Alvin Ailey was an American choreographer and ballet dancer, born in 1931 in Rogers, who died in 1989. This page lists 1 work credited to Ailey as choreographer, including Mary Lou's Mass.
Biography
Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) in 1958, and the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in 1959. He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (later Ailey School) as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Ailey's work fused theater, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with Black vernacular, creating hope-fueled choreography that is credited with spreading global awareness of Black life in America. His choreographic masterpiece Revelations is recognized as one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world.
On July 15, 2008, the United States Congress passed a resolution designating AAADT a "vital American cultural ambassador to the World". That same year, in recognition of AAADT's 50th anniversary, then Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared December 4 "Alvin Ailey Day" in New York City, while then-Governor David Paterson honored the organization on behalf of New York State.
Works choreographed by Alvin Ailey
| Title | Type | Premiere |
|---|---|---|
| Mary Lou's Mass | performing arts production | — |
Quotes
““I’m a choreographer. I create movement and I’m searching for truth in movement.””
“"Making dances is an act of progress; it is an act of growth, an act of music, an act of teaching, an act of celebration, an act of joy."”
“"One of the processes of your life is to constantly break down that inferiority, to constantly reaffirm that I Am Somebody."”
““I always felt that, that dance was a natural part of what I wanted to express, that what I can do with my body was a part, a very important part, of me and a way to release some of those things in myself that I had been looking for.””
Contemporaries
Lucia Dlugoszewski
American composer and poet (1931–2000)
Sylvia Lewis
American actress
Carmen De Lavallade
American dancer (1931–2025)
Arnold Taraborrelli
American-Spanish choreographer
Vicente Nebrada
Venezuelan choreographer and ballet dancer (1930–2002)
Donald McKayle
American dancer (1930–2018)
Harriet Browne
American tap dancer, educator and choreographer (1932-1997)
Ray Barra
American ballet dancer
Facts from Wikidata (Q449037), CC0.