citypaper: archives

Tough Gig
Funding a duet of arts and academics at the Duke Ellington School is a hard sell in a troubled system.

Cover Story

To hear Kenya Jones tell it, you'd think she'd chassed right out of her mother's womb. The 17-year-old was born into a family of dancers. Her mother is a dance teacher and owns a studio in Washington, N.J., where she teaches jazz, ballet, and modern styles of dance. Kenya's younger brother studies all kinds of dance moves. And Kenya started classes when she was barely more than a toddler. "It wasn't something I asked to do," she says. "It was just my nature."

When Kenya was 3, her mother would drive her to Saturday classes at a studio an hour from their home, where she would study ballet and jazz. She added classes as she got older and stronger. When her mother opened her own studio, called Dance Sensations, when Kenya was 10, Kenya was there several evenings a week until 8 or 9 o'clock, executing steps or helping teach. But really, Kenya says, the dancing never stopped. Even when she was sitting in classroom chairs or watching TV, Kenya's body would bounce instinctively, playing out the music she heard in her head. After class some nights, Kenya says she and her mother and brother would put on Tina Turner or Michael Jackson and glide around on the kitchen's tile floor.... Continued

Issue of Feb. 18 - 24, 2000

News and Features

  • Tough Gig
    Funding a duet of arts and academics at the Duke Ellington School is a hard sell in a troubled system.
    Cover Story
  • Kidney-Shaped Controversy
    Darrell Hughes fights to make a donation from incarceration.
    The City
  • Judge and Jury
    D.C.'s most notorious judge takes a turn in the jury box.
    The City
  • Police Protection
    The Mail
  • Life Force
    The Mail

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