving - it will take awhile. There are definitely more opportunities to take dance classes here and I'm planning to take classes in different styles with different instructors.

But one thing I think is odd is that there are not really that many places where you can take beginning modern - the only places I know of in Manhattan are 92nd Street Y, Alvin Ailey and Dance New Amsterdam (DNA). There could be others that I don't know about.

Added: September 23, 2007 7:21 AM | Permalink

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Since 2005, Doug Fox's blog has covered the intersection of dance and the Internet. A primary focus is to help dancers and dance companies use the Internet and their dance videos for marketing, educational, creative and revenue-generation purposes.

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Dancing into the Future

September 21, 2007