Remembering Alvin Ailey
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/arts/dance/30sulc.html?_r=0
* He spoke about the importance of maintaining tradition and culture while not believing in segregation.
* He is the foundation of American orchestral music, encyclopedic in his use of the vernacular
* He was very moved by the church, the singing, the blues.
* Alvin was a brilliant guy.
* Alvin was a great reader of dance history, and he’d say to me,
* “Stanley, we’re going to build an organization like the Bolshoi — a school, a second company, a repertory company.”
Cal performances
http://calperfs.berkeley.edu/learn/k-12/pdf/2009/Alvin_Ailey_American_Dance_Theater_Study_Guide_0910.pdf
* Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has brought African American cultural expression and the American modern dance tradition to the world’s stages.
* Inspiration for Revelations
* With profound feeling, with faith, hope, joy and sometimes sadness, the choirs, congregations, deacons, preachers, and ushers would sing black spirituals and gospel songs.
http://www.msurileycenter.com/pdf/education/AlvinAiley_cuesheet.pdf
* Ailey knew many talented African-American dancers, and he wanted to create dances that would both show off their talent and express their heritage.
* Ailey’s dance style developed from careful observation of human movement.
* Spirituals—songs that were developed among African Americans during slavery. They express religious beliefs, teach, scold, or communicate information
* baptism—Christian ritual in which water is used symbolically to wash away sin
* Night Creature is a dance set to music by jazz pianist Duke Ellington.
* Although the dance does not have a specific storyline with named characters, Night Creature was created by Mr. Ailey to explore the ritual of nightlife.
* Ailey’s movement vocabulary During the performance, watch for:
* slow jazz walks —an influence of...