A deep dive into the life and career of a dancer and choreographer might not seem like a natural fit for the Whitney Museum, but it turns out that its new exhibition on Alvin Ailey (1931–89), “Edges of Ailey,” feels perfectly at home at the New York institution.
Music’s in the air, and there’s painting and sculpture in imaginative variety as an art museum gives rare treatment to an ephemeral medium. With the spirited, sense-surround show called Edges of Ailey at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York art season gets off to an exuberant, enveloping, though puzzling start. The show is a major institutional tribute to the American choreographer and performer Alvin Ailey (1931-1989). It’s also a relatively rare example of a traditionally object-intensive art museum giving full-scale treatment to the ephemeral medium of dance.
As a retrospective opens at the Whitney Museum, New York, writers, curators and those close to the choreographer explore his vision to transform American dance
Alvin Ailey is one of the most accomplished and revered dancers in history. And yet, there has never been a wide-ranging exhibition chronicling his singular life, style of dance, company, and the impact he left on American culture. “Around 2018, there was a range of shows at museums about dance: the Lincoln Kirstein ballet, the Judson Dance Theater, Merce Cunningham,” Adrienne Edwards, senior curator at The Whitney Museum in New York City, told me recently. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why not Ailey? Why hasn’t a museum done a show about him?’”
Alvin Ailey has never left the hearts of dancers, and it is that legacy which guides Edges of Ailey, the large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibition opening September 25 at the Whitney Museum. Under the direction of Senior Curator and Associate Director Adrienne Edwards, the life and works of the choreographer, dancer and artist are displayed alongside an archive of personal ephemera, music, and performance.
The name Ailey is synonymous with dance. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is more than a company: It’s a brand, an integral piece of the cultural fabric of this country. It’s huge. But somehow the man who created the Ailey empire has become lost inside it, obscured as if by an eclipse. Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who seamlessly melded dance forms, a dancer of extraordinary strength and beauty, and a man — a queer man — with an expansive, restless mind.
The annual DC Gala Benefit of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater coincided with the company's week-long residency at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
A class unto itself: Seeing a performance of Alvin Ailey is a transformative experience and the Benefit Dinner and After Party for the weeklong engagement of the Company was a great success.
The one- night-only Ailey Spirit Gala, which benefits the Ailey organization’s extensive educational and training programs for young people, was held for the first time at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, the evening celebrated the art and soul of dance. A powerful new piece created specifically for the occasion by choreographer and former Ailey company member Hope Boykin featured Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II dancers, students from The Ailey School, and youngsters from AileyCamp, the organization's dance and personal development summer enrichment program.