Alvin Ailey Research Paper

Anthony Greeley is my uncle. We call him “Uncle Tony”. He was born in 1962 in Boston, Massachusetts at Boston City Hospital. He is married to my Aunt Melanie, who is my father’s youngest sister. My Aunt Melanie was his second marriage before My Uncle Tony has been a FireMan for 31 years and was promoted to Fire Chief of Norwood 3 years ago. When he was a kid, He went to Norwood High School in Norwood Massachusetts. When he graduated from High School, Tony enrolled at the University Of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. Tony Studied business at Uconn. Tony has two children from his first marriage, Brian and Katie. He is the stepfather to Billy and Jimmy. He and my Aunt Melanie also have a daughter, Abby. My Uncle Tony likes the New England

This piece drew inspiration from the African American music of his youth. Years after his death, Ailey continues to be an important figure in the field of dance through the ballets he formed and the organizations he

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

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.

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

Alvin Ailey was born January 5th, 1931 in Rogers, Texas to Lula Elizabeth Ailey. Alvin never knew his father. He left before Alvin even turned one. At twelve years of age, Alvin and his mother moved to Los Angles. He attended George Washington

Al Green was born on April 13, 1946 in Dansby, Arkansas. Dansby is a small town down the road from Forrest City, Arkansas. Albert Greene. Al’s parents gave him the name Albert Greene; years later, he changed his name to Albert Green, dropping the ‘e’ from his last name. Albert Greene was born into a religious family of sharecroppers. At a young age, Greene started singing gospel music with

Being a native to Hawaii was a helpful push towards legendary status for Eddie Aikau. The act of riding waves with a wooden type board originated in Western Polynesia over three thousand years ago (The Origins of Surfing). The first Polynesian settlers to land in Hawaii were said to be skilled in simple surfing, and after a few hundred years of riding waves in Hawaii, the well-known Hawaiian form of the sport emerged (The Origins of Surfing). Eddie Aikau propelled in surfing because of his love for the ocean, his job as a lifeguard, and his first surfing competitions.

Alonzo King began dancing at a young age in Santa Barbara, California. He continued his training in New York at the Harkness

On April 13th, 1946 Albert Greene was born to Robert and Cora Greene in Dansby, Arkansas(Biography.com). At the age of nine, Greene launched his music career by

Cole carved a clear space for jazz dance in theater and film. Others soon followed in his wake, famously Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Michael Kidd, Alvin Ailey, Gower Champion, Peter Gennaro, and Michael Bennett. Cole dancers more than two, but not a lot of became experts at creating dance patterns included Rod Alexander, Anna Austin, Nita Bieber, Ron Field, Malcolm Goddard, Carol Haney, Bob Hamilton, etc. But his followers could not copy his energy for movement invention, a fine eye for sculpting space, or ability to hold or do something for enriching dancing with production design. Beyond the dance world, Cole was a person that comes up with cool new ideas and fashions with a lasting effect on American culture. In his set and costume designs, he first discovered the use of bold first or most important

On January 2, 2007, construction worker Wesley Autry and his too young daughters were standing on a New York City subway platform waiting for the train. Suddenly, a twenty-year-old student standing nearby suffered a siezure and tumbled onto the subway tracks. Autry saw the headlights of an approaching train and realized that the young man was about to be run over right in front of the children. Leapping onto the rails, Autry pulled the strugling student down into the shallow drainage ditch between the tracks and pined him their while one train and then another rumbled over them with about two inchs to spare. The next day, national and international headlines proclaimed Autry to be an “angle,” a “superman,” a “hero,” and “one in a million.”

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.

In my opinion, Merce Cunningham is the most influential person in the history of contemporary dance. Cunningham was both a dancer and in the early 1940s began to choreograph. A former dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Cunningham went on to found the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, where many of the dancers went on to become prestigious choreographers as well. In his works, the choreography, music and design all work separately yet together. Through his belief that “anything can follow anything” (Au 155), use of space and music, exploration of chance, is what makes Merce Cunningham the most influential person in the history of dance.

The Graham family moved to California in the 1910’s, and when Graham was 17, she went to see her first ever dance performance. She saw Ruth St. Denis, a modern dance pioneer, perform in Los Angeles. Graham was so inspired that she begged her parents to allow her to study dance. Being strong Presbyterians, her parents didn’t exactly support the idea. Despite what her parents thought, Graham enrolled herself in an arts-oriented junior college. After her father died, she started attending the new Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded by St. Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn. What Graham learned there would fundamentally shape her dancing style moving forward. Pretty soon Graham’s technique was strong enough to start working professionally as a dancer. Her passionate, emotional performance style gained her the attention of the nation.