8 min.
JUDITH JAMISON and KYLE ABRAHAM on the LIFE and LEGACY of legendary choreographer ALVIN AILEY, the subject of a major new exhibition
When Alvin Ailey founded the Alvin AileyAmerican Dance Theater at the age of 27, in 1958, he wanted to create a company dedicated to exploring and expressing the Black experience through dance. His seminal works include the joyous Blues Suite, set to traditional blues music sung by Brother John Sellers, about men and women in the rural Depression-era Texas of his childhood spending a night out drinking and dancing; 1971’s Cry, an emotional birthday gift to his mother; and his most famous piece, 1960’s Revelations, a celebration of the “blood memories” of his youth, set to spirituals, song-sermons, gospel, and holy blues. When he died in 1989, he had choreographed 79 narrative works. More importantly, he’d brought performers and choreographers of color—and the stories that resonated with them and their…
