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When you mention the name Alvin Ailey, the first words that come to mind are talented, gifted, dancer, choreographer, and inspiring. This amazing man was born in Navasota, Texas. He moved to Los Angeles, California when he was twelve years of age. He started studying modern dance in 1949 from Lester Horton. He joined the Horton dance company in 1950. His inspirations came from the black church services in Texas and music at the local dance hall. He stated some of his best choreography pieces came from childhood experiences.
He loved music and dance. His style and form of his dances expressed his love for the black culture. Alvin Ailey's success is reflected through his passion and hard work for dance. He was inspired by the great Katherine Dunham of New York City and his first dance teacher, the amazing Lester Horton of Los Angeles, California. After the death of Lester Horton, this allowed Alvin to bring in more African American dancers to help express his uniqueness of black culture in the elements of modern dance.
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Alvin Ailey's name carries weight and will always be known for his passion, his entrepreneurship, and his legacy.
He established his own Dance Theater called Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. His style of dance was modern dance. Ballet was taught as a basis for the modern. Some of his famous dance pieces were Revelations and Cry. He stopped dancing in the 1960s and perfected the art of choreography. He choreographed about eighty ballets. Alvin worked as a dance choreographer in the 1950s and 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement was strong across America.
African Americans were fighting against racial discrimination. In 1954, Brown vs Board of Education case went to the Supreme Court. The Court declared that separate educational facilities for black children were inherently unequal. Now every child could get education together. African Americans were gaining their freedom to own their own companies and prosper, so Alvin did just that. In the 1960s, there was must division with the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movements. American had many sad moments of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The arts were a great form of entertainment to get our minds off all the tragedies. The Ailey Dance Theater was one good diversion.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in 1958 by the visionary Alvin Ailey to bring African Americans together to study the art of dance. Remember times were very stressful in America but students were eager for a change. The entrepreneurship of Ailey helped this vision to grown as times were changing. The Ailey School was formed in 1969 as part of the company and his vision became reality. Ailey's work was much different than the other modern dancers of his time, such as the Judson Church, including Robert Dunn, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, and Trisha Brown. (Foulkes 182).
Alvin's danced composition of "Revelations" uses African-American spirituals, gospel songs, sermons and the blues as it explores the cultural heritage of the 1960s. It shares the mood of the people for sadness to joy during their time of tribulation. This is considered one of his "richest treasures" (Alvin Ailey 1). There are several pieces that make up this production but two pieces that are popular alone are "Wade in the Water" and "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham". "Wade in the water" is dance expressing the baptism that occurs in the bible and demonstrated at church. You can see the powerful connection in how he was big in his faith and stayed true to what he believed in. The emotions the dancers portrayed was impeccable. The dancers are wearing all white with the females wearing long flowing dresses and one dancer is carrying an umbrella. The male dancers are carrying a white cloth during the performance. The dancers use "shoulder isolations and full-body contraptions reminiscent of Dunham and Primus" (Foulkes 182). They took on a role and told the story. This inspired me as a dancer because when you stay rooted in your beliefs and you are not ashamed of sharing it with the world showed the type of character you are as a person. In the dance, "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" is the finale piece of this show and it is an uplifting and joyful dance. "..its dance of prancing exultation, the audience is often clapping along and screaming for more" (Reynolds & McCormick 349).
When you present something new and fresh there can be doubt of how and audience may accept the work. In the case, though the audience craved more, when you leave and audience in awe they will keep them interested so that they will continue to support your work. Tomas DeFrantz said in his book Dance Research Journal, "Dancing Revelations also shows how a history may be told through an in-depth critical interpretation of nearly all of a man's artistic works" (136). One of his earlier works that started Alvin Ailey career is "Cry". "Cry" is a dance that was a ballet dance that he made for his mother as a surprise birthday gift. He dedicated this piece "to all black women everywhere, especially our mothers" (Reynold & McCormick 349). It consists of three different part making up a sixteen-minute solo. This groundbreaking solo was performed by the beautiful Judith Jamison. "The female soloist represents all black women, depicting their African origins, the trials and tribulations they have endured and their joyful triumph over those hardships" (Ailey Press 1). The Ailey dancers wore during the entire production of "Revelations" browns that represent earthy colors, white that represent cleansing, yellow and blacks that represent unity and strength in the church community. The movement was based off of dance techniques of Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Pearl Primus ( Foukles 180).
Alvin died on December 1, 1989, at the age of 58 in New York City of AIDS. He died very young but left a legacy of dancers here to continue to teach and dance for Alvin Ailey's Dance Company. Many dancers mourned his passing but never let America forget the great and talented person. Ailey built his company starting with only eight dancers, and grew it into what it is today. Because Alvin Ailey stepped up and took the initiative to "reset a place for black dancers back in the day after Dafora, Dunham, Primus, and other African American dancers" They had a place and platform to learn and perfect their craft (Foulkes 184). With his successful career the Alvin Ailey Dance Company has evolved into a diverse studio where every anyone and everyone a have the opportunity to train just as the original Ailey dancers. They now have scholarships and housing arrangements available for students to come and learn modern dance from awesome teachers.
The company did a large celebration for the fiftieth anniversary of Alvin Ailey Company in 2008. That year a U. S. Congressional resolution designated the Ailey Company as "a vital American cultural ambassador to the world" that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience (Alvin Ailey Foundation 1). "The Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, formed in 1958, fused in movement and theme the nationalist political focus of the 1930s with the racial heritage of America -this embracing and altering American modern" (Foukles 179). Today, there is The Ailey Legacy College Residency that allows student to take classes from former principal dancers that worked directly with Alvin Ailey. These classes are lecture, technique classes that give students more insight into the company and to learn more about Alvin Ailey as a person.
Alvin Ailey stated "Making dances in an act of progress; it is an act of growth, an act of music, an act of teaching, an act of celebration, an act of joy." (Alvin Ailey Foundation 1) Dance is our expressive form of communication to the world.
The Inspiring Life of Alvin Ailey: Dancing Through Childhood Memories. (2019, Dec 14). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/alvin-ailey-essay
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