Edges of Ailey Exhibition at the Whitney Museum

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School

Edges of Ailey is the first large-scale museum exhibition to reflect on the life, work, and legacy of our visionary founder, Alvin Ailey. Presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art in its 18,000+ square-foot fifth-floor galleries, this multifaceted presentation encompasses a multimedia exhibition, daily performance program, and scholarly catalogue to offer a richly layered experience for understanding the artist anew.

The exhibition situates Mr. Ailey within a broader social, creative, and cultural context, illuminating the artists who influenced and collaborated with him, the spaces and scenes he frequented, and the dynamic themes explored within his dances through painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, film and video, rehearsal footage, ephemera, and other archival materials.

As part of the exhibition, the Whitney and AILEY are presenting an ambitious program of performances, classes, workshops, and panel discussions in the Whitney's theater and gallery spaces, further exploring Alvin Ailey's legacy and AILEY's broad scope of activities. Attendance for specific program events requires advance booking. Explore the program and plan your visit: whitney.org/exhibitions/edges-of-ailey

Press Release: The Whitney Museum Announces Over 90 Live Dance Performances, Classes, Talks, And More In Conjunction With Edges Of Ailey

Featured Images

Alvin Ailey American Dance ... (Read More) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Isaiah Day (Hide)

Ailey II's Jordyn White

Alvin Ailey American Dance ... (Read More) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Isaiah Day, Christopher Taylor, and The Ailey School's Carley Brooks (Hide)

Alvin Ailey American Dance ... (Read More) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School (Hide)

Featured Video

Whitney Museum's Edges of Ailey ... (Read More) Whitney Museum's Edges of Ailey Exhibition (Hide)

Featured News Releases

October 16, 2024

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Returns To Atlanta's Fox Theatre February 12-16, 2025 For An Unprecedented Six Performances

ATLANTA – October 16, 2024 – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world’s most popular dance companies, announces a return to the Fox Theatre, February 12–16, as part of an extensive United States tour. Celebrating the Company’s season of Legacy in Motion, the 2025 Atlanta engagement will showcase the unrivaled artistry, passion, and precision of the extraordinary Ailey dancers for six uplifting performances, including one on Valentine’s Day, featuring brilliant premieres, new productions, and repertory favorites sure to thrill returning fans and first-timers alike.

Featured Press Coverage

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December 31, 2024

Interview - “If You Can Walk, You Can Dance”: Inside the Whitney Museum’s Alvin Ailey Retrospective

In 1949, as legend has it, Alvin Ailey, then a young gymnast, followed school buddy and fellow future dance icon Carmen de Lavallade to the famed Lester Horton “Dance Theater” on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It was a simple gesture that would lay the groundwork for the future of American concert dance. After Horton’s unexpected death, Ailey took over the Horton company for a while before starting the eponymous Alvin Ailey Company in New York, forming a beautiful, long and deeply intersectional lineage that incorporated dance, art, and innumerable interconnected histories culminating in the very first exhibit of the archival record of the Alvin Ailey Company, a show five years in the making and currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art.

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October 17, 2024

The Guardian - Alvin Ailey: New Exhibition Celebrates The Life And Legacy Of A Dance Icon

Alvin Ailey was a momentous figure in American dance. One of his most substantial and lasting achievements was to transform ideas of what a modern dance company could be, collapsing distinctions between diverse worlds like concert dance, jazz and Hollywood entertainment. He was also a transformational figure for the Black community: the dance institutions that he built in his lifetime – the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center – have cultivated generations of Black dance talent while sharing the experience of Black people in America.

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October 16, 2024

Observer - Edges of Ailey Brings Dance to the Whitney

At the edge of Manhattan, in an 18,000-square-foot gallery on the fifth floor of a bright asymmetrical building, is the first large-scale exhibition about the life and work of the groundbreaking Black American choreographer Alvin Ailey (1931-1989). This show is a long time coming, both for Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator Adrienne Edwards (who has been working on the show for about six years) and for fans of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founded by Ailey in 1958 (I, for one, have been looking forward to it for months).