AUBREY LYNCH II
Aubrey Lynch II is from the town of Woodhaven, Michigan where he first studied dance at the Peg Harris School of Dance and Dancer’s Pointe led by Olympic and World skating choreographer, Phillip Mills, and his wife Michelle Mills. While he was a chemistry major at the University of Michigan and studying with Cecchetti teachers Lee Ann King and Jean Gloria Newell, he was chosen to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (now called The Ailey® School) in New York City, where he began to follow his dream of a career in the performing arts.
While studying at Ailey, Mr. Lynch became a member of the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (now called Ailey II), Ailey’s junior company. In June 1989, he was invited to join Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the last dancers selected by Mr. Ailey himself before his death later that year in December.
Aubrey performed as a principal dancer with the company until 1993, traveling to more than 20 countries and performing over 35 ballets, including some of Mr. Ailey’s greatest works, Reflections in D, Blues Suite, and Revelations. He had the honor of working closely with Judith Jamison, who succeeded Mr. Ailey as artistic director of the company in December 1989.
Another aspect of Aubrey’s Ailey experience was the opportunity to work with young artists worldwide through the company’s outreach program, teaching master classes and addressing audiences. During this time, he also performed as principal dancer with Déjà Vu Dance Theater and served as its associate artistic director, working with friend and mentor, Barry Martin. It was Barry who pushed Aubrey to be more than a dancer and Aubrey attributes much of the lyrical style that followed him through his career to the training he received working with him.
Aubrey hopes that he is on the journey to becoming exactly who Barry had inspired him to be, a dancer who could do much more.
Aubrey left the Ailey organization to pursue a career in film and television, appearing in TV commercials, print ads, and the movie The Next Step, an independent dance film choreographed by Donald Byrd. His performance credits also include live concerts and music videos with artists such as En Vogue and George Michael. Mr. Lynch also taught movement classes for deaf children and was a guest speaker at the Juilliard School and other arts institutions.
During his commercial pursuits, Aubrey taught himself to crochet and launched a line of wearable art. In her New York Times review, Constance C.R. White noted, “One of the most convincing creative fashion presentations put on recently was, not surprisingly, conceived by someone from the theater, Aubrey Lynch II.”
Aubrey continued concert work with Déjà Vu Dance Theater while being a guest performer with other companies including a tour to Japan with Virginia Johnson and dancers from Dance Theater of Harlem. He is also proud to have been an original company member of the now world-renowned and critically acclaimed Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
In 1997, Mr. Lynch was one of seven men and seven women chosen from the thousands of dancers who auditioned to be original cast members of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Disney’s The Lion King. While performing in the cast, Mr. Lynch also acted as the production’s dance captain, dance supervisor, and ultimately as associate choreographer. As
such, he no longer performed as a cast member, but restaged the work of choreographer Garth Fagan, working as part of a team responsible for casting, mounting, and maintaining all Lion King productions around the world. As associate producer, Aubrey led the team responsible for casting, mounting, and overseeing the creative aspects of all Lion King productions worldwide. Since The Lion King debuted in 1997, Aubrey opened and maintained 14 Lion King productions and traveled to over 16 countries. During this time at Disney Theatrical Productions, he worked closely with the director of education and outreach, Peter Avery. He assisted with the initial development of the first child adaptation of The Lion King, a program bringing musical theater to schools, grades 3 through 8, including activities, curriculum, related learning and performance.
As Director of Dance and Musical Theater and Chief Officer of Education and Creative Programs at the prestigious Harlem School of the Arts, all of his experiences came together. He designed and relaunched the dance program. Many of his alumni are studying at the world’s top universities, including Brown and The Juilliard School and dancing professionally in Ballet Rambert, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Ailey II.
He created the first official interdisciplinary curriculum for the organization combining music, dance, theater and visual arts purposefully pointing children towards success. The earliest version of this curriculum was born in 2012 when Disney Theatrical Group asked Aubrey to return to the child adaptation of The Lion King and lead its first workshops and pilots with HSA students. Now known as The Lion King Experience, this musical theater introduction and tutorial is available to schools everywhere. Click here to view the culmination of this project.
Aubrey is proud that many of the videos and photos featured in the content, on the website and printed material are the productions that he and his team at Harlem School of the Arts produced, piloted, directed and choreographed. These materials also feature students he has personally coached who have since gone on to work professionally in film, television, and on Broadway. During his ten-year tenure, students he coached performed in the Broadway productions The Lion King, Matilda, House of Rock, Motown and Kinky Boots.
Aubrey was brought in by Serino/Coyne Advertising as the creative and choreographic consultant for The Lion King ad campaign which included television commercials, print and social media. Click here to view one of the commercials.
In 2017, Aubrey worked with Tony Award winning choreographer Garth Fagan on The Lion King Broadway’s 20th anniversary refresh. Aubrey ultimately rechoreographed three numbers in the production now mounted in Lion King productions all over the world.
From all his experiences, Aubrey has developed his own curriculum, The Aubrey Lynch Experience, a program for young artists and non-artists. Aimed at the high school, university, and professional levels, his programs use elements of theater to help young people to see their options and explore the kind of decision-making that leads to successful and stable lives.
Mr. Lynch is the proud recipient of the 2009 Ailey School Apex Award presented annually to a member of the dance community who has had a profound influence on the world of dance and has impacted The Ailey School. Other awards include the Simply Positive Inc. Chery Byron Spirit Award 2017 for the scope of his career and the Wall Street Alphas Charitable Foundation’s Arts and Culture Award 2017 for his work with underserved communities. Aubrey was also honored by White Plains Youth Bureau, which recognized his career achievements and the positive impact he has had on young people and the arts, at their annual dance benefit, where White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach and the Westchester Legislature also proclaimed January 18 “Aubrey Lynch II Day.”
Aubrey has been on faculty of The Ailey School and Steps on Broadway and is a frequent guest speaker and master teacher at schools and institutions around the world. Most notably, Aubrey has been a modern dance mentor at Miami’s prestigious Young Arts Week an annual competition whose awards include a $10,000.00 scholarship and an opportunity to meet the President of the United States.
Mr. Lynch is honored to have led a Lion King presentation for Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, and the young ladies of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2007. Many of the philosophies and lessons Mr. Lynch teaches today, were born that afternoon with Oprah, Gayle and those beautiful students. Click here to view Aubrey’s audition tape for the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Mr. Lynch is a Master Teacher, Arts Educator, and certified life coach trained at the highly acclaimed Coaches Training Institute CTI.
With an intense belief that the arts are a critical part of the development of young people, Aubrey is a mentor for the prestigious Theater Development Fund Open Doors Mentoring Program where he brings high school students to see theater and guides them through lively discussions about life. He has shared this honor with other mentors including Thomas Schumacher, Alan Eisenberg, and Graciela Daniele among other high-level arts industry professionals.
As a former faculty member at The Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan, Aubrey continues to work with adults and creative arts therapists using dance, music, and art to heal and explore often hidden deeper life issues. He has built workshops around this work currently being led in Hillsdale NY. Visit TheWorkshopExperience.org for more information.
In collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center and Harlem Children’s Zone, Aubrey wrote, directed and choreographed the event, Uptown Family Swing presented at the United Palace Theater for over 1500 audience members. Starring a very young Caleb McLaughlin, the story followed a character named Little Duke and his friends through the magical world where anything was possible through jazz and Duke Ellington’s music came to life. Nearly 100 students from nearly sixteen New York City academic and arts schools participated including Harlem Children’s Zone, The Ailey School, Steps on Broadway, and American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Click here to view a 60 second clip of this production.
A firm believer that, “The arts aren’t extracurricular; they’re extra-essential,”®️ Aubrey launched Aubrey Lynch Extra Essential Arts AL-EEArts and Mr. Aubrey’s Show Kids MASK for which he is founder and Artistic Director. ALEEArts is an arts organization that provides opportunities for children and adults to attain their highest level of excellence through artistic expression and commitment and MASK is a youth performance ensemble that provides a training ground and unique performance opportunities for the most gifted and passionate students.
These programs empower children and teach life lessons through experiential learning. Aubrey believes that a well-rounded education must include the arts. Without the chance to explore and nurture creativity, celebrate and promote self-expression, we are not complete human beings and our children will not be sufficiently prepared for life and the challenges facing our world.
Aubrey is currently Dean of Faculty & Student Affairs and Co-Director of ABT Education at American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Onassis School, on their Artistic Advisory Board of Examiners and an ABT Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum.
CONTACT
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