Summer AileyCamp provides dance training, life skills

Of all the mantras Anai Espinoza and her fellow campers recite each morning at AileyCamp, the eighth grader's favorite is this: "I am in control."

"It makes me believe I have the power to choose the right thing," she said.

Anai is one of a thousand students in 10 states this summer attending AileyCamp, a free six-week program for youngsters in financial need or with academic, social or family challenges.

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, a dancer leaps across the stage during a ballet routine at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

AileyCamp was founded in 1989 in Kansas City, Missouri, by world-renowned dancer, choreographer and director Alvin Ailey, who died later that year. In addition to teaching the students dance, the camp introduces them to the visual arts, creative writing and other communications skills. It also teaches them how to eat well, resolve conflicts and become leaders, according to a description of the program on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater website.

Atlanta Ballet's Centre For Dance Education has admitted about 100 students to its camp each summer since 2014. About half of those have some exposure to dance, but very few have professional training, said Atlanta AileyCamp director Diane Caroll Sales.

"The most important thing is to accept campers that are willing to dance — they want to dance — because we are dancing most of the day," Sales said. "But the core of the program is personal development."

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, dancers' ballet slippers are shown during a dress rehearsal at the the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

The Atlanta camp ran this year from May 30 through July 5, concluding with a performance July 6 in the city of Jonesboro, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Atlanta. Sponsors covered the cost of dance training and attire, breakfast and lunch, field trips and classes for creative communication and personal development.

At the end of camp, Atlanta Ballet offers 10 students a full-tuition scholarship for a year of training, which is eligible for renewal, Sales said. One scholarship covers $800-$2,300 worth of dance classes, depending on the placement level.

Kameron Davis attended his first AileyCamp about 10 years ago, when he was in middle school, at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta. He trained for three years after that with the Atlanta Ballet on a scholarship, and later became a dance instructor. Davis said he doesn't think his mother could have afforded dance classes without the scholarship.

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, Micah Mincey sits to have her makeup done before the AileyCamp performance at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

Kids at school teased Davis when he began dancing, but AileyCamp offered a safe haven and confidence boost, he said. He said he enjoys giving back to the program by helping new campers build their confidence.

"It's an open door to finding new things, doing new things," Davis said. "When I got to AileyCamp, it just reassured me that, 'Hey, it's OK. Everybody is different. You shouldn't be judged by what you do just because not a lot of people do it.'"

In this Friday, June 28, 2019 photo, an AileyCamper smiles during a West African dance class at the Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts in Jonesboro, Ga. AileyCamp involves lessons in modern dance, West African and ballet techniques. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Friday, June 28, 2019 photo, Jelani Akil Jones, an Atlanta Ballet modern dance instructor, coaches a group of campers at the Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts in Jonesboro, Ga. as they perfect a routine for their final performance. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, Idia Enadeghe embraces a loved one after her last AileyCamp performance at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. Enadeghe received her third full-tuition scholarship to train with Atlanta Ballet for a year. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, AileyCampers crowd around a bathroom counter to do their hair and makeup before a performance at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, AileyCampers laugh while waiting in their dressing room before a performance at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Friday, June 28, 2019 photo, AileyCamp dancers rehearse a routine at Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts in Jonesboro, Ga. Campers attended dance classes with Atlanta Ballet instructors each weekday May 30-July 5 to prepare for their performance July 6. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

In this Saturday, July 6, 2019 photo, AileyCampers stand ready for rehearsal at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center in Jonesboro, Ga. Each AileyCamp accepts about 100 middle schoolers. (AP PhotoAndrea Smith)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)