Sinnerman By Alvin Ailey Revelations: A Dance Analysis

In evaluating Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life two strengths and one weakness will be examined and discussed, separately. This review will be followed by a succinct conclusion with remarks and recommendations.

All Indians must dance, everywhere, keep on dancing. Pretty soon in next spring Great Spirit come. He bring back all game of every kind…all dead Indians come back and live again. They all be strong just like young men, be young again. Old blind Indian see again and get young and have fine time. When Great Spirit comes this way, than all the Indians go to mountains, high up away from whites. Whites can't hurt Indians then. Then while Indians way up high, big flood like water and all white people die, get drowned! After that, water go way and then nobody but Indians everywhere and game all kinds thick… (Wovoka, The Paiute Messiah qtd. In Brown 416).

Dancing” three woman represent a cultural shift of Puerto Rican immigrants, by each woman's lifestyle was one was halfway Americanized half Puerto Rican looking, one was Americanized, and one was still in the Puerto Rican culture. In the home movie, there were three women the cousin, mother, and the brother's girlfriend sitting on the couch together wearing all red dresses, During the time of the party, each woman is experiencing something different just by looking at how they were dressed. During the home movie, All three are years younger and older than each other. The author had asked her mother why every woman at the party was in a red dress, all the mother could say was that it was all a coincidence.(52)

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

And I had to think, as they danced and sang, what would an American culture show look like? And then, what would a white American culture show look like? You could, to some extent, put on a black American culture show with rap, jazz, and blues. And you could, in some sense, do a Hispanic American culture show using the sort of Passion play we saw in the video (though that might be in bad taste; although the Indian dances and the Japanese taiko drums were originally religious, too). But it would seem more pretentious and racist than anything to start putting together a European American culture show with traditional music like Beethoven or whoever. And maypoles and whatever festivals were held in the Old Country haven’t got any connection to modern Americans. Religious traditions are really no good, we’ve got Gregorian chant, not dancing. But I really think “white” culture is ultimately indistinguishable in that sense. Maybe you could point to certain outlooks on life (the boogeyman individualism) but there’s nothing that presents a visible connection in the same

In the third section Ms. Donna Wood looks like an African goddess and her body has an unexpected gracefulness. Even stage color was bright reddish, warm atmosphere around the dancer, like a sunrise in the morning. Stage would fill with colors. Music and performer are singing together. A sound of music tempo gets faster. She has the happiest face ever, no pain and no slavery. She jumps, she swings her leg and arms, and even she pulls her dress up and shows her leg an entire dance. Sound and lightening create the environment and good mood. She uses high level of dance than in previous two sections. She moves in between melody. I liked how she uses

Some of the movements executed by the dancers are similar to those executed by dancers in a stepping performance and also in a tap dance presentation. This presentation falls into the group of the new trends of modern dance, in which the choreographer are taking more and more liberty with various dance combinations, and including strong messages in their work. I would definitely attend other dance performance, not only from this company, but also by other companies; and would also recommend this performance, especially to people going through a dark period in their life. This performance finished convincing me that dance is surely the most communicative of the art forms, and that a single presentation can convey more than one

They also have someone who plays the piano and sings along with the choir. They are all try to match the same color, (The day that I was there, they were wearing red and black) using their own clothes. Some of them use dresses and the men use a suit or a formal dress shirt.

As a young black American boy, Ailey and his mother would have attended church regularly. His works have strong religious influences that are shown clearly. The theme of acceptance is paired with religious topics, as not only acceptance of black people was important to him but it also seems the acceptance by God. Religion being a huge part of his life and also his upbringing is clear in his work and it is obvious it has had a big influence in the movement. One of the pieces in ‘Pilgrim of Sorrow’ (a section from Revelations) is called ‘Fix Me Jesus’ and the movement clearly shows suffering at times, it appears controlled and rigid. There are also lifts that constantly fall from a high position to a low one and lifts that show a cross shape that looks like a crucifix. Dancers running towards light on the stage also show how Ailey may have depended on God and his religion at times to deal with difficult stages in life. ‘Processional’ from ‘Take me to the Water’ is a piece centred on a baptism. It includes movements such as reaching up, body rippling, swaying movements, leg lifts and quick turning with corresponding level changes. It is fast and up tempo and allows us to understand that this is a special occasion and represents the atmosphere at the baptism. There is

Kyle Abraham’s “Absent Matter” is the newest dance performed by the Abraham In. Motion company and the Joyce Theater located on 175 8th Avenue in New York, NY was debuted on November 10, 2015. This is another racially driven performance by Pittsburgh born Kyle Abraham dancer and choreographer (Kourlas). The dance is broken down into three separate sections including “The Quiet Dance”, “Absent Matter”, and “The Getting”. All three sections are performed with a sense of spontaneity and sincerity which is inspired from both Jazz and Hip-hop music and dances (Kourlas). It is believed this most recent production is inspired by the police brutality around the United States, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

I believe Alvin Ailey's intentions were to show a young lady that is physically drained as her energy is more down than up and has no hope as she is constantly lowering herself to the ground, the man is like her spirit catching her when she falls, and not allowing her to give up as he continously " lifts her up". The music is very touching it slows down to make us feel what the woman is experiencing which is where I feel the " fix me Jesus " part comes in. All the movement is controlled and powerful as she takes these long, graceful, promenades. I believe the choreographers wanted to return to concert dance to show how African American people have evolved from the hardships they have experienced in the past, and I believe that they wanted to

The dance that I will be focusing on is entitled: thinking sensing standing feeling object of attention. The dance, to me, symbolizes the socialization of persons in Western civilization concerning gender roles. In the beginning there are gestures that are separated from emotion and full-embodiment, but as the dance progresses the gestures become more meaningful and recognizable. The lighting starts out very specific and narrow, then the light encompasses the entire stage, and eventually the dancers are silhouetted as they return to a familiar movement motif in the end. The music is mainly instrumental with occasional soft female vocals, and the lyrics suggest emotion, which is interesting because the dancers do not convey emotion until

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.

These dances eventually evolved to include praise songs and myths that were enacted by trained dancers and actors. By the end of the 5th century BC, these dance dramas were part of entertainment and provided social and political commentary on the times. Amongst the Romans, dance waxed and waned in acceptance by the powers that ruled. Until 200 BC, dance brought life to Roman processions, festivals and celebrations. However, in 150 BC all of the dancing schools were closed as Roman nobility considered dance as suspicious and even dangerous activity of the masses. Dancing has come a long way since ancient times. But there are still some similarities. When people thought up these dances they were trying to express themselves, their emotions, their problems and beliefs. Today we do the same thing. We make up dances according to our attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and feelings. The future will also contain dances that will reflect that society. There are many different kinds of dances. There is ballet, line dancing, slow dancing, the list goes on and on. Some of these dances are slow. Some of them are fast. They all use different type of instruments. Each dance representing a time, an event, an expression or feeling. Each dance expressing something different. Dances will never die. They are too interconnected in the

When I saw the piece, named, “Lapa’s Lament, I thought it was very unique and interesting. When the dancers were doing several movements with it, I got very confused. As a result, this confusion caused me to draw all the attention towards the dancer and to their performance. After a dance progresses, dancers were trying to tell a story with their movements. I think some of the dance movements, they were doing was very fascinating to watch. As a result, I was trying to make the whole story in my mind, as it was very unclear for me, what they were doing, but when Randy James came and talk little bit about the dance, I would able to understand what the dance is about. The way his dancers performed by showing their emotions, I thought it was incredibly performed. I felt that this dance was not losing its limelight throughout the performance. That is, the way they were communicating with each other through their body language and physical contact was just amazing. It shows their effort, as the dance steps included twisting and tumbling. Some of the dance steps, I have never saw in any of the dance companies who came to performed. I felt the dance was full of body movements, and I thought it would require a lot of physical strength to perform this kind of