Alvin Ailey
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Alvin Ailey, Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an African American modern dancer and choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He died of AIDS at the age of 57. <ref>Dunning, Jennifer. "Frail, Strong and Dance Incarnate", New York Times, 1996-10-23, pp. 2. Retrieved on 2006-10-03.</ref>
Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Cooper, in Rogers, Texas. Alvin developed an early interest in dance. In 1943 he and his mother moved to Los Angeles.
Initially, he took dance classes from choreographer Katherine Dunham and later studied under Los Angeles, California dance teacher Lester Horton. While studying with Horton, Ailey pursued college courses in the Romance languages. At various times Ailey was enrolled at UCLA, Los Angeles City College, and Berkeley. He studied authors like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Carson McCullers. Ailey was fascinated by Horton's choreography, which consisted of theater pieces based on pictures by Paul Klee, poems by Garcia Lorca, music by Duke Ellington and Igor Stravinsky, and even Mexican themes. When Lester Horton died in 1953, 22-year-old Ailey was chosen to fill the shoes of his mentor. He became the director and resident choreographer for the Lester Horton Dance Theater. Within one year he choreographed three original dances for Horton's company: Creation of the World, According to St. Francis, and Mourning Morning.
Ailey began a relationship with his longtime partner, David McReynolds, in the 1950s.
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[edit] The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Ailey started his own dance company in 1958 featuring primarily African American dancers. He integrated his dance company in 1963. He also directed; one notable production was Langston Hughes's Jericho-Jim Crow (1964).
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater popularized modern dance throughout the world with his international tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Because of these tours it is theorized that Ailey's choreographical masterpiece Revelations is the most well-known and frequently seen modern dance performance. It is based on Ailey's experience growing up as an African American in the South.
Alvin Ailey is memorialized in part by the renaming of West 61st Street between Amersterdam and Columbus in New York City as "Alvin Ailey Way"; the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was located on that block at 211 West 61st Street from 1989 until 2005, when it moved to a new, bigger facility at the corner of West 55th Street and Ninth Avenue. Alvin Ailey received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988.
[edit] Further reading
- Ailey, Alvin, with A. Peter Bailey (1995). Revelations: The Autobiography of Alvin Ailey. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol. ISBN 155972255X.
- DeFrantz, Thomas F. (2004). Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515419-3.
