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This Year Marks 20th Anniversary of the Fellowship
Harlem Stage, a world-renowned cultural anchor dedicated to amplifying the voices of artists of the Global Majority with the singular mission to set untold stories free, is proud to announce the 20th anniversary of its groundbreaking WATERWORKS Commissioning Fellowship initiative through a landmark new partnership with the AILEY organization, which includes the iconic Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and The Ailey School.
Four choreographers from within the AILEY community have been selected to develop and premiere original works as part of Harlem Stage’s 2025–2026 season, furthering a shared mission to support and to amplify choreographers and dancers of the Global Majority.
● Kamani Abu (Ailey II and Ailey/Fordham, BFA, 2025 Graduate )
● Derick McKoy, Jr (Ailey/Fordham, BFA, 2019 Graduate)
● Naia Neal (Ailey II Apprentice and Ailey/Fordham, BFA, 2025 Graduate)
● Kasey Orava (Ailey/Fordham, BFA, 2025 Graduate)
For two decades, WATERWORKS has stood as a sanctuary for fearless performance-making, commissioning artists whose works interrogate, inspire, and reimagine the contours of the field. The program embodies Harlem Stage’s unwavering commitment to the artist community and affirms a core principle: that artists not only deserve, but require the space, resources, and radical freedom to create without constraint.
Through this partnership, selected choreographers will receive a commissioning fee; free rehearsal space at Harlem Stage; mentorship from an established dance artist; monthly artistic development meetings; a works-in-progress showing in December 2025; and the premiere of their commissioned work during Harlem Stage’s E-Moves Festival in Spring 2026.
The WATERWORKS Adjudication Panel is Ronald K. Alexander, Member of the Harlem Stage Board of Directors and Faculty at Alvin Ailey School and Instructor at Ailey Extension; Dr. Indira Etwaroo, CEO & Artistic Director at Harlem Stage; Melanie Person, Co-Director of the Ailey School and Director of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program; and Calvin Royal III, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre.
The list of past WATERWORKS’ fellows includes a Who’s Who of performing artists including Stew, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Bill T. Jones, Nora Chipaumire, Craig Harris, Camille A. Brown, Randy Weston, Andrew Hill, Ronald K. Brown, Tamar-kali, Kyle Abraham, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.
"Twenty years ago, Harlem Stage launched WATERWORKS with a simple, but radical belief that artists of the Global Majority hold the blueprints for our cultural future. Today, this commissioning initiative has grown into a living archive of innovation and truth-telling," shared Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Artistic Director and CEO of Harlem Stage. "This inaugural collaboration with the American cultural treasure, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, signals a new chapter; one rooted in legacy, yet reaching toward what's next. We’re not just supporting dance makers; we’re expanding upon spaces where movement becomes memory, and memory becomes movement. This is about cultivating brilliance, honoring our centuries-old continuum, and shaping the next wave of artmakers."
“All of us at AILEY congratulate Harlem Stage on the 20th anniversary of WATERWORKS, which has set the stage for so many to share their stories through dance, including numerous past fellows who have also choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,” stated Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack. “Alvin Ailey said that ‘Making dances is an act of progress; it is an act of growth, an act of music, an act of teaching, an act of celebration, an act of joy.’ With our shared history, community, and cultural vision, we are thrilled to celebrate with Harlem Stage in a partnership providing opportunities for emerging choreographers from the AILEY community creating with gifted dancers from The Ailey School during a landmark season of continued creativity and progress.”
Once part of New York City’s Old Croton Aqueduct system, the historic Harlem Stage Gatehouse brought life-sustaining water to millions and, today, the institution channels something just as essential: bold, truth-telling art that reflects the exquisite and powerful intersectional diversity of New York City and the world.
For additional information about Harlem Stage, please visit harlemstage.org.
