Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey is a dance company that got its start at a performance of modern dance by a group of African American dancers in 1958. Their way of dancing transformed ideas of what modern dance was, and through the choreography of Alvin Ailey, gained international acclaim.

The dances were absolutely wonderful in terms of beauty and expression, mixing a classical ballet style with interpretive movements. We saw a show that was a retrospective of sorts, seeing dances from more than one choreographer, including Revelations, the first famous piece created by Alvin Ailey in 1960. My favourite pieces by far were solo dances my male dancers, utilizing the interpretive expression through the movements of their body. The fact that there were no solo female dancers seemed strange to me, as the solo dances were extremely powerful and I would to have liked to see a female in that role. I wonder if that was a conscious choice in the choreography of the night. Group dances seemed to have a little more classic content and their timing was not quite accurate, making the dances less emotionally effective than I think they could have been.

Most of the group dances were choreographed in a way that balanced male and female dancers, creating wonderful gender equality (except in the solo dances, which were predominantly male) but this equality resulted in heteronormative pairings, using the male/female binary as a point of aesthetic balance. There was one dance that included three men and a woman which allowed a male/male partnering that broke from the traditional male/female. Despite the traditional nature of the dances, especially those in the second half titled Revelations mostly choreographed in the 1960s, there was a slight advancement in gendered pairing even if it was a small part of the entire production.