Ailey Day Returns to Newark 

Returning for its 17th year, Ailey Day will be hosted at Arts High School in Newark on Saturday, May 3, 2025. “Ailey Day is a vibrant immersive arts education celebration,” explained Eyesha Marable, Assistant Vice President of Community Engagement for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).

Produced by NJPAC with several partners, including Dance New Jersey, Camille Rennie’s “Maya” Company of Collaborative Artists, and the Newark Public Library, this year’s Ailey Day is more than a day packed with original, choreographed dance instruction. It will also include a panel discussion, a children’s book reading of Alvin Ailey by Andrea David Linkney, and a culmination performance at NJPAC in the afternoon.

Arts High will open its doors to the community for a full-day dance experience for all ages, from children to senior citizens. “Our youngest is six and our oldest is 96. It’s an intergenerational connection,” Marable commented. 

Ailey Day teaches the rich history of Alvin Ailey, one of the most celebrated choreographers of the 20th century, who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1958. Today, the dance company is the largest in the country. 

Ailey Day will consist of eight dance classes taught throughout the day at Arts High from 9 am to 2 pm on May 3rd, with Marable, a trained professional dancer, as one of the instructors. Other instructors are from the Alvin Ailey Dance Extension in New York City and local Essex County dance instructors. A Q&A panel discussion and children’s book reading round out the first part of the day.    

At 4 pm, in the newly renovated Chambers Plaza at NJPAC, students share the moves they’ve learned in the morning workshops, and invited area dance studios also have an opportunity to showcase what they’ve been working on in their studios. “Ailey Day is for all levels, all ages, and all abilities. Some may call it differently abled, but we even have classes for what we call ‘all able’ – if they are in a wheelchair, autistic, or blind, they all participate in a class.“ Marable added. April is autism awareness month. 

“In this season when we are dealing with erasure, and people are trying to wipe away our history, this is a great way to tell our dance history without sitting people down and immersing them in words. Our body language will speak louder than our words,” Marable stated. 

Part of Ailey Day’s mission is to help foster a community of healing and joy where dance becomes a place of celebration and common language. Arts High School in Newark is 550 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Registration is required to participate in Ailey Day. For more information, visit NJPAC.org/event/ailey-day-2025 or call 888.GO.NJPAC/1.888.466.5722.