Alvin Ailey Contextualisation Essay

Ailey utilise his culture and many childhood memories to cup of tea his choreography on. Church and worship contend a huge role in the lives of black Americans and was the center of Aileys community. The exuberance and poignancy of the black experience argon strong served in Aileys splendid.The perform was always very(prenominal) important, very theatrical, very intense. The life that went on there and the medicinal drug do a great nogal opinion on me. (A. P Bailey 1997 pg. 8) He grew up in Texas in the 1930s with both(prenominal) racial segregation and the economy existence big problems of the time. Black lives were as still and secure as racism and scantiness would allow. (Dunning, 1996) In those days black flock were forced into certain sections of the townyou couldnt buy a house in other sections of the town, so you had to go to schools that were essentially segregated.In spite of the gloomy living conditions Aileys community and others as well were joyful i n church and the draw drop inn which was where all the adults use to go on Saturday nights to leaping to the clamour juke box. The dew drop inn was a rough place to be. My mother was in there, and everybody was doing what they considered to be the nasty trip the light fantasticsmany of the express(prenominal) people who went to dew drop inn on a Saturday night went to church on a Sunday morning. In dance I deal with these two very different worlds Blues suite and revelations. (A. P Bailey 1997 pg23) At the age of 12 Ailey coupled his mother in Los Angeles where she was to work as cleaner for a wealthy etiolate family I remember very well seeing my mother on her knees bush these white folks rooms and halls.That view is in my ballet cry (A. P Bailey 1997pg32) Here he experienced the theater and heard the music of Duke Ellington for the first time, whos music he later came to piddle a total of 14 dances to. Including The River The River is a legendary collaboration between Ailey and Ellington was Ellingtons first symphonic score pen specifically for danceThe legendary and passing acclaimed collaboration mirrors together the art forms beautifully. (http//www. exploredance. com/article. htm? id=1635) Creations of ii MasterfulArtists, Alvin Ailey and Duke Ellington by Amber Henrie celestial latitude 28, 2006. It was not until the 1940s that Ailey took a unspoilt interest in dance, seeing the Dunham caller-up perform excited him in a way that nothing ever had ahead. Proving it to be a transcendent experience for him, he felt a connection with her and her dancers and was lifted into another realm. I couldnt retrieve there were black people on a legitimate stagebefore largely white audiencesdoing afro-Caribbean.Lester Horton not except inspired Ailey with his stylized proficiency and implausibly expressive movement only when as well in the way he offered his students a complete education teaching them how to figure in all aspects of production f rom light and reading music to choosing the correct fabric for performances He knew every fabric in the world and was extremely knowledgeable close color, design, dyeing and tailoringI am still guided by Lesters insistence that costumes must be made from extraordinary fabric (A.P Bailey 1997 pg. 63)The Horton Technique counselling on movements that lengthen the spine and the rag muscles with flat backs, lateral stretches, descending and emanation from the floor into horizontal positions, release swings, leg swings and deep lunges all of which appear in Aileys whole shebang regularly. Lester Horton has proved to be Aileys biggest influence the similarities between the 2 choreographers are due to Aileys fearfulness of Horton, his works and his attitude.As he save as Martha Graham had, had a interracial racial company He completed that you have to use the best dancers no matter of color (A. P Bailey 1997 Pg. 60) All of the higher up stylistic features are seen in works of Aileys such as Revelations, phone call and Witness to name a few. apiece using deep plies and stunning lines to pretend interesting and meatful viewing, using a combination of new-fashioned dance with distinguish and classical ballet. Each with a meaning and a message to its audiences worldwide.Ailey (cited by De Frantz) say From his roots as a slave, the American Negro sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful has get tod a legacy which have touched, illuminated and influenced the most inappropriate preserves of world civilisation We tote up you the exuberance of jazz, the ecstasy of his spirituals and the dark frenzy of his blues. Yet while Ailey drew stacks of his choreography from his blood memories he did create plot less works too, making more use of ballet technique which can be seen in Streams. afterwards Lester Hortons death, Ailey planted his own company and had great success that still lives to this day he and his company toured worldwid e and were awarded with numerous honour before settling In modern York. Yet Thomas F DeFrantz (2004) said the unasked question, implicit in heaps of feature articles and reviews, seemed to be how could a merry black man from dirt-poor. Rural, depression-era Texas, with limited dance training and no college degree found and run the most successful modern dance company in the tongues history?