What a fabulous kick-off for the second year of SOPAC’s dance residency in partnership with Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs.  The collaboration between SOPAC, South Orange Maplewood School District, and Ailey Arts In Education began last year by way of a seminal grant awarded to SOPAC by the Hearst Foundations and other funders.

SOPAC’s Dance Residency offers 16-weeks of classes for SOMSD Middle Schooler students culminating with a Grand Finale Student Performance at SOPAC the evening of Wednesday, February 19, 2020.

Many thanks to Hearst Foundation, Provident Bank, PSE&G and our other generous funders.

With the generous help from several funders and individual donors, SOPAC has partnered with The Ailey Organization’s Arts In Education & Community Program,  AileyDance Kids, to offer a dance residency at the South Orange and Maplewood middle schools.

Each year, the dance residency, which began in the 2018-19 school year, serves both 7th and 8th graders once per week for 16 weeks. Taught by Ailey Arts in Education Teaching Artists, Aaron Thomas and Akira Armstrong. Students take pride in the chance to share what they’ve learned over the course of the dance residency in a culminating performance and celebrate their achievements with their classmates, families and school community.