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Alvin Ailey turns 50 in his usual amazing style
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Caveat: My job as the LA Literature Examiner is to write about literature about Los Angeles or written by an author from Los Angeles. I am taking a leap and writing about a dance performance because I was so moved by what I saw tonight. So please indulge me.
Tonight, I attended a spectacular performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). Alvin Ailey is a world renowned choreographer who is widely credited with popularizing modern dance.
Tonight’s performance, I admit, was not printed on paper and cannot be considered true literature. However, no one can doubt that tonight’s performance was the work of a talented playwright (each dance represented an emotional and well-timed drama) and a brilliant Angelino (Ailey was raised in Los Angeles and fell in love with dance while watching shows at Lincoln and Orpheum Theaters).
This tour is the AAADT’s 50th Anniversary, making Ailey’s impact on American culture even more pronounced. His first performance in 1958 took place before the sit-in at the Woolworth’s counter in North Carolina, before James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi, before Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, and before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When Ailey launched the AAADT on March 30, 1958, he did something that was courageous and remarkable given the times.
In the past 50 years, audiences around the world have been moved by Ailey’s performances. This year was no exception. In fact, audiences were able to see Ailey's original masterpiece, Blues Suite - a "blues-y" nod to the brawly personalities Ailey remembered from his southern childhood.
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I cannot count the number of times I have seen Revelations, Ailey’s signature performance and one the playbill notes maybe the most witnessed dance performance in history. Each time I see it, I feel like a freshly opened bud feeling the dew for the first time. It is an astonishing and breathtaking rendition of the spastic beauty unique to the black church.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of seeing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater live, add it to your bucket list. If you’ve not treated yourself to a performance in the last five years, don’t put it off. If you didn’t see this year’s golden anniversary tour, I’m sorry because you missed something special!
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