The start of "r-Evolution, Dream," a new ensemble work by veteran Alvin Ailey dancer Hope Boykin, is scored by a sole jazz drummer's symbol beat, tapped out in a vacuum of hushed, anticipatory silence. Ailey dancer and director Matthew Rushing stands alone on stage in a white shirt and black tie, a single spotlight hitting him from the side.
Many top dancers with elite dance companies start training when they’re very young — but that’s not always the case. Solomon Dumas — a rising star at the Alvin Ailey Company —started late, getting a push from his mom.
Robert Battle, the artistic director of Ailey’s namesake dance company, speaks about the historical role of the arts and finding our common humanity.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater hosts its annual Opening Night Gala in New York.
The world of dance has some iconic imagery. Sugarplum fairies, swans in lakes...detainees in American prisons. The third one might not sound so familiar now, but with the final installation of choreographer Kyle Abraham's "Untitled America" premiering in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's winter season, the three-part piece that looks at the far reaching impact on the nation's prison system could join the ranks of important dance works.
"Believing firmly that through dance one can change minds or uplift - not just entertain, but also educate - seems to me to be the backbone of the company," says Robert Battle, the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In the wake of a traumatizing year in American life, Battle feels that the time is right for the Company to once again step into the fray of current events.
Buried like a jewel in Alvin Ailey's 1960 masterpiece "Revelations" is a searing male solo set to the spiritual "I Wanna Be Ready."
Two years ago, Hope Boykin, the powerhouse dancer and choreographer who has been a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 17 years, was in Atlanta for a performance. The Company, along with the rest of the country, was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, so it was only natural that Boykin pay a visit to the Civil and Human Rights Museum.
The Root's original video series explores dances that originate, in or are influenced by, African culture. Here, we spoke with Maguette Camara of the Ailey Extension to learn about West African dance.
Janasia Johnson, 14, visited the White House and met first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday on behalf of AileyCamp Miami, a program that works with local middle schoolers and which received a national award for its work.