Born in Texas in 1931, Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. His most famous dance is Revelations, a celebratory study of religious spirit. According to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater website, Revelations came from Ailey's "'blood memories' of his childhood in rural Texas and the Baptist Church." He stopped performing in the mid-1960s, but he continued to choreograph numerous masterpieces. Ailey's Masakela Language, which probed the experience being black in South Africa, premiered in 1969. He also formed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center—now called the Ailey School—that same year. During his long career, Ailey choreographed close to 80 ballets.
His childhood was difficult because he grew up in Texas in a time of racial segregation. His mother, Lula Ailey, was only 17 at the time when she had him and Alvin's father left the household when he was only 6 months old. When he was 5 his mother was raped by a group of white men which made Alvin fear whites. Being as it was the depression, Lula moved to Los Angeles in search of work and opportunities while Alvin stayed behind at age 11 to finish out the school year. This dance piece titles "Cry" was dedicated to his mother for her birthday. The piece depicts a woman's journey through the agonies of slavery to an esthetic state of grace.
After he finally arived in Los Angeles he attended middle school at George Washington Carver then went to Thomas Jefferson High School. During his high school years he was in Glee Club, wrote poetry, and demonstrated an extraordinary talent for languages. In 1949, his friend Carmen De Lavallade introduced him to the Hollywood school of Lester Horton. 2 years later Ailey continued to pursue his studies in Language Arts, theatre, and poetry in San Francisco. He his money by dancing and waiting tables New Orleans Champagne Supper Club where he met Marguerite Johnson, who later became known as Maya Angelou. They occasionally preformed a nightclub act titles "Al and Rita".
At the age of 22, Ailey began full-time study at Horton's school in 1953 where he studied not only dancing but all sorts of art forms as well including painting, set design, costuming, acting, music, and many forms of ethnic dance. When Horton tragically died that same year, Alvin stepped up to the plate as company leader.
After the creation of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in 1958, he choreographed his most famous piece 2 years later titled "Revelations" and is still danced to this day. Here is a clip of excerpts from many of the pieces.
His style includes ballet, jazz a blend of african dance which revolutionized modern dance. The dancers are not trained to be copies of each other like The Rockettes, but rather each keeps their own unique style and flair which adds diversity to the pieces. The choreographer creates emphasis on each dancers unique talent so rather being good at everything, each dancer contributes their best talent which formed an amazing sense of individuality but did not take away from the emotional togetherness from the group.
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