Alvin Ailey Contextualisation Essay

Ailey dropd his culture and galore(postnominal) childhood memories to base his choreography on. Church and worship played a huge role in the lives of opprobrious Americans and was the center of Aileys familiarity. The ebullience and poignancy of the black experience are well served in Aileys splendid.The church was always very important, very theatrical, very intense. The life that went on there and the music made a great impression on me. (A. P Bailey 1997 pg. 8) He grew up in Texas in the 1930s with some(prenominal) racial segregation and the economy being big problems of the time. Black lives were as peaceful and secure as racism and poverty would allow. (Dunning, 1996) In those eld black lot were forced into certain sections of the townyou couldnt grease ones palms a house in other sections of the town, so you had to go to schools that were fundamentally segregated.In spite of the miserable living conditions  Aileys community and others alike were joyful in church a nd the drew drop lodge which was where all the adults used to go on Saturday nights to dance to the blaring imposter box. The dew drop hunting lodge was a rough place to be. My beget was in there, and bothbody was doing what they considered to be the nasty dancesmany of the same people who went to dew drop inn on a Saturday night went to church on a sunshine morning. In dance I deal with these two very antithetic worlds Blues suite and revelations. (A. P Bailey 1997 pg23) At the age of 12 Ailey joined his mother in Los Angeles where she was to work as cleaner for a sloshed washrag family I remember very well seeing my mother on her knees scrubbing these white folks rooms and halls.That image is in my ballet cry (A. P Bailey 1997pg32) Here he experienced the playing field and heard the music of Duke Ellington for the first time, whos music he by and by came to create a total of 14 dances to. Including The River The River is a legendary collaboration between Ailey and Elli ngton was Ellingtons first symphonic score written specifically for danceThe legendary and highly acclaimed collaboration mirrors together the art forms beautifully. (http//www. exploredance. com/article. htm? id=1635) Creations of two MasterfulArtists, Alvin Ailey and Duke Ellington by Amber Henrie December 28, 2006. It was not until the 1940s that Ailey took a serious interest in dance, seeing the Dunham Company perform stimulated him in a way that nothing ever had before. Proving it to be a transcendent experience for him, he felt a connection with her and her dancers and was displace into another realm. I couldnt believe there were black people on a legitimate stagebefore largely white audiencesdoing afro-Caribbean.Lester Horton not only inspired Ailey with his stylized technique and incredibly communicative movement but also in the way he offered his students a complete education teaching them how to participate in all aspects of turnout from lighting and reading music to choosing the correct fabric for performances He knew every fabric in the world and was extremely knowledgeable about color, design, discolor 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 focus on movements that lengthen the spine and the hamstring muscles with flat backs, squinty stretches, descending and ascending from the floor into horizontal positions, release swings, leg swings and pro institutely lunges all of which appear in Aileys works regularly. Lester Horton has proved to be Aileys biggest influence the similarities between the 2 choreographers are due to Aileys awe of Horton, his works and his attitude.As he just as Martha whole meal flour had, had a mixed racial company He realized that you fork out to use the best dancers regardless of color (A. P Bailey 1997 Pg. 60) All of the above stylistic features are seen in works of Aileys such as Revelations, Cry and Witness to name a few. Each using recondite plies and stunning lines to create interesting and importeeful viewing, using a confederacy of modern dance with jazz and classical ballet. Each with a meaning and a message to its audiences worldwide.Ailey (cited by De Frantz) said From his roots as a slave, the American Negro sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant, but always bright has created a legacy which have touched, illuminated and influenced the most remote preserve of world civilisation We bring you the exuberance of jazz, the ecstasy of his spirituals and the dark tape transport of his blues. Yet while Ailey drew lots 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.After Lester Hortons death, Ailey founded his own company and had great success that still lives to this day he and his company toured worldwide and were awarded with numerous honours before settling In New York. Yet Thomas F DeFrantz (2004) said the unasked question, implicit in(predicate) in dozens of feature articles and reviews, seemed to be how could a gay 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 idioms history?