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Thirteen - Connecting Dancer Alvin Ailey’s Life Story With Classrooms

Thirteen - Connecting Dancer Alvin Ailey’s Life Story With Classrooms

Acclaimed choreographer Alvin Ailey infused his life story and Black cultural roots into his modern dance works, which have been enjoyed by millions since he first founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 in New York City. Early dances such as Revelations remain favorites in the company repertory today, but many people don’t know the background of the artist, who died in 1989.

Houston CityBook - In Homecoming Show, Isabel Wallace-Green Dances Her Way Back to Jones Hall with Alvin Ailey Company

Houston CityBook - In Homecoming Show, Isabel Wallace-Green Dances Her Way Back to Jones Hall with Alvin Ailey Company

Houston-born dancer and arts educator Isabel Wallace-Green vividly recalls seeing a performance of Alvin Ailey’s landmark 1960 dance work Revelations as a child, peering over a high balcony in Jones Hall. “The dancers were pretty small!” laughs Wallace-Green, who nevertheless was captivated, especially by a section in Revelations titled “Wade in the Water,” where translucent white, cobalt, and aquamarine cloths are stretched across the stage to evoke baptismal waters and — for African American slaves — the riverbed as a pathway to freedom. “I’d never seen anything like that.”

The Leader - Heights Dancer Returns To Houston With The Acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Leader - Heights Dancer Returns To Houston With The Acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

This March, audiences in Houston will have the opportunity to experience a historic dance company and a historic work of art. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded by its namesake, dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, in 1958. Soon after, drawing upon music from gospel, spirituals, and blues, he started creating a work that evoked childhood images of his family and of attending church in Rogers, Texas, which he called “blood memories.” The result was his iconic work, Revelations, that premiered in New York in 1960. In over six decades, the work has been performed all over the world. In 1968, it was part of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and has been presented numerous times at the White House.

Pix 11 - Learn Some West African Dance Moves

Pix 11 - Learn Some West African Dance Moves

NEW YORK (PIX11) -Maguette Camara, a choreographer and teacher from the Ailey Extension, joins New York Living to discuss the legacy of West African dance and to give a demonstration live in the studio.

Pix 11 - Broadway Dance Moves

Pix 11 - Broadway Dance Moves

Mathew Johnson Harris from Ailey Extension visits New York Living to teach classic Broadway dance moves for Wellness Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Sun - Amy Hall Garner Brings CENTURY To Philadelphia With The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Philadelphia Sun - Amy Hall Garner Brings CENTURY To Philadelphia With The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been one of the most renowned dance companies in the world for over 60 years. Legendary visionary Alvin Ailey founded the organization in 1958, bringing his dream of preserving and enriching the African American experience through American modern dance to fruition. Since its inception, Ailey’s programs continue to provide opportunities for underserved communities within the world of dance.

NPR - A Dance About Gun Violence Is Touring Nationally With Alvin Ailey's Company

NPR - A Dance About Gun Violence Is Touring Nationally With Alvin Ailey's Company

Jamar Roberts did not initially know he would create a piece to address gun violence. But he did know he needed dance to cope, after years of headlines about its victims: Michael Brown, Tamar Rice, Philando Castile, Jordan Edwards and many, many more. "It's the first thing I thought I needed to do — just for my own self, to help process what I was seeing in the media," Roberts told NPR. "It didn't really come out like 'Oh, I want to make a dance about this.' I just started sort of moving. It just appeared."

Dance Magazine - A High Degree of Success: The Ailey/Fordham Dance BFA Turns 25

Dance Magazine - A High Degree of Success: The Ailey/Fordham Dance BFA Turns 25

The story took flight with a chance encounter at the 60th Street post office in Manhattan. It was the mid-'90s and Denise Jefferson, then head of The Ailey School, and Edward Bristow, then dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, would often bump into each other in the neighborhood. At that point, both schools were already looking for ways to expand their relationship, and Jefferson had previously floated the idea of starting a BFA program. While standing in line to buy stamps, Bristow says, their friendly chitchat set in motion an idea to form a planning committee tasked with creating a BFA program that would change the lives of scores of young dancers.

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Showing 110 of 1552 Items