Analyse the Choreographic Style of Alvin Ailey Essay

This particular masterpiece was performed every season, mostly because the audiences connected with the work’s emotional range and the theatricality qualities that became stable of Ailey’s choreography. In 1965, he retired from performing so that he could focus more on choreographing and directing the company.

Alvin Ailey, a well known second generation American choreographer and activist was born in Rogers, Texas on January 5, 1931. Ailey grew up poor in the small Texas town of Navasota. Although he did not have much growing up, it did not stop his drive to succeed. He became inspired by attending black church services and by the music he heard at the local dance hall. Because of this, Ailey left Texas at the young age of 12 and moved to Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Ailey excelled in different subjects such as language and athletics. He became inspired to pursue dancing after seeing the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform. In 1949, at the age of 18, he began to study modern dance with Lester Horton and joined Horton’s dance company the following year. Horton became Ailey 's major influence, as he was his mentor that gave him a foundation and technique that allowed him to grow artistically. Even though he developed his own style, he still used Horton’s technique that emphasized a strong fluid torso and ease of movement. In his years to follow, Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958. Ailey’s dance company became very popular because of its multi-racial modern dance ensemble. Due to his modern, jazz and ethnic dance styles, and extensive world tours, Alvin Ailey became one of the leading figures in the 20th century modern dance, making modern dance popular all over the world. Ailey is a significant artist to me because he paved the way for

Graeme Murphy, past artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company is known to be Australia’s greatest and most productive choreographer, of all time. Through the 30 years of being artistic director, Murphy has created outstanding pieces and inspired

Although Bausch’s dances show influences of both the German expressionist tradition and and the formalism of American dance of the sixties, she effectively disempowered both systems. In Bausch’s work, formal gestures become subjective as they accumulate the performers’ personal interpretations and new meanings with each

Cole explored all spatial level in his choreography. Knee slides and floorwork were common, and it was normal for dancers to spring from the deepest plie into high, suspended leaps. He also abhorred the smiling, happy face seen in most jazz and tap dance of the time. Instead, he preferred a cool, almost cold look in the eyes. He danced with a piercing gaze, much like a newly caged tiger, that could prod and intimidate an audience.

By swaying in the delicate phrases and jerking with the harsh ones, the performers became the dancers in the ballet. They expressed different levels of emotion when required which reflected their playing.

always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.

The second piece that is discussed is Toccata in F major, by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is a solo piece that was performed in a unison and dissonant harmony. Surreal coordination and impressive pedal solo was extremely impressive and gave this particular piece a broad spectrum of dynamic change and tempo. Ascending and descending theme constantly repeated throughout this performance, alternating in crescendo and decrescendo, which brought life and movement to a classical piece.

Mrs. Farrell’s book is quite technical when it comes to the lengthy descriptions of the dances she rehearses and performs; from a dancer’s view these varied conclusions of the types of movements she was dancing is quite astonishing. In fact, it adds a whole new level to the imagination that can come alive in a person’s thoughts when they read an expressive book. Although the technical explanations will excited, astound, and reveal how much passion and deep meaning ballet had in Suzanne Farrell’s life, but a reader, who may not be involved in the arts will be unfamiliar with the ballet and musical terms in

Dance is an ever evolving form of art; in much the same way that one can categorize and differentiate between eras and styles of architecture one can also do so with dance. These eras at times have sharp delineations separating them from their antecedents, other times the distinction is far more subtle. Traditional forms of dance were challenged by choreographers attempting to expand the breadth and increase the depth of performance; preeminent among such visionaries was Seattle born dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Mark Morris' began as one of the millions of hopeful individuals attempting to simply make a career in dance; he not only succeeded but managed to have a lasting effect on the entire landscape of dance.

The movements were very specific and showed the story of the dance. The partners used many movements that contained many body

Alvin Ailey was a Modern Dance choreographer and he blended modern, jazz and ethnic dance styles. He formed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958. His company was composed of exclusively black dancer until 1963 when he decided to integrate his company. He choreographed close to 80 pieces, including Cry, Blue suites, Night Creatures and his most famous work Revelations. More people have seen Revelations across the globe than any other modern dance piece. Alvin Ailey died on December 1,1989 at the age of 58.

Dance was not a new element in the theatre realm. It had been used for years as a way of interpretation of feelings of a character that the writer or director wanted the audience to feel visually. Through movement, expression of those feelings was portrayed and helped the audience to somewhat

In “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild begins by introducing unique aspects of the Africanist aesthetic including how it embraces differences and instead of the tradition European idea of resolving conflict, Africanist aesthetic presents a question and demonstrates the beauty in accepting conflict. One way in which the Africanist aesthetic differs from European ballet is how they utilize polycentrism, having multiple centers of movement, and polyrhythm, when different body parts keep multiple rhythms. Other ways include the high-affect juxtaposition, changes in mood, movement, or tempo, to the drastically contrasting sharpness and intensity in the movements. Gottschild’s main point in

Renowned choreographer Alonzo King is the Balanchine of a new style of dance, his style of dance, a style shying away from the expected and catapulting its audience into a state of wonderment. Alonzo King uses sharp lines intertwined with severe movements all engaging a classical technique in order to create movements, unseen to the dance world. King’s impressive résumé includes having trained with a number of world-renowned ballet companies, and setting works on an even more substantial number of companies, along with establishing his own celebrated company: Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in San Francisco, California.