Alvin Ailey

Here's great news for Howard County's dance fans: Columbia's sweetheart ballerina Alicia Graf Mack has rejoined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. So folks will again be able to see her perform live in some genuine Ailey classics at the Kennedy Center during the coming winter season. Even before she begins a 10-week tour with the world-renowned professional troupe, however, she has agreed to teach a master class with hometown dance students at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland.

Gifted with a mother's second sight, Catherine Johnson knew her daughter Jacqueline Green better than the child knew herself. In 2004, the eighth-grader insisted she had absolutely zero desire to study dance. "Oh, Mom," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why would I want to do that?" Nonetheless, at her mother's prodding and though she had never taken a dance class in her life, she auditioned for the Baltimore School of the Arts. On Tuesday, the 22-year-old Green will return to her hometown for the first time as a member of the main company of Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, one of America's premier modern dance troupes.

Maryland Public Television has two hours of impressive Alvin Ailey material starting at 9 tonight on Channels 22 and 67.The centerpiece of the programming, which will be hosted by Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-7, is a "Great Performances" production, "The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Steps Ahead."The production showcases Ailey's salute to saxophonist Charlie Parker, "For Bird -- With Love." As impressive as the music and movement is, it is the narrative structure, which treats Parker as a hero on the classic hero-quest of mythology, that makes the work seem so large and shimmering.

Here's great news for Howard County's dance fans: Columbia's sweetheart ballerina Alicia Graf Mack has rejoined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. So folks will again be able to see her perform live in some genuine Ailey classics at the Kennedy Center during the coming winter season. Even before she begins a 10-week tour with the world-renowned professional troupe, however, she has agreed to teach a master class with hometown dance students at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has its Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts has the Morris Mechanic Theatre. Even the relatively small Baltimore Opera Company has its modest set of offices on Read Street.But the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland has no such permanent edifice -- nothing passers-by can point to and say, "There! Therein lies the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland.""Maybe that's why we're not considered one of the majors," says Marsha Reeves Jews, director of the foundation.

Last night's rotten weather did little to dampen the spirits of the celebrity-sprinkled audience that cheered the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as it opened a four-night engagement at the Mechanic Theatre.The three works presented by the popular company were prefaced with a ceremony honoring the troupe's artistic director, dance legend Judith Jamison.Opening night's program included a revival, "District Storyville," by Donald McKayle; a world premiere, "Dance at the Gym," by Donald Byrd; and the company's signature work, "Revelations."

The Columbia Festival of the Arts officially opened its 11-day affair last night with a performance from Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater.Opening the program of three dances was "The Stack Up," by Talley Batty. This street smart work for 17 dancers is as pumped-up as fancy foot gear. Mr. Talley's piece is populated with familiar urban characters -- "cool" dudes, street corner goof-offs, loose women and everyday people all in a whirring blend of dance styles. Indeed, each style characterizes the dancer's roles.

Plagued by financial problems, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland, which brought world-class modern dance to Baltimore and introduced thousands of children to dance, has shut down.The foundation's death means the famed New York dance company will no longer perform annually in Baltimore and could end the acclaimed Ailey summer camps for disadvantaged youth at Morgan State and Frostburg State universities."What we found was that the private sector support wasn't available," said Richard Hackney, the foundation's board chairman.

Financial problems are threatening the future of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre's residency program, which has brought world-class ballet to Baltimore and introduced thousands of area students to dance.The foundation that runs the program is laying off two of its four staffers and will not bring the famed New York dance company to the Morris Mechanic Theatre this year, said Richard Hackney, chairman of the group's board.No decisions have been made yet about the future of the residency's educational programs.

Thirty city school children will get a broad introduction to dance as well as a chance to develop their social skills during a two-week Alvin Ailey Mini-Camp that begins today at Morgan State University.The kids, ages 11-13, were selected from 10 city middle schools and Project Raise -- a mentoring program for disadvantaged youth -- and represent a cross-section of backgrounds, according to the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Foundation of Maryland. The foundation is sponsoring the camp as part of the Maryland residency by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

Continuing "Meditations on African Art: Light" -- More than 40 objects from the Baltimore Museum of Art's African art collection, including a Yoruba bead painting by artist Jimoh Buraimoh, a Fante gold staff from Ghana and alabaster vessels from ancient Egypt, will be illuminated through April 1 at the museum, 10 Art Museum Drive. Free. 443-573-1700 or artbma.org for hours. Feb. 4 Black Heritage Art Show -- Displays by artists, jazz and gospel music, poetry readings and more, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St. $5; free for ages younger than 5. 410-521-0660 or blackheritageartshow.

Clarissa Clark, 14, has been dancing since she was 8 years old. She practices six days a week, arriving at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland about 3:30 p.m. and staying until 7 p.m. most nights. Clarissa wants to be a famous dancer like Alicia Graf. "I want to become professional," Clarissa said. "I want people to look at me the way they look at Alicia Graf." So when she found out that Graf, who had trained at the Ballet Royale, would be giving a special class at her old dance school, Clarissa eagerly signed up. "I can't wait," she said, moments before Sunday's class began at Ballet Royale's studio on Red Branch Road in Columbia.

THREE YEARS AGO, DANCE Magazine named Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines one of "25 to Watch." At the time, Sayyed Gaines was a principal dancer with New York's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the magazine praised her "fierce dramatic sense [that] can take you to the lowest abyss or to the heights of ecstasy." These days, audiences are watching Sayyed Gaines on Broadway in The Color Purple. And though the reviews don't single her out, well, that's to be expected. In making her Broadway debut, she sacrificed being an Alvin Ailey star to dance in the chorus of a musical.

Members of Congress are often elected after years serving in state legislatures, major league ballplayers are fostered on farm teams, and, in the competitive world of professional dance, the major companies cull from a second string. Tomorrow and Saturday, Ailey II, one of the best known of the dance feeder companies, will perform in Maryland. Tomorrow night the group dances at a sold-out performance at the Johns Hopkins University. On Saturday dancers will present two performances at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown.

The Amtrak train slid into the station, snorting and coughing to a halt. Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell was waiting in the wintry chill. She slung her bag over her shoulder, stepped off the platform, and began her three-hour, 170-mile morning commute. For 11 years, Fisher-Harrell, 33, has been making the long trek from Baltimore to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater rehearsal studios in New York. The journey represents a remarkable commitment to dance, and to raising her young daughter at the less frenetic pace of Charm City.

Mars exhibit Journey to Mars at the National Geographic Museum in Washington. Its newest exhibit, Mars 2K4, opens today and runs through April 25 in Explorers Hall. The exhibit explores the history of Mars from a cultural and scientific perspective, including a gallery of old and new Mars images and a copy of the famous radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds that caused panic among listeners who believed it to be a legitimate newscast. An interactive simulation of recent Mars missions and a full-scale model of the Mars Rover that is exploring the planet's surface are part of the exhibit.

Jamison Johnson's classmates said it was the 8-year-old's crush on dancer Marilyn Banks that gave him the courage to get up on stage with six members of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre.But Jamison, whose previous close encounter with live dance was attending a concert by rap star Hammer, raised his hand to participate in a dance program yesterday at school because "I thought it would be interesting. . . . They have good techniques, like for stretching your bones."The third-grader at Bedford Elementary in northwest Baltimore County was one of about 400 students who were invited to see members of the internationally acclaimed African-American dance company perform at Milford Mill High School.

A summer dance camp for inner city children and a Baltimore-based program to build non-profit jazz venues in mid-Atlantic states have won $201,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, the federal agency announced today.The grants are part of a new NEA effort to support art projects in culturally isolated communities ranging from inner city neighborhoods to remote rural areas. Grants totaling $6.2 million were awarded.The Maryland State Arts Council applied for the grant to expand the scope and duration of the camp run by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at Morgan State University.

"Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance," by Jennifer Dunning; Addison Wesley. 468 pages. $30"The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company," by Sasha Anawalt. Scribner. 464 pages. $35It seems appropriate that dueling biographies should appear almost simultaneously on dance visionaries Alvin Ailey and Robert Joffrey; the similarities between the two men are great.Both biographies provide insight into the passion these men held for dance and for life. They are also both so meticulously detailed as to be sometimes tedious but they are invaluable to those who love dance.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two Baltimore School for the Arts students won medals yesterday in the NAACP's "Olympics of the Mind" competition.Willia Noel Montague, 18, won the gold medal in dance and was selected to perform at the awards ceremony.For the second year, Warren Wolf Jr., 16, took home a bronze medal. He won in music composition for a jazz piece, "Tom and Jerry." He said he plans to return next year to try for a gold medal.More than 700 local medalists vied for national awards in the ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics)