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Essay On Alvin Ailey

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Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey was born on January 5, 1931, in Rogers, Texas. As known, Alvin Ailey is one of the leading figures in the 20th century modern dance. He was brought up single handedly by his young mother who was only a teenager then. He was brought up during the period of the Great Depression. A period of time where racial segregation, violence and lynchings against African Americans, prevailed. Ailey gained inspiration from the black church service he attended to as well as the music that was played at the local dance hall. Christianity instilled a strong sense of black pride, which became a strong feature of his works. In 1942, when he was 11, he moved to Los Angeles. During his stay there, he was again inspired to pursue dance after watching the ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform. He then started studying modern dance with Lester Horton who was introduced to Alvin by a friend in 1949. Alvin hung around the stage door during the run of Dunham show, so often that he was asked by a dancer to join her at the back stage into the …show more content…

He is known for employing dancers based solely on artistic talent and integrity, regardless of the colour of their skin. Long ago in that country, the blacks were discriminated by the whites. As the whites over-number the blacks, they find fault in them and assumed that they were dirty. Hence being unable to attend the same school or enter the same restaurant as the whites. Therefore, it was brave of him to have black dancers in the piece as at that period of time the whites despise the blacks. When there are more whites in a country than blacks and the whites were not willing to be near to the blacks, it means that there will be lesser audiences. Nonetheless, Alvin Ailey was willing to try. Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the African-American cultural heritage —“sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always

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