Alvin Ailey : First Generation American Choreographer And Activist

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

Alvin Ailey was an accomplished dancer and choreographer whose African-American heritage influenced his works in the 20th century. His successful dance career has gained international recognition and acclaim thus rendering a significant legacy. Ailey’s background as a dancer and choreographer had many strong influences from social, cultural, economic and political aspects during his early life. His African-American heritage has greatly influenced his works. Alvin was the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1958-), galvanized and stabilized an African American presence in theatrical dance. An outstanding performer, choreographer, company director, and mentor to scores of dance artists, Ailey oversaw the growth of his small, pick-up group of seven dancers into a large, carefully managed, internationally-renowned enterprise including several ensembles of dancers and a thriving school in New York City housed in the largest building devoted to dance in the United States. Along the way, Ailey changed the landscape of modern dance by developing new audiences for its performance through a consistent combination of exceptional artistry and wellcoordinated community outreach programs. In all, Ailey invigorated the art of dance with his distinctive creative imagination, his “blood memories” of cultural formations he witnessed as a child-- including the jook joint and the black church --and the strong survivalist ethic he learned as an African American man born in the

“What are you even doing here? I have never seen such flawed technique in all my years as a choreographer.” The words echoed throughout the medical college auditorium. Impelled by the admonishment in front of my peers, I persevered in my endeavor to improve upon my dancing prowess and by the final year of medical school was leading the college dance team. The above mentioned undertaking further spawned an interest for the discipline of Latin Ballroom which lead to participation at the national level. The unwavering focus and persistence even in the face of unfavorable odds is more broadly reflective of my approach towards learning, both academic and extracurricular. This has been instrumental in achieving stellar academic outcomes including being ranked nationally in the top 0.0004 percent in the premedical test and the top 0.6 percent in the common aptitude test for management training.

Ballet “Cry” simply showed to us real life of all African women. Every single American people know what kind of life they went through. Therefore it touched their heard. Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” presented wonderfully combined movements, technique and emotion. Ms. Donna Wood uses tragic face, a mask of sorrow. It is a face born to cry, but when she smiles it is with an innocent radiance, joyfulness that simple and lovely. She never tries consciously to please an audience. He was not only concentrating in movements and physical performance, but also using flowing white gown

Many choreographers shape dance into something different and defy certain styles. Alvin Ailey not only did this through dance but changed the racial norms in the dance world. The Alvin Ailey American Arts Theatre has performed for over 25 million people in 48 states, 71 counties and on 6 continents. Throughout his life he made a difference. Ailey himself “changed forever the perception of American dance.” Alvin Ailey changed the views of modern dance and racial acceptance in the arts throughout America.

Fear is paralyzing! When we become fearful we prevent ourselves from growing. In general I wish I could “do-over” every time I let fear get the best of me. A life experience that comes to mind is when I auditioned for the Alvin Ailey summer dance program. I was 13 at the time and my passion for dance was growing exponentially. Auditioning seemed like a great idea, however, by the end of it I wished I would have stayed at home. I was not ready mentally, physically, or emotionally for the pressure of auditioning. I found myself frustrated, hurt, and ultimately embarrassed. Girls younger than me performed at a higher level, and had better technique. On my way home I promised myself I would never audition again.

Jones rose from being the 10th of 12 children of migrant farm workers to one of the most notable, recognized modern-dance choreographers and directors of our time. Through HIV and AIDS, which

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.

Jerome Robbins was an American choreographer, dancer, and innovator of the musical theatre dancing style within the 1900s. His best works feature famous names such as Barbra Streisand and shows like West Side Story, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof, with the man himself known for “displaying an inexhaustible gift for combining character, comedy, and storytelling in dance”, something never before done in American musical theatre. While highly proficient in traditional Russian ballet, performing in both Balanchine’s Ballet Theatre and many others, Robbins felt “stifled” by the style, wanting to create “dance about American subjects…[about] today, and how [Americans] are”. Teaming up with a then unknown composer of Leonard Bernstein, he created his first major hit of Fancy Free in the spring of 1944, “a jazz-infected ballet” piece that put him on Broadway’s radar for years to come. (Vaill)

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 title ‘The Greatest Choreographer in United States Film History’ is only fit for the man who remains legendary for his innovative redirection of dance through the camera lens. This newly famous and wildy popular style of the early 1900’s was created by Busby Berkeley. Berkeley changed how audiences view styles of vernacular jazz dance by adding his own twist of filming with a single camera in unique angles. It may sound like an obvious and indifferent technique to regular dance films on paper, but through the eyes it's clear Busby captures breathtaking shots of patterns through movements. Busby Berkeley’s success is derived from his hard- working background in his early years. From being raised by two performers to overlooking

This is an article from Pittsburgh University which briefly concludes about Martha Graham's dance career. The article includes where Martha Graham started to learn dancing, some of the transactions in Martha's life and her impact on American modern dance. This is a great source for people who want to know basic information about Martha Graham's dance career and impact on America in a limit amount of time. The article forcefully describes Martha's dance career and the subtitles in the article are helpful for people to find information.

Breaking was when he would play two records of the same song at the same time and he would only play the rhythms.

I believe that the distinctive styles of these three individuals mentioned below formed the basis of what we consider dance today. Trisha Brown, Yvonne Ranier and Simone Forti were three of the most influential dancers of that time period. Between the three of them they had very successful dance careers and were the founding choreographers of the dance company called the Judson Dance Theater. Trisha Brown’s distinctive dance style comprised of using ropes and harnesses so that dancers could experience gravity while scaling walls. Yvonne Ranier used repetition and sounds in her dance and Simone Forti used animal movements and dancers that were very vocal on stage.

What takes a dancer to become a choreographer? Is it his or her skills? Perseverance? Special Abilities? No. What takes or makes a dancer a choreographer is their determination and no one ever showed that better than Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was one of the most influential, talented, special dancer/choreographer ever to be discovered and created. Hold on, who is Michael Jackson and why is he one of the greatest choreographers of all time? Before we get into his choreography, let us look at his past work to understand why he became the person he is today. Well to start, Michael Joseph Jackson, or Michael Jackson was born to the lovely Katherine and Joe Jackson on August 29.1958 in Gary, Indiana.