The month of February is dedicated to Black History Month. Colonial students have been hearing fun facts during morning announcements about contributions from individuals such as Harriet Tubman, Jocelyn Elders and  Dr. Carter G. Woodson. To celebrate Black History Month our entire school got to experience a special performance by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or also known as the Ailey School.

Alvin Ailey Dance Theater was founded by Alvin Ailey a dancer and performer who had a vision to mix modern dance with African American culture. During the Alvin Ailey performance at Colonial, students were called up to volunteer to dance with the performers.

The first thing the students practiced was a call and response. The volunteers would shout “Ago!” and then the kids would shout back “Amea!”  The next activity was repeating a drum beat rhythm. They called up a kindergartener to play the drums and he was really good! After that they taught us the names of the drums that they had brought and where they came from. For the final activity, they told us about Alvin Ailey and how he was an activist and a famous dancer. We learned a quick dance and performed together as a school. 

Colonial students loved the performance and it was a great learning experience!