Skip to content
A black and white photo of a performance featuring multiple dancers and musicians. Dancers are in various poses across the stage, some with arms extended. Musicians sit in the background, playing instruments like the guitar and drums. The stage is set with minimal props. The photo is labeled REPERTORY Donald Martin, Alvin Ailey, Minnie Marshall, Georgia Collins, Ella Thompson, Charles Moore, Carmen de Lavallade, Brother John Sellers, Bruce Langhorn, Horace Arnold in Been Here and Gone.

Repertory

Been Here And Gone

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

WORLD PREMIERE

1962

COSTUMES

Ves Harper

LIGHTING

Nicola Cernovitch

MUSIC STYLE

Traditional Folk

Alvin Ailey conceived Been Here And Gone as an enhanced version of his 1958 Blues Suite while preparing for a State Department–sponsored cultural diplomacy tour of Southeast Asia and Australia in 1962. A small music combo (Bruce Langhorne on guitar, Shep Shepherd on percussionist, and Harry Prather on bass) played onstage, with Brother John Sellers and Ella Thompson singing. Domestic performances took place on September 9–10, 1962, at the Dance Festival presented by the New York Shakespeare Festival (now known as the Public Theater) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.