Back in 2001, Solomon Dumas’ mother was listening to the car radio when she heard an interview with some of the dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Her son had planned to enroll in theater camp, but after hearing about AileyCamp — a summer dance program for youth — she decided to enroll him there instead.
When 31-year-old professional dancer Coral Dolphin was 5 years old, she saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company perform at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Dolphin, who is from South Central, remembers feeling a sense of joy and excitement to see dancers perform the late world-renowned Alvin Ailey’s magnum opus Revelations in person.
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.”
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.
The famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is performing at The Kennedy Center through Sunday, bringing classic and new works to the stage. The company features more dancers from the D.C. area than any other place in the country. News4’s Jummy Olabanji spoke to one of the company’s dancers, Michael Jackson, Jr., about giving back to the students at his D.C. alma mater, Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Xavier Mack and Corrin Rachelle Mitchell stopped by for a preview of their run of performances at the Kennedy Center.
Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 at just 27 years old. Ailey choreographed over 100 ballets and was known to showcase the many experiences of African Americans. Today, his legacy still lives at his dance theatre in New York.
Crain’s 2023 class of 40 Under 40 honorees includes some of the most talented young people in New York. Read on to be inspired by the professionals doing the hard work well, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Khalia Campbell.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been performing its founder's signature work, Revelations, all over the world for 60 years. Lyndsey Winship talks to dancers past and present about the meaning and the humanity of this historic piece.
For more than 60 years, the spiritual power of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s signature work has stunned audiences including Obama. Here, company members explain what it’s like to dance a masterpiece.