POSTED January 6, 2024
On January 5, 2024—Alvin Ailey’s 93rd birthday—we celebrate and honor the man who sowed the seeds of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Through his ballets, which embrace Black cultural heritage, he changed the trajectory of American modern dance.
The man behind the legacy is remembered best, however, by those closest to him.
Alvin Ailey, Jr., was born in a single-room wooden cabin outside of Rogers, Texas, appointed only with a bed, a cot, and a potbellied stove. His earliest years were spent moving around Texas with his mother Lula, who earned a living cooking, cleaning, and picking cotton. It was a humble existence, and yet he was an outsized character from the beginning.
At 11, Mr. Ailey moved to Los Angeles with his mother. Throughout his teenage years he was exposed to the works of artistic powerhouses such as Duke Ellington and Katherine Dunham. In high school, Mr. Ailey was known as a quiet, confident young man who was a voracious reader with a facility for languages and poetry. And yet physically he was a solidly rugged young man who could easily be mistaken for a quarterback. Mr. Ailey’s introduction to choreographer Lester Horton, by his talented and captivating friend Carmen De Lavallade, allowed him to combine his curious mind and raw movement talent. While he was by no means a natural when he started dancing, his earliest peers at Lester Horton’s Dance Theater recognized his rare presence:
When he moved to New York in 1954, Mr. Ailey took classes with modern dance legends Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, as well as at Katherine Dunham's school. He quickly established a reputation as a powerful performer in the musical House of Flowers, impressing himself upon some of Broadway’s biggest names:
It was on the empty Broadway stages during matinee days that Mr. Ailey began rehearsing with his first group of dancers and creating his first works, inspired by childhood memories of the south.
The dances he created in those years became some of the most enduring and beloved works of American dance, in particular Revelations—also celebrating its anniversary this month—which has been acclaimed and adored by audiences all over the world for its deeply moving evocation of African American spirituals.
Mr. Ailey brought magic into our lives and his spirit endures in the works he gifted to the world.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Ailey.
*Many of these quotes are taken from Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance by Jennifer Dunning