Blog: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater sponsored by FirstWorks
I first encountered the Alvin Ailey dance theater many years ago in college in New York; and took classes at the school..
I was amazed by their skills then, and am equally amazed by them now.
A little background:
Alvin Ailey started the company of mainly African American dancers in 1958 at a YMCA in New York.
The company came to be known as the face of modern dance.
They’ve performed more than 200 works all over the world and carry on Ailey's legacy.
One of the company’s signature pieces is called “Revelations.”
It’s a 20 minute ballet filled with images of the south, blues, spirituals and gospel; a tale in Ailey’s eyes of the black experience.
He grew up in Texas during the pre-Civil Rights Movement era.
When I saw it in New York all those years ago, I felt my heart stop watching lead dancer Judith Jamison.
I felt the same way this week when the dance theater performed at PPAC.
They are some of the most technically and emotionally charged dancers I remember seeing in the recent past.
At PPAC, they performed a series of dances to music by the late Otis Redding, an amazing group of six male dancers performed karate and modern dance to African drum beats in “The Hunt,” and the masterpiece, “Revelations.”
Words cannot describe the technique and raw skill of the dancers; you emerge exhilarated.
What really excited me was the audience…so many school children and budding dancers…you could see how the craft inspired them….and that’s what it’s all about, getting the younger generation interested in the arts.
The place was sold out.
That’s due partly to FirstWorks.
Since 2004, the organization’s worked with the Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism to provide a platform locally for 300 international artists and innovators you might not see in the ocean state.
And the organization brings students right to the performers.
Hence the excitement, and the idea that the arts torch if I can call it that will be passed to a younger generation in Rhode Island.
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