Alvin Ailey

The Alvin Ailey summer dance camp for disadvantaged inner-city kids here will be able to triple its number of campers thanks to a $66,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, part of a major new initiative to aid "artistically under-served communities."The NEA grant, funneled through the Maryland State Arts Council, means the camp will be able to serve between 80 and 100 at-risk middle school-aged kids each of the next two summers. Last summer, when the program was held for the first time, only 30 kids were able to attend, said Ann McIntosh, executive director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Foundation of Maryland.

When the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble performed and gave workshops last weekend at the Howard County Center for the Arts, it was yet another tangible sign of the residency agreement between the New York-based modern dance organization and the state of Maryland.In Howard County alone, for instance, there is even more Ailey activity on the way. The main company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, will perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion June 27 as part of the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

Beware, watching the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform can give you a high. The company's stirring performances Thursday of two Baltimore premieres and the traditional Ailey favorite, "Revelations," virtually up-lifted the Mechanic Theatre audience to a standing ovation.The opening-night performance overflowed with outstanding virtuosity and craftsmanship that was coupled with the company's inherent message that dance is good for the soul.Garth Fagan's "Jukebox for Alvin" opened the program of three dances.

Performance dates at the Mechanic Theater for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre were announced yesterday along with schedule changes in the theater's subscription series.The Ailey troupe, which begins a residency program here next month, will perform Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. For group ticket information call 625-4230; others should call 625-1400."Grand Hotel, The Musical," originally scheduled for Feb. 26-March 24, will run from Feb. 19-March 17. "Ziegfeld, A Night at the Follies," has been changed from March 26-April 21 to April 2-28.

Tickets to three mid-February Baltimore performances by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater go on sale Sunday, but a four-week residency here by the acclaimed company, originally scheduled to begin this month, has been delayed until April, company officials said yesterday.The performances at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre Feb. 14, 15 and 16 -- which will kick off the company's 1991 North American tour -- were conceived as the culmination of a monthlong residency that was to have begun next week.

How many times can we hear the music of "Porgy and Bess"? Luckily, many, as the opera is ubiquitous in this year of George Gershwin's centennial.Dallas Black Dance Theater is bringing a ballet version of Catfish Row to the Kennedy Center this weekend, featuring a legendary performance of the music.Hope Clarke, who choreographed the Opera America/Houston Grand Opera co-production of "Porgy" that toured the country in 1987, created this dance interpretation. The score is the jazz recording made by Miles Davis in 1958, with additional music by pops conductor Richard Hyman.

The association between Baltimore and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater should generously reward both. For Baltimore it means a world renowned dance company will call Baltimore home for a month and, theater performances aside, spread its talent in visits, workshops and master classes to a variety of institutions to inspire and instruct the young dancers of Maryland. The Ailey team's farm club will tour the state.The company created by the late Alvin Ailey and now directed by his protege, Judith Jamison, will kick off its American spring tour and also its Baltimore association tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at the Mechanic Theater.

THE ALVIN AILEY American Dance Theater performed before a sellout crowd at the Mechanic Theater last night in what appeared to be the perfect kickoff to a three-year residency in Maryland.After an enthusiastic audience gave the dancers a five-minute standing ovation, nearly 500 of the company's staunchest supporters, who had paid from $100 to $250 a ticket for the evening, retired to the Omni Hotel for some dining, dancing and all-around celebrating.The Valentine's Day party marked the beginning of a fund-raising campaign by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland, the local group that hopes to raise $2.5 million to support the company's many workshops and performances in the state during the next three years.

The Baltimore School for the Arts is a high school, but the level of performance is as good as -- and often better than -- most of the area's professional companies. Dance company scouts regularly appear at the school to check on the progress of the next generation.Those scouts had a wonderful opportunity to see the school's students last weekend at the annual spring concert, which featured performances of works by Lisa deRibere, former New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre dancer; John Clifford, artistic director of the Los Angeles Ballet; noted New York choreographer Gus Solomons Jr.; and BSA faculty member Stephanie Powell.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, flourishing in its 40th anniversary year under the stewardship of Judith Jamison, plays its annual engagement at the Kennedy Center next week. This has been going on since the Ailey dancers opened the Kennedy Center as part of the ensemble for Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" in 1975. As always, the company has brought a full slate of new works and great vintage pieces. You can see the immortal "Revelations," Ailey's tribute to black spirituals, on five of the seven programs; or George Faison's homage to Otis Redding, "Suite Otis," on three.