Training and Study

The list of Master Teachers with whom Mr. Tyson has studied is a long and distinguished one, including Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, James Truite, Ana Marie Forsythe and Milton Myers in the Horton Technique. Graham Technique was studied with Pearl Lang, Dudley Williams, Denise Jefferson, Pat Thomas, Penny Frank and Carol Fried, while ballet was learned under the tutelage of Fred Danielle, Kyne Franks, Michael Vernon, Robert Christopher, Delores Brown, Homer Bryant, Gabriella Taub-Darvash and Walter Raines. He broadened his expertise by studying Jazz with Nat Horne, Fred Benjamin, Alvin McDuffie, Jose Meir, Cecilia Marta, Suzie Taylor and Jerome Robbins and Dunham Technique/African dance with Joan Peters, Lavinia Williams and Katherine Dunham.

To further strengthen Mr. Tyson’s command of his craft he acquired extensive training in somatic applications. Pilates method was studied with Romana Kryzankowska a protégé of Joseph H. Pilates and co-owner/founder of Power Pilates /New York, NY Susan Moran-Perish and Master Instructor Phoebe Higgins. Floor barre a terre technique was developed with Master Teacher Zena Romett and technique innovators Diane Grumet and Pam Prisbisco. In 1985, Mr. Tyson joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company, at the personal invitation of Alvin Ailey. Upon joining the Ailey Company, Mr. Tyson suspended his Journalism studies at Rutgers University to commit himself completely to the pursuit of a career in dance.