by Erin Meyer, WTOP10-TV

For college students who do not drink, finding a fun way to spend Halloween can be a bit of a challenge. But SUNY Oswego junior Ray Ossino says there’s plenty of options for sober scholars.

“I like to celebrate Halloween by going with a few of my friends to Lake Effect Cafe,” said Ossino. “They have a costume contest every Halloween, and then they have Halloween trivia.” She says campus events like this can be a great way to branch out.

“You get to meet new people, and through the people that I met there I found out that at the ice rink, they have open skate for Halloween too, and the also have a halloween costume contest there too.”

For students who want their Halloween weekend to be a bit scarier, Campus Recreation administrative assistant Jaydee Maldonado has a solution. She’s organized an upgrade for one of the campus’s most popular halloween events: the Scalesbury haunted house. Along with campus recreation, Maldonado has extended the haunted house to Lee Hall.

“This haunted house is actually going to be not only a haunted house,” said Maldonado. “It’s going to be a movie session at Scales Hall and then there is food, drinks and activities of all sorts relating to Halloween in Waterbury, and then Lee hall has the main event.” She says the addition of Lee Hall will elevate the haunted house from a quick event into all-night entertainment.

“I want us to continue to create events where students don’t always feel like they need to go out on weekends and do things off campus”, said Maldonado. She hopes the that these halloween events will inspire similar events in the college’s future.

Regardless of how you plan to spend your Halloween, WTOP wish you a happy one.

By William Corsi

OSWEGO, N.Y. — The trees are changing color, pumpkin spice is back, and Halloween is right around the corner. Students at SUNY Oswego shared their excitement with Reporter William Corsi.

Of the 27 people who were polled about their plans for Halloween, 19 of them said they were going to dress up for Halloween and 16 of them said they will be going out to get candy and celebrating with friends.

Student Marina Pantoliano said that she likes Halloween is one of the only holidays where people really get into it besides Christmas.

Some students said certain aspects of halloween make them feel uncomfortable.

“People running around in masks kind of creeps me out,” Student Dalton Bisson said.

Halloween takes place on Tuesday this year.

by Lindsey Martin, WTOP10-TV reporter

Over half a century ago Alvin Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, an organization committed to spreading messages of diversity through dance. His revolutionary choreography is perhaps most famously realized in dance masterpiece ‘Revelations’, a work born from Ailey’s own ‘blood memories’ of growing up in 1940’s rural Texas.

During the almost 60 year existence of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, its members have traveled the world, performed for presidents and maintained their status as one of the most prestigious dance organizations in the United States of America.

Today, the messages behind Ailey’s choreography continue to be relevant and inspirational across a myriad of social contexts. In a modern word full of technologically induced hyper-stimulation and empty politicking, dance, primal and clear, cuts through the noise to profound effect.

Dedicated to spreading messages of cultural acceptance through extensive touring and public outreach, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II echo the legacy of their namesake.

Eleven years after The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was established, The Ailey School opened in 1969, and the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, now known as Ailey II, was founded in 1974. The Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble was established with the intention to provide the most promising students from the Ailey school the opportunity to tour and perform around the world.

Picked by Alvin Ailey himself, Sylvia Waters oversaw the creative direction of Ailey II for 38 years. Waters had come from studying dance at the prestigious Juliard School, before joining the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company as a dancer in 1968.

“I’d known Alvin for some time before I joined the company, and I’d seen the company grow during the first ten years of its existence. I was in school, but I saw those early performances at the WMHA as a student, and it was mesmerizing,” Waters reflects.

“Alvin was very, very supportive. I mean he was my mentor. I learned so much from him.”

Now Ailey II’s Creative Director Emeritus, Waters leads The Ailey Legacy Residency, educating college-level students on the technique and history behind Alvin Ailey’s creative heritage.

Khalia Campbell is a dancer in her first term with Ailey II. Formally a student at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and the Dance Theater of Harlem, Campbell became an apprentice for Ailey II prior to becoming a full-fledged member of the ensemble.

“Ailey is like a family. They want it to be in-house, so they like you to be in the school first and then you know, move your way up the ranks,” she explains.

At the time these interviews are taking place, Ailey II’s dancers and management are in their fourth and final week of a very physically demanding tour. They had performed in the Bahamas and 11 different states across the USA.

Troy Powell has been affiliated with the name Ailey since age 9. He trained at the Ailey school as a child, danced with Ailey II, and then The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Powell now holds the position of artistic director for Ailey II. Powell worked alongside Sylvia Waters for 15 years before becoming artistic director. “It takes time,” he says calmly. “Even as professional dancers we’re always working on our technique, we’re always working on our ability, and most of all we’re always working on ourselves,” said Powell.

One needn’t look much further than ‘Revelations’ to gain an understanding of Alvin Ailey’s original intentions for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and its various subsidiaries. The piece is laden with themes of poverty and racism, but also of strength, community and celebration.

“He grew up in the depression, so everything was at an all-time low,” tells Powell.
“He considered himself as living on the other side of the tracks where everything was just down and out, and his outlet was Revelations. His outlet was dance.”

Perhaps this is the reason the choreography to ‘Revelations’ is passed on to each new generation of Ailey dancers, and is embraced by audiences around the world.

“We hope to really touch audiences,” says Powell.
“We hope to really change their perspective.”

Ailey II performed to a sold-out Waterman Theater at SUNY Oswego on Wednesday, Nov. 2.