Ailey
Eschewing convention in pursuit of his passions, Alvin Ailey’s choreography and his eponymous group of performers defined modern dance with a signature style.
Born to a poor, teenage mother in smalltown Texas under the twin torments of the Great Depression and Jim Crow laws, Ailey’s early years were filled with material for his artistic expression. He later drew inspiration from the church services he attended and the music he heard at the local dance hall as well as the isolation he felt living in a racially-segregated society. Alvin and his mother moved to Los Angeles in 1942 where his interest in dance was kindled via lessons in a neighbor’s garage. In California, he serendipitously crossed paths with African American dancer/choreographers, Katherine Dunham and Lester Horn, credited with launching the modern dance movement in L.A. and establishing the country’s first integrated dance company. By the late 1950s, Ailey was determined to choreograph innovative interpretations that would push dance forward. The works he created—celebrations of black beauty and history—shattered boundaries and stereotypes, and redefined modern dance as an enduring and innovative American art form. Like so many artists in the 1980s, Ailey’s life was stolen by the AIDS pandemic, but his legacy continues to break convention three decades later.
Moving beyond a traditional documentary biography, Ailey interweaves the choreographer’s rich personal story with an intimate glimpse into the workings of the internationally renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater today.