By Sana Muneer, Special to the Reporter
Kyre Ambrose’s love of dance began before he was born. “I used to joke all the time when he was in my stomach, if we were out somewhere and there was music playing, you would just see my stomach just bounce into the music,” said his mother, Rina Ambrose.
By 18 months old, he was grooving to any rhythm he heard – a natural instinct that evolved into a lifestyle.
“Kyrie’s passion for dance was discovered as soon as he grew legs,” Rina said. “He’s always a very energetic, crowd pleasing, outgoing type of person that likes to bring energy and presence to any stage.”
On Sat., Jan. 4, 2025, Kyre, then 19, was found in his home on Foster Street in Brockton around 2 a.m. suffering from multiple stab wounds, 28 of them, according to a story in The Enterprise of Brockton. He was taken to the local Good Samaritan Hospital, where he died the next day, according to a report in the Boston Globe.
On Mon., Jan. 6, Jayden Fernandez, 18, of Dorchester, was arraigned in Brockton District Court, charged with murdering Ambrose, and ordered held without bail. At the hearing, his attorney told the judge that Fernandez had just graduated from a Boston charter school, that he held two jobs, and planned to attend community college in the spring, the Enterprise reported.
Fernandez was scheduled to attend a hearing in Plymouth County Superior Court on Tuesday of this week (May 5), according to court documents.
In the wake of Kyre’s death, his family and the Boston Arts Academy Foundation have created a scholarship for Boston Arts Academy students who will pursue a degree in dance. Submissions for this year’s scholarship closed on April 30.
The award was launched with a $2,500 award put up by Rina Ambrose, but the size and structure of is still being decided, said Denella Clark, CEO of the Boston Arts Academy Foundation.
Funds from a community fundraising brunch and fashion show held April 12 and an upcoming community dance fundraiser on May 17 will contribute to the fund, Clark said.
For her part, Rina Ambrose said the primary goal is to get the scholarship endowed, so it can eventually support dancers through all four years of college.
Those who knew him say Kyre was more than a dancer. He was a storyteller.
“Every time he performed, it wasn’t just like someone on stage, dancing. It was a performance. It was theater, it was storytelling, it was movement,” said his mother, who is a nurse in the Boston Public Schools system. “And he always said, ‘Dancing was storytelling, it’s not just about the movement.’”
Kyre discovered the Boston Arts Academy when he was 9. He joined its summer program at 11 years old and also participated in Boston University’s REACH summer dance program.
He also danced alongside his younger sister before high school, when their paths diverged and she joined the cheerleading and track teams.
After high school, Kyre Ambrose enrolled at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles, but his journey was cut short abruptly before he could go on to earn a bachelor’s of fine arts in dance.
Kyre’s death inspired his family to act. “I wanted to make sure that other dancers had the opportunity… to go to school for that so that they can do what Kyre wanted to do,” said Rina Ambrose, “and share that experience with the world and create more dancers so that the legacy continues.”
The scholarship also involves a deeper mission: breaking stereotypes within the dance community. “I want other male dancers of color to know that it’s acceptable to be a dancer in multiple forms of dance,” she said.
“For Kyre, it was really about breaking down the stereotype. Just because you’re a Black male doesn’t mean you can only dance hip-hop,” she added. “Kyrie danced just if there was a style in front of him.”
The Arts Academy Foundation’s Clark said he was impossible to miss as “a creative and an artist, so small in stature, but big in personality and big in terms of lighting up a room. So sometimes his hair might be orange, it might be a high top, it might be just how he made sure everyone knew who he was.”
Clark, who lost her own brother to homicide, said she was struck by how quickly Rina moved to do something after Kyre’s death.
“As much as the story is about Kyre,” she said, “it’s also about Rina and her leadership… to be able to turn your pain into purpose in a matter of months is extraordinary.”
The May 17 community dance fundraiser to support the scholarship will run from noon to 4 p.m. at Tony Williams Dance Studio, a place Rina Ambrose called a “second home” for Kyre.
“We’re just inviting everyone that wants to dance to come and dance with us so that we can raise money to continue to build his scholarship,” she said.
This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
