A new documentary on choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey, a trailblazing pioneer who founded his influential studio, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in 1958 at the age of 27, will air tonight at 9 p.m. ET on PBS’ American Masters, opening the series’ 36th season.
American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey (1931 - 1989) poses for a portrait in his office at ... [+]
The documentary, Ailey, traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man, whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with inimitable grace and power. Told through the choreographer’s own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those close to him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography that connects Ailey’s past to our present with an intimate glimpse into the Ailey studios today, following innovative hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris as he conceives a new dance, “Lazarus,” inspired by Ailey’s life.
Using previously unheard audio interviews recorded in the last year of Ailey’s life, the documentary presents the dancer’s remarkable journey in his own words, from his childhood in Jim Crow Texas to the inspiration for his 1960 masterpiece “Revelations.” Raised by a single mother, Ailey recounts the hardships of his childhood along with memories of blues and gospel music, juke joints, church, young love and the awakening of his gay identity. Throughout his life he endured racism, homophobia, addiction, mental illness and the burden of being an iconic African American artist, but he found salvation through dance. In 1989, he succumbed to an AIDS-related illness.
Over 30 years later, Ailey’s dream lives on. Where other modern dance companies were built to showcase their founders, Ailey envisioned his own as bigger than himself. By interweaving Ailey’s rich journey with Harris’ present-day rehearsal process for “Lazarus,” the film shows the enduring power of Ailey’s vision. In Harris’ creative process, Ailey comes alive for a whole new generation: his faith in the transformative power of dance, his grand embrace and his expression of complete freedom.
According to Wignot, “Ailey’s dances—celebrations of African American beauty and history—did more than move bodies; they opened minds. His dances were revolutionary social statements that staked a claim as powerful in his own time as in ours: Black life is central to the American story and deserves a central place in American art and on the world stage.”
At a digital panel discussion about the documentary on January 5—which would have been Ailey’s 91st birthday—Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director, said that as a youngster, Ailey was “observant, always a voyeur of the world,” which influenced his later work.
“How he observed his own mother and other women, showing their strength and fortitude, this became his language,” Battle noted.
Wignot mentioned “the abundance, love and joy he found in the community he was in, and the incredible curiosity he had—he was alive to things around him.”
His “spongelike nature,” she added, “was foundational.”
Discussing “Revelations”—which the dance theater describes as a “cultural treasure, using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues (to) fervently (explore) the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul”—Battle called it “a masterpiece that defies place, time and circumstance. It has the ability to transcend whatever kind of barrier you can think of—it’s a message of hope.”
Judith Jamison, the dance theater’s artistic director emerita, recalled that the first time she saw “Revelations” was at the Philadelphia Dance Academy.
“I saw Ailey do ‘Wading in the Water,’ I just had the feeling of being lifted. That’s what I felt when I saw it—exquisite dancing and taking care of other business,” she said.
In its 35 seasons on PBS, American Masters has earned 28 Emmy Awards, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards and an Oscar, among other honors. To further explore the lives and works of over 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the American Masters Podcast, educational resources and digital original series, among other features. The series is a production of the WNET Group.
