Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Encyclopedia
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
company
Dance company
A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a spectacle or entertainment.-Members:*Artistic Director*Choreographers*Dancers*Board of Directors*Education administrator...
based in New York, New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...
. It is made up of 30 dancers as well as artistic director Judith Jamison
Judith Jamison
Judith Anna Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater....
and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya.
History
Alvin Ailey and a group of young Black modern dancers first performed at New York's 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association (92nd Street Y), under the name Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in March 1958. Following this performance, the company traveled on what were known as the "station wagon tours"; in 1960, the AAADT became a resident company of the 51st Street51st Street (Manhattan)
51st Street is a long one-way street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.-East 51st Street:*The route officially begins at Beekman Place which is on a hill overlooking FDR Drive...
YWCA
YWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
's Clark Center for the Performing Arts. It was during this period that Ailey choreographed his famous work Revelations. In 1962, the company was chosen to tour the Far East, Southeast Asia and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
as part of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's "President's Special International Program for Cultural Presentations." Judith Jamison
Judith Jamison
Judith Anna Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater....
joined the company in 1965.
Ailey established a school in 1969, the same year that the company moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
. Both company and school relocated to 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan a year later, to a renovated church building. In April of that year, a financial crisis caused Ailey to issue a statement that the dissolution of the company might take place. The crisis abated, however, and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at the New York City Center, where it is currently the resident company. Associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya joined the company in 1972.
AAADT, the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (a touring company) and the Ailey school relocated in 1980 to four new studios in a building on Broadway. The company celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary three years later. Alvin Ailey died on December 1 of 1989; Judith Jamison assumed the post of Artistic Director, and the entire Ailey organization moved to 211 West 61st Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The Ailey School and nearby Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, have since affiliated to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
(BFA) degree program.http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/fields_of_study/bfa_dance/aileyfordham_partner_22314.asp
Many arts organizations have experienced stresses upon the death of their founding artistic director. Many people have contributed to the success of AAADT, but the work of Michael Kaiser
Michael Kaiser
Michael M. Kaiser is president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.Dubbed "the turnaround king" for his work at such arts institutions as the Kansas City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Opera House, Kaiser has...
, the Executive Director from 1990 to 1993, is often cited as a model of successful nonprofit performing arts management.
Following tours in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in the 1990s, as well as a residency in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1997, the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation announced in 2001 that a new dance complex was to be developed. Ground was broken on the building site in Manhattan the following year. The company and school moved into the building, named the Joan Weill Center for Dance, in 2004. The company toured Russia and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the following year.
In 2007, AAADT was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, made possible through a donation by New York City mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
.
The Ailey School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). The Ailey School is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an institution of higher education and is eligible to participate in Title IV programs. The Ailey School is recognized by the US Veterans Administration as an eligible school to participate in Veteran's Educational Benefit Programs. The Ailey School is authorized under Federal Law to enroll non-immigrant alien students. Denise Jefferson
Denise Jefferson
Denise Adele Jefferson was an American dance educator who served as the director of the Ailey School of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1984 until her death....
was selected by Ailey to head the school when it was founded in 1984 and served as its director until her death in 2010.
Performances and repertory
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed for an estimated 21 million people in 48 states, as well as 71 countries on six continents. Among these performances are included two South African residencies. The company has often been an ambassador for American culture, starting with President John F. Kennedy's Southeast Asia tour program. The company and its dancers and artistic staff have been recognized as cultural ambassadors numerous times, as in the 2001 awarding of the National Medal of ArtsNational Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
to both Judith Jamison and the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation.
Founder Alvin Ailey created more than 79 dances for his company during his tenure; he also maintained, however, that the company was not solely a repository for his choreography. Hence AAADT has a repertory of more than 200 works by over seventy choreographers, including such choreographers as Ulysses Dove
Ulysses Dove
Ulysses Dove was one of the most innovative contemporary choreographers of the past half-century.Dove began his dance training at Boggs Academy in Georgia...
, Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally...
, Uri Sands, Elisa Monte, Talley Beatty
Talley Beatty
Talley Beatty was born in Cedar Grove, Louisiana, a section of Shreveport, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He is considered one of the greatest of African American choreographers, and also bears the titles dancer, educator, and dance company director...
, Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...
and Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
(whose work The Golden Section, excerpted from her larger ballet, The Catherine Wheel
The Catherine Wheel (album)
The Catherine Wheel is David Byrne's musical score commissioned by Twyla Tharp for her dance project. The Catherine Wheel premiered September 22, 1981, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City....
, entered AAADT's repertory in 2006). The company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, including Revelations, Night Creature and Cry, in continuous performance.
See also
- New York City CenterNew York City CenterNew York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
- Culture of New York CityCulture of New York CityThe culture of New York City is reflected by the city's size and variety. Many American cultural movements first emerged in the city. The Harlem Renaissance established the African-American renaissance in the United States, while American modern dance developed in New York in the early 20th century...
- Alvin AileyAlvin AileyAlvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...
- Revelations
- Carmen De LavalladeCarmen De LavalladeCarmen De Lavallade is a dancer, choreographer, professor and stage and film actress.-Early Years:Carmen De Lavallade was born in Los Angeles on March 6, 1931, to Afro-Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by her aunt who owned one of the first African American history...