Ailey II Dance Company Former Members visit as a part of the Class of 1989 Visiting Scholars Program

The Physical Education Department is delighted to welcome two former members of Ailey II. Torens Johnson (former Friends School faculty member) and Amarachi Valentina Korie will visit campus for three days this week. Over the course of their visit, our featured guests will perform at Lower School assemblies, teach dance classes across the divisions, and perform at the School's Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation on Friday. 

This enriching, educational experience was funded by the Class of 1989 Visiting Scholar Program. This fund was established in 1989 by the parents and friends of the graduating class and endows the annual support of visiting scholars in one of seven curriculum disciplines. In fact, it is the result of the very first Senior Family Gift Effort.

More about the dancers:

Amarachi Valentina Korie (Baltimore, Md.) began her formal dance training at Baltimore County Youth Ballet. She is an alumna of Carver Center for the Arts and Technology and graduated from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program as a Gates Millennium Scholar. Ms. Korie trained on scholarship at The School at Jacob’s Pillow and The Ailey School and has performed works by choreographers Robert Battle, Kyle Abraham, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, and Nathan Trice. She also appeared in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria during Ailey’s 2016 and 2017 New York City Center seasons. Ms. Korie is a two-time regional NAACP ACT-SO competition gold medalist and a Maryland All-State Dance awardee. She was a member of Ailey II and is currently performing in Washington National Opera’s production of Elektra at the Kennedy Center.

Beloved former Friends School faculty member Torens L. Johnson is a native of Smithfield, Va. He began dancing while attending the Governor’s Magnet School of the Performing Arts in Norfolk, Va.  After graduating from Smithfield High School Mr. Johnson studied dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center where he later joined Ailey II. Mr. Johnson holds a BFA from Towson University and an MFA from Wilson College. He has served as the Artist in Residence for the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, a dance educator with Performing & Visual Art High School in Anne Arundel County Md. and the Pasco Academy of Fine & Performing Arts in Kansas City Mo. Mr. Johnson’s performing credits include ClancyWorks Dance Company, Stephanie Powell DansEnsemble, Edgeworks Dance Theater, Tony Powell Music & Movement, and Wylliams/Henry Dance Theater.  Mr. Johnson currently serves as the National Deputy Director of AileyCamp in New York City, a board member with the American College Dance Association, and is an Assistant Professor of Dance with Texas State University.