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Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance
Artistic Director, Enrique Cruz DeJesus
Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company was founded in 1972 with the primary mission of expanding opportunities to provide a platform for multi-cultural choreographers and dance artists and is an example of the best of the American melting pot. The main techniques employed are modern and the richness in background is such that the audience is treated to many different styles and influences. The dances range from urban life to that of tribal influence, from the abstract to the dramatic.
The company takes pride in treating its audience to an energetic, uplifting, cultural and all around entertaining experience filled with passion. Jennifer Dunning of the NY Times said Alpha Omega “has a quiet but unignorable voice…that intensity is consistent with the company’s very fine dancing which brims with ardor even at its most abstractly physical.”
Alpha Omega’s performance history includes local, national and international touring engagements at venues such as Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors and Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Smithsonian Institute, Aaron Davis Hall, BAM, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and a tour of Southern Italy under the auspice of Dance Mobile. Alpha Omega has also participated in various festivals including Dancer’s Responding to AIDS, Women in Dance at DTW, Downtown Dance Festival at the World Trade Center, Fourth Arts Block Street Festival, Dance Harlem, Nu Dance Now Festival and NY Family Arts Festivals at the Theatre of Riverside Church and the Winter and Summer Dance Mobile Series. Other notable performances include the AFTRA and SAG Celebration of African Americans in Television and Film, and the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
In continuance of its mission Alpha Omega created it Youth Programs. They include arts-in-education programming and the Alpha Omega Young Adult Workshop, our pre-professional training program.
Arts-in-Education - Alpha Omega brings over 30 years of experience in running Arts-in-Education programs in NYC schools. We use the arts to initiate change by using dance to enhance the quality of life for children building self-esteem, self-confidence and benefiting students’ physical, mental and spiritual development. The program offers in-school and after school training, long and short term company residencies, master classes and lecture demonstrations.
Alpha Omega Young Adult Workshop – The workshop meets year round on Saturdays for two and half hours in the fall, winter and spring and is designed to serve youth who use the arts as a positive social outlet as well as those seriously interested in a professional career. The training style is a mixture of modern techniques infused with ballet, jazz and Afro-Latin movement. Students come from all five boroughs of NYC to engage in an enriching experience designed to nurture and develop creative talents and to challenge them to go beyond their comfort zone to find value in various movement styles. The workshop is offered in July and August as a summer intensive where students participate in a full day of back to back classes that accelerate skill level, dance vocabulary and better understanding of the various styles of dance. The workshop is open to ages 13-21.
For more information on our programs and performances, please visit us at www.alphaomegadance.org or contact us at info@alphaomegadance.org.
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