Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (later Ailey School) as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.

Ailey's work fused theater, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with Black vernacular, creating hope-fueled choreography that is credited with spreading global awareness of Black life in America. His choreographic masterpiece Revelations is recognized as one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world.

On July 15, 2008, the United States Congress passed a resolution designating AAADT a "vital American cultural ambassador to the World". That same year, in recognition of AAADT's 50th anniversary, then Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared December 4 "Alvin Ailey Day" in New York City, while then-Governor David Paterson honored the organization on behalf of New York State.

Early life and education

Ailey was born to Alvin Ailey and Lula Elizabeth Cliff in Rogers, Texas, in his maternal grandfather's home on January 5, 1931, at the height of the Great Depression. Growing up in the violently racist and segregated south, Ailey was barred from interacting with mainstream society during his youth. When he was five, Ailey's mother was raped by four white men (one likely an employer), and Ailey recalled seeing members of the Ku Klux Klan as a child.

The elder Alvin Ailey abandoned the young Alvin and Lula shortly after Alvin was born, leaving Lula to work in cotton fields and as a domestic in white homes — the only employment available to her. By the time Ailey was five, he joined his mother picking cotton. Ailey was able to explore the arts in high school, singing in glee club and writing poetry. This awakened an until then unknown spark of joy within Ailey.

Also in high school, Ailey discovered his homosexuality, which added another layer of difference and isolation to his already racially segregated experience. Thus, "like many young gay men eager to corral the sensual impulses of the body, he turned to dance study."

Ailey studied a wide range of dance styles and techniques — from ballet to Native American inspired movement studies — at Horton's school, which was one of the first racially integrated dance schools in the United States. Though Horton became his mentor, Ailey did not commit to dancing full-time, recognizing the lack of opportunities for black male dancers. Los Angeles City College (1950–1951), and San Francisco State University (1952). During this time, Ailey sporadically returned to Horton to work between courses. Eventually, he returned to study dance with Horton in Los Angeles.

Career

Horton Dance Company

Ailey joined Horton's dance company in 1953. While there, he took daily technique classes, studied art and music, and taught children's classes. That same year, he made his debut in Horton's Revue Le Bal Caribe. In a workshop the summer of 1953, Ailey created his first dance composition, Afternoon Blues. This work was a three-minute solo blues adaptation of L'Aprés-midi d'un Faune, which he had seen performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. In this piece, Ailey played the eponymous Faun to a selection from On the Town.

Horton died suddenly November 1953 from a heart attack, leaving the company without leadership. In order to complete the organization's pressing professional engagements, and because nobody else was willing to, Ailey took over as artistic director and choreographer. In particular, Horton's company was committed to performing at Jacob's Pillow in the summer of 1954. Ailey worked collaboratively with the Horton company dancers and choreographed based on them, gaining the support of the company's dancers who had much more experience than Ailey. These works included According to St. Francis (4 June 1954), a tribute to Horton as a "kind of allusion to Lester's life" featuring James Truitte. He also choreographed and directed Morning Mourning (4 June 1954), a piece based on The show's book was written and adapted by Truman Capote from one of his novellas with music from Harold Arlen and starred Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll.

Ailey and De Lavallade met Geoffrey Holder, who performed alongside them in the chorus, during the production. Holder married De Lavallade and became a life-long artistic collaborator with Ailey. and the 1957 Broadway musical Jamaica with Cristyne Lawson as his collaborator and dance partner, which starred Lena Horne and Ricardo Montalbán. Throughout the late 1950s, Ailey continued to study dance technique sporadically, learning with the New Dance Group's Hanya Holm, Anna Sokolow, Charles Weidman, and Karel Shook.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The early Alvin Ailey Dance Theater

In 1958 Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to present his vision of honoring Black culture through dance. The company had its debut at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA on March 30, 1958, in a concert shared with choreographer Ernest Parham, with headlining guest artist Talley Beatty. Ailey danced in the other two premieres at this performance, Redonda and Ode and Homage. Redonda, which was later retitled Cinco Latinos, brought together five short pieces described as "Latin Theme" in a work similar to Horton's. Ode and Homage, set to a score by Peggy Glanville-Hicks, was a "dance of faith, respectfully dedicated to the memory of Lester Horton".

thumb|[[Revelations (Alvin Ailey)|Revelations performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 2011]]

In 1960, Edele Holz offered Ailey rehearsal space at what would become the Clark Center for the Performing Arts. Shortly after the center opened in October of that year, AADT had its first concert. This concert included a November 27, 1960 premiered Knoxville: Summer of 1915, set to music by Samuel Barber and based on A Death in the Family and Three for Now, set to music by Jimmy Giuffre and John Lewis (pianist), as well as Horton's The Beloved and John Butler's Portrait of Billie. The next year, he premiered Hermit Songs (10 December 1961). Originally conceived as a group work, it premiered as a solo for Ailey performed to Leontyne Price's recording of Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs. Hermit Songs, which is based on a loose narrative of a monk's privilege and penance, remained in the AADT's repertoire through 1991. This residency included a revival of Revelations. While working with BAM, he sponsored free classes for children and young adults "geared to channel formidable youth rage into art". In September of that year, Ailey created Shaken Angels, another rock-based piece. This piece, set to recorded music by Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, and Bill Withers, featured Dennis Wayne and Bonnie Mathis in story about a couple "cornered into a relationship of violence and need, smoking pot and mainlining heroin. The work spilled into the audience as Wayne chased Mathis through the aisles, dragging her onto the stage and striking her with a needle. In addition to his work as artistic director and choreographer with AAADT, Ailey also choreographed ballets for other companies including American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and The Metropolitan Opera. For American Ballet Theatre, he created The River (1970), one of several choreographies he set to the jazz music of Duke Ellington.

Commercial work

Throughout his career, Ailey continued to pursue work as a commercial theater choreographer, re-staging Carmen Jones (August 1959) and Jamaica (1960) for Summer stock theater and staging dances for the theatrical review African Holiday (1960) and Dark Side of the Moon (May 1960). These commercial engagements remained segregated, with African-American casts generally hired to entertain mostly white audiences.

The school was renamed The Ailey School in 1999. Several years later, the school moved into The Joan Weill Center for Dance. Following Jefferson's death in 2010, Tracy Inman and Melanie Person assumed stewardship of the school as co-directors of the school. In 2012, after leading Ailey 2 for 38 years, Sylvia Waters retired. The second company's resident choreographer and associate director Troy Powell took over her role as artistic director. With the addition of the Elaine Wynn and Family Education Wing, the Ailey School is still growing and is now the most prominent place in New York City committed to training dancers. In 1971 she premiered Cry, which he dedicated to his mother and black women everywhere. She took over as artistic director following his death in 1989.

Other important figures in the company include Sylvia Waters, who in 1974, after performing with the company for six years, was asked by Ailey to lead The Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble — a junior company, known today as Ailey 2, that prepares leading students for professional dance careers. Additionally, Masazumi Chaya, who danced with the company for 15 years before becoming rehearsal director, was later appointed associate artistic director in 1991.

Personal life

Ailey was uncomfortable with the label "Black choreographer" and preferred being known simply as a choreographer, while also acknowledging to the Chicago Tribune in 1987: "Of course there is something black in my work: me and my 56 years." was known to be private about his personal life.

Death

On December 1, 1989, Ailey died from an AIDS-related illness; he was 58 years old. Ailey asked his doctor to announce that his death was caused by terminal blood dyscrasia in order to shield his mother from the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. He was survived by his mother, Lula; his stepfather, Fred Cooper; his brother, Calvin Cooper; and his nieces, Marika and Crystal

On December 9, 1989, more than 4,000 mourners attended Ailey's funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The funeral, which lasted two hours, featured his friend Maya Angelou reading an oral interpretation of her poem "For Alvin Ailey", drumming by Max Roach, a reading of a statement from President George H. W. Bush, and eulogies by Carmen de Lavallade, Judith Jamison, and New York City Mayor David Dinkins. The funeral also included performances of Ailey's choreography on a makeshift stage constructed around his casket. These included Dudley Williams performing "Song for You", Donna Wood dancing an excerpt from "Cry", and excerpts from Revelations performed by Mari Kajiwara, John Parks, and members of his dance company.

Reception and legacy

Recognition and honors

  • 1968: Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada
  • 1972: Princeton University's honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
  • 1975: Dance Magazine citation
  • 1979: Capezio Award
  • 2012: Ailey crater on Mercury named in his honor
  • 2012: Inducted into the Legacy Walk in 2012
  • 2014: Posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
  • 2017: VH1 Trailblazer Honors
  • 2020: Figure-skating choreographer Rohene Ward and Olympic medallist Jason Brown co-choreographed a tribute to Ailey set to Nina Simone's version of "Sinnerman", which Brown competed in both the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons, including at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
  • 2024-2025: The Whitney Museum of American Art mounted its exhibition Edges of Ailey.  The exhibit included artwork by artists such as Romare Bearden and Alma Thomas, as well as videos and performances by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  The exhibit was curated by Adrienne Edwards (who also edited the catalog ) and drew on items held at the Black Archives of Mid America in Kansas City, Missouri and the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Archives Collection at the Library of Congress.

After his death, Ailey's personal papers were housed at the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, Missouri.

Documentary

In 2021, the documentary Ailey by director Jamila Wignot was released in the United States. Wignot first discovered the work of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater while attending a performance as a student at Wellesley College; in her documentary more than twenty years later, Alexandra Villarreal of The Guardian writes, "What emerges is a towering figure who won worldwide acclaim with art steeped in personal experience, yet was too afraid to openly share his full identity even in death." and of amplifying and transforming the emotivity characteristic of Martha Graham and his modern dance teachers into "metaphors of the American black experience,” while creating a positive stereotype of "supremely physical, supremely sensitive beings" at the expense of "genuineness.”

Ailey responded to such criticism by stating, "The black pieces we do that come from blues, spirituals and gospels are part of what I am. They are as honest and truthful as we can make them. I'm interested in putting something on stage that will have a very wide appeal without being condescending; that will reach an audience and make it part of the dance; that will get everybody into the theater. If it's art and entertainment — thank God, that's what I want to be."

  • Three for Now, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Clark Center, New York City, November 27, 1960.
  • Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Clark Center, November 27, 1960.
  • Three for Now, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Clark Center, November 27, 1960.
  • Two for Now, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, January 26, 1962.
  • Three for Now, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, April 28, 1963.
  • Riedaiglia, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sweden, 1967.
  • Quintet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, Scotland, 1968, then Billy Rose Theatre, New York City, 1969.
  • Diversion No. 1, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Greek Theatre (Los Angeles), July 14, 1969.
  • Masekela Langage, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Dance Festival, New London, Connecticut, 1969, then Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City, 1969.
  • Streams, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1970.
  • Gymnopedies, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 23 August 1970.
  • The River, American Ballet Theatre, New York State Theater, 1970.
  • Flowers, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, ANTA Theatre, 1971.
  • Myth, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1971.
  • Choral Dances, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1971.
  • Cry, solo created for Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1971.
  • Mingus Dances, Robert Joffrey Company, New York City Center, 1971.
  • Mary Lou's Mass, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1971.
  • Archipelago, Festival of Contemporary Music at Royan, France, January 18, 1971.
  • Song for You, solo created for Dudley Williams, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1972.
  • The Lark Ascending, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York City Center, 1972.
  • Love Songs, Alvin Ailey City Center Dance Theater, New York City Center, 1972.
  • Hidden Rites, Alvin Ailey City Center Dance Theater, New York City Center, 1973.
  • The Mooche, 1975,
  • Night Creature, 1975,
  • Pas de "Duke", 1976,
  • Memoria, 1979,
  • Phases, 1980
  • Landscape, 1981.
  • Survivors, 1986.

Stage

Acting and dancing

  • (Broadway debut) House of Flowers, Alvin Theatre, New York City, 1954 – Actor and dancer.
  • The Carefree Tree, 1955 – Actor and dancer.
  • Sing, Man, Sing, 1956 – Actor and dancer.
  • Show Boat, Marine Theatre, Jones Beach, New York, 1957 – Actor and dancer.
  • Jamaica, Imperial Theatre, New York City, 1957 – Actor and lead dance.
  • Call Me By My Rightful Name, One Sheridan Square Theatre, January 1961 – Paul.
  • Antony and Cleopatra (opera), Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City, 1966.
  • La Strada, first produced at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 1969.
  • Leonard Bernstein's Mass, Metropolitan Opera House, 1972, then John F. Kennedy delícia Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia Academy of Music, both 1972.
  • Carmen, Metropolitan Opera, 1972.
  • Choreographed ballet, Lord Byron (opera; also see below), Juilliard School of Music, New York City, 1972.s in Three Acts, Piccolo Met, New York City, 1973.

Director

  • (With William Hairston) Jerico-Jim Crow, The Sanctuary, New York City, 1964, then Greenwich Mews Theatre, 1968.
  • Carmen Jones (film), Dance Soloist, 1954.
  • The Turning Point (1977 film), choreographer for Miss Browne's Gala Solo, 1977.
  • Ailey, 2021.

See also

  • Postmodern dance
  • 20th century concert dance
  • List of dance companies
  • List of dancers

References

Citations

Cited works

  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
  • American Ballet Theatre biography
  • Kennedy Center biography
  • NPR: Holiday Dance at the Alvin Ailey Theater
  • Archive footage of Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble dancing Revelations in 1988 at Jacob's Pillow
  • Archival footage of Matthew Rushing performing in Alvin Ailey's Revelations in 2007 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
  • Archival footage of Ailey II performing in Alvin Ailey's Revelations in 1988 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
  • Archival footage of Dance Theatre of Harlem performing in Alvin Ailey's The Lark Ascending in 2013 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
  • Alvin Ailey at Find a Grave