Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey, Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an African American modern dancer, dance teacher and choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ailey was a gifted creator of dance that expresses the African American cultural experience and history. His choreographic works live on in performances by the company he founded. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater toured extensively and regularly in Europe and Asia during Ailey's lifetime, making Ailey a familiar name to dance lovers worldwide. His works continue to inspire, uplift, educate and communicate brilliance to all who witness them. One of his most well known works, Revelations consistently brings audiences to their feet in enthusiastic, spontaneous ovation.

Beginnings

Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Cooper, in Rogers, Texas. His father abandoned the family when Alvin was only a few months old. Lula was a determined, hardworker who did not mind moving in order to move up. Young Alvin moved numerous times in his early years. One of the constants in Alvin's childhood was attendance at the True Vine Baptist Church. His mother enjoyed singing in the gospel choir. Alvin's immersion in the experience of charismatic and enthusiastic worship filled with gospel music and old spirituals had a deep affect on him. Later in life, he choreographed dances to some of the music he first heard as a churchgoing youngster.

In 1943 he and his mother moved to Los Angeles. Alvin was fourteen. His mother was often working. The teen enjoyed his freedom after school to explore the city. He was drawn to the music pouring from the big band jazz clubs while the musicians practiced for their evening shows. He was also drawn to the theatre marquees announcing upcoming shows like Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and others.

One day he spotted a handbill with a photo of a beautiful black dancer costumed in layers and layers of ruffles. This dancer was Katherine Dunham. At the time, Dunham's dance troupe was the only group of black dancers. They were touring and performing dances from Africa, Haiti and Latin America. Alvin, a high school student, was so curious that he found himself peaking in the stage door to catch sight of the performance. It was Dunham's Tropical Revue onstage that day. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for him.

Ailey Studies Dance

Alvin began hanging around the stage door of the theater during the run of Dunham's show. He was there so much that eventually one of the dancers invited him backstage and into the auditorium to watch. This introduction led him to hunger to study dance.

Initially, Alvin took dance classes in the style and method of choreographer and dancer Katherine Dunham, from a student of hers. However, he was not really comfortable with this style that involved abandoning oneself to sensuous full body movement.

Later, he was introduced to dance teacher Lester Horton. Horton had a dance school in Hollywood. Horton's style was more straightforward. After seeing the school performance of beautiful fellow Jefferson High student and Horton protege, Carmen de Lavallade, Alvin signed on at Horton. Lavallade was to be a lifelong friend and colleague of Alvin's. She inspired him with with her beauty, grace and calm presence.

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 the University of California, Berkeley. He studied authors like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Carson McCullers. He was a very introspective sort and was considered an extremely private person.

As a dancer, Alvin lacked training and did not have the classic dancer body type or technique. But there was something magical, masculine and catlike about the way he moved. Although he wasn't very secure about his ability, he was enthusiastic about dance. His enthusiasm was contagious and the other dancers came to love him.

Sometimes his need to escape or hide, perhaps due to insecurity, got the best of him. In 1951, just before one of his first performances, he disappeared. Horton allowed him to come back and try again when he was ready. But again, in late summer of 1951, Alvin left for San Francisco to work and go to school. It was not long before he found his way to a dance studio again. He soon befriended a young singer and dancer by the name of Margareurite Angelos (Maya Angelou). The two worked up a nightclub act called "Al and Rita". Although they played a gig now and then, Alvin earned a living waiting tables and dancing at the New Orleans Champagne Supper Club. It was here that he first began choreographing acts of his own. This experience marked the end of his college pursuits.

Ailey as Professional Dancer, Teacher and Choreographer

Near the end of 1953, Ailey was ready to return to Los Angeles and settle into a routine as a Horton dancer. Lester Horton welcomed him into his company as a part of the chorus. Ailey began taking several dance classes a day. He soon found a spot in Horton's choreographer's workshop group, an apprenticeship group. Soon thereafter, Alvin choreographed his first formal concert dance, Afternoon Blues, set to music from the Broadway show, On the Town.

Alvin took in every aspect of Horton's work process and especially enjoyed watching performances by dancers Carmen de Lavallade and James Truitte. 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. Jack Cole, a leading Hollywood choreographer of the time, danced in Horton performances. So Alvin had the opportunity to study his work as well and get to know him.

By the end of 1953, Lester Horton and his company had experienced some level of success. A small group of Horton dancers had performed at the reputation-making Ninety second Street Y in New York City as well as a dance festival in Massachussetts. The company was invited to perform at a chic supper club in Hollywood. But the effort and energy to took Lester Horton to create, choreograph and produce these performances left him sick and exhausted. He died of a massive heart attack on November 2, 1953.

When Lester Horton died, 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. In addition, Ailey was pressed into service as a dance instructor by Horton's partner, Frank Eng, the manager of the company. Ailey's productions were met with mixed reviews by critics, but for the most part as good or better than reviews of Horton's shows.

During summer of 1954, a group of Horton dancers returned by invitation to Ted Shawn's summer dance festival in Massachusetts. Although they got poor reviews, contacts were made. The Horton company was invited to audition for TV work. One of the people watching the audtition was producer Arnold Saint Subber who was working on a Broadway show, House of Flowers, due to open the following winter. Truman Capote was adapting his short storyfor the show. George Balanchine was choreographer. Saint Subber expressed interest in Alvin, but Alvin politely declined and returned to Los Angeles.

That winter, Saint Subber tracked Ailey down in Los Angeles and asked him and Carmen de Lavallade to join the show. Balanchine had been fired. Herbert Ross, the new choreographer wanted the two as featured dancers. This time, Alvin and Carmen decided to accept the offer and move to New York. Although Alvin promised to return to Los Angeles, he never did.

Through his involvement in House of Flowers, Ailey's life changed. This was an all black cast with many stars. Marlene Dietrich was a part of the show's extended family. He met Langston Hughes and many others as a result of his involvement.

New York was ripe with opportunities for dance and Ailey began taking advantage of them. He took dance at Katherine Dunham's school as well as from Martha Graham. He studied choreography as well. He took it all in and observed the many dancers that surrounded him. It was a great time to be a dancer and choreographer in New York. The founding choreographers of modern dance were still at work. Younger modern dance choreographers with new approaches were making names for themselves. There were many opportunities for dancers. It was a creative and promising time.

Ailey was busy with House of Flowers through most of 1955. When it closed, he lived on unemployment for some time and taught modern dance classes. In addition, he took advantage of the cultural opportunities in New York; films, poetry, new music and of course, dance. At the same time, the civil rights movement was awakening. Alvin's reality growing up as a black youngster in the south was being replayed in headlines of the newspapers.

By the late 1950's, Ailey was teaching dance seriously and had developed a strong following of students. One of Ailey's students, Marilyn (Mickey) Bord began volunteering to help him register his students as they arrived for class. She also took on the task of helping less advanced students, as Alvin had little patience for them. Mickey became a lifelong friend, eventually spending endless hours volunteering for Ailey's company.

Near the end of 1957, a new black musical, Jamaica, was in the planning stages. The choreographer was Alvin's idol, Jack Cole. Alvin dedicated himself to creating a duet for the audition with friend and fellow dancer, Cristyne Lawson that was consistent with Cole's style. Cole chose the pair to head the dance brigade. It was a spectacular show that played for eighteen months. Lena Horne and Ricardo Montalban were the show's main attractions.

Horne was a good friend to the cast, often opening her home and certainly her heart to the cast. She encouraged the cast to use the stage for their own work and practice when it was not in use. Alvin had been toying with the idea of producing a performance of his own choreography. He gladly took the opportunity to organize dancers to practice his work.

Ailey and his friend Ernest Parnham split the rental cost for the Kaufman Concert Hall at the Ninety Second Street Y for a show on March 30th, 1958. Ernest and Alvin gathered a group of dancers via the grapevine and personal network and set about the process of putting together a show. The dancers practiced several days a week for three to four hours a day starting in September of 1957. Ailey's intensity of focus was evident. It was clear, that to him, dance was a way to communicate with whoever his audience was. He especially wanted to communicate about black dancers, how beautiful and open they could be. Ailey, always intensely private, communicated through dance, emotions and more that he was unable to express any other way.

Friends rallied to support the effort. Mickey Bord offered to help and soon found herself scouring thrift shops and discount stores for costume needs.

The day of the concert, the hall filled largely with friends, colleagues and the Y's knowledgeable dance audience. Lena Horne was there adding glamour to the mood. The audience was politely appreciative of the first two performances, Trajectories and Ode and Homage. But for the third, Blues Suite enthusiasm exploded. There was curtain call after curtain call. A company was born.

Alvin booked another date at the Y for nine months later.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Ailey started his own dance company in 1958 featuring primarily African American dancers. The company was invited to Ted Shawn's summer dance festival in Massachusetts in the summer of 1959. Following the stint, Susan Pimsleur, a concert manager offered to add the Ailey dancers to her roster. She laid out a plan for tours and concerts and designed a brochure, calling the company the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

A third concert at the Y was planned for January 31, 1960. It was during this performance that Ailey first staged his signature work, Revelations. The piece came from a very deep place in Ailey. The performance was an intense expression of heavenly faith, earthly despair and unquenchable humanity. From its very first performance that January day, the audience jumped to their feet and burst forth with a resounding ovation. The overseer of the dance program at the Y finally went on to the stage to silence the audience and announce that due to the overwhelming response of the audience, a second performance would be scheduled, an unprecedented announcement.

In 1961, the U.S. State Department approached Ailey, inviting him to tour in Southeast Asia for a thirteen week tour produced by the President's Special International Program for Cultural Presentations. Alvin accepted the invitation. He gathered dancers including some from his Horton days, including de Lavallade, Truitte and others. This was the first of many successful tours by the company. In a record three years, Ailey had created a company and a body of work that communicated powerfully and convinced the world of the beauty and universality of black art and its rightful place in American culture. Alvin wrote in program notes for one of the tours, "The cultural heritage of the American Negro is one of America's richest treasures".

He integrated his dance company in 1963.

Ailey also did some acting and directing. One notable production he directed was Langston Hughes's Jericho-Jim Crow (1964).

In summer of 1965, Ailey spotted Judith Jamison, a strikingly tall dancer with a strong foundation in ballet, at an audition he was attending. Ailey saw something special in her and tracked her down to invite her to join the company. Judith accepted. Today it is Jamison who runs the AAADT.

Personal Life

Alvin Ailey was born to a teen aged single mother. His father was never a presence in his life. During his childhood, his mother worked hard to earn a meager living. The two moved alot. As a youngster, Alvin often had to fend for himself after school while his mother worked. It was not an easy life. Perhaps Alvin became used to being alone and that influenced his intensely private nature, or perhaps that was his personality.

As early as his high school years Alvin was conflicted about his sexuality. He dated girls but found himself attracted to boys. This was an internal conflict that Ailey never overcame but never totally accepted about himself.

When Alvin was a young adult, his mother married and eventually had a son, Calvin. This new family was hard for Alvin to adjust to. He never became part of the new family. Alvin was just getting established with the Lester Horton Dance Theater and his work and life consumed him. Not long afterward Ailey moved to New York.

Ultimately, Ailey had at least two long term relationships with men. It was not something he felt comfortable about in public. Ailey never married nor did he have children. His dancers were his family and his life. His private life was kept very separate from his public life.

Alvin Ailey died of AIDS in 1989, at the age of 58.

Legacy

As a result of world tours, Ailey's choreographical masterpiece Revelations, based on Ailey's experience growing up as an African American in the South, is among the best known and most frequently seen of modern dance performances. This piece 'speaks' to audiences of all stripes in such a profound and inspiring way that audiences often leap to their feet in ovation at the close of the performance. It is a timeless portrayal of the experience of the American black south of the first half of the 20th century.

Ailey has been memorialized by the renaming of West 61st Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues 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.

In 1987, Ailey received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. The citation on the award read, " To Alvin Ailey, dancer teacher and choreographer, whose work is generated from the heart and powered by passion; he stands as a model of artistic integrity. An American, informed by the Black experience, Mr. Ailey's choreography presses through cultural lines and speaks a universal language. His dances, whether sassy, sad, witty or lyrical, have brought joy and a sense of purpose to people throughout the world. Alvin Ailey's consistent artistic achievements have insured him a place as a giant in the history of American modern dance". Old friend, Harry Belafonte presented the award. Ailey was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bailey, Peter A Revelations: The Autobiography of Alvian Ailey, Secaucus, NJ: Carol, 1995 ISBN 1-55972-255-X
• DeFrantz, Thomas F Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture, Oxfrod: Oxford University Press, 2004 ISBN 0-19-515419-3
• Dunning, Jennifer. 1996. Alvin Ailey a life in dance. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0201626071
• Ailey, Alvin, and A. Peter Bailey. 1995. Revelations the autobiography of Alvin Ailey. Seacaucus, N.J., Carol Pub. Group. ISBN 155972255X
• Cook, Susan, and Joseph. Mazo. 1978. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0688033040
• Pinkney, Andrea David, and J. Brian Pinkney. 1993. Alvin Ailey. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 1562824139

External links

• American Ballet Theater biography retrieved 11/28/07
• Kennedy Center biography retrieved 11/28/07
• Body and Soul: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from the Smithsonian Institution rtrieved 11/28/07

• NPR: Holiday Dance at the Alvin Ailey Theater retrieved 11/28/07
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater retrieved 11/28/07

• Ailey biography retrieved 11/28/07

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