Golden State Today

The warm, yet demanding, instructors of Cal Performances' Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp provided Camilo Eifler with an early foundation in dance, which later contributed to his success as a professional athlete.

As a sophomore at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School in 2013, Eifler decided to try out for the football team despite having no prior experience with the sport. By the end of his senior year, he had received 16 offers for college football scholarships and now plays for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

Eifler's mother, UC Berkeley Professor Rachel Morello-Frosch, attributed his preparedness for football to his dance training at Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp, which began when he was 11 years old. "When you watch football, it looks like chaos," said Morello-Frosch. "But there’s actually a lot of deep details happening — about body movement, eye movement, positioning. I think there are a lot of parallels to be made with how you implement a piece of choreography with how professional athletes implement a play."

Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp is a six-week full scholarship dance program for youth aged 11 to 14. It includes classes in ballet, jazz, modern and West African dance as well as creative communication and personal development. The camp culminates in a final performance for the community.

Morello-Frosch noted that the intensive dance training and daily practice in peer-to-peer communication provided by experienced instructors gave Eifler not only a strong foundation as a dancer but also enhanced his self-confidence before entering middle school.

"These kids are dancing all day," she said. "They’re working on their bodies, their brains, their psyches, their emotions. They’re building community. They’re learning about accountability."

Founded in 2002 and one of ten AileyCamps nationwide (and one of two held on college campuses), Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp grew from Cal Performances’ long-standing relationship with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

Led by Director Patricia West and Associate Director Spencer Pulu (SPULU), Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp relies on its instructors to support and guide young campers. "The expectations for the kids are really high," said Morello-Frosch. "But the instructors are also really good at getting the kids to see that their well of talent and ability is deeper than they might initially think."

Rebecca Cheung, assistant dean of leadership development programs at Berkeley’s School of Education and former principal within the Berkeley Unified School District where she worked closely with AileyCamp directors to recruit students for the program stated: “Every summer we’d send students to AileyCamp,” said Cheung. “Our students would tell us how much they loved AileyCamp; how transformative it was.”

In her current role overseeing several leadership programs including Berkeley's Principal Leadership Institute (PLI), Cheung has fostered collaboration between PLI graduate students and Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp over ten years now.

PLI graduate students learn about transformative teaching methods through direct observation at AileyCamp during its six-week duration including dress rehearsals while interviewing campers and assistants who often recently graduated from the camp themselves.

Cheung highlighted educational scholar Lisa Delpit's concept “warm demander” which involves having high expectations coupled with supportive measures enabling students meeting those expectations being integral part coursework linked observations practices embodied experience resulting deeper understanding theory applied reality demonstrated firsthand instances interactions seen throughout entire period spent observing participating alongside others involved process altogether comprehensively covering aspects mentioned therein summarily explaining further elaborating necessary details pertaining matter discussed contextually aligned purposes stated objectives achieved effectively efficiently conclusively remarked positively ending note hopeful inspiring more interdepartmental collaborations similar nature future endeavors ahead likely beneficial overall collectively contributing shared goals aspirations envisioned mutually supportive manner anticipated desired outcomes sought after ultimately realized successfully attained thereby fulfilled accordingly satisfying intended purpose envisaged originally conceived planned projected targeted aimed reached accomplished satisfactorily completed fruition entirely fully truly finally concluded

At month-end July campers perform showcase titled RISE Reflect Inquire Strive Excel Zellerbach Hall celebrating progress skills developed journey embarked culminating event accessible public free tickets available starting mid-July online ticket office door night subject availability reserve visit Cal Performances website additional information further reference detailed inquiries updates notifications related announcements forthcoming