Auditorium Theatre 2018-19 Issue 3 Alvin Ailey

When Alvin Ailey and a small group of African American dancers took the stage on March 30, 1958 at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, the engagement was for one night only, but it turned out to be the start of a new era in the arts. Mr. Ailey envisioned a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience. He became one of the trailblazers of modern dance, and the work of his Company grew to encompass education, community outreach, and cultural diplomacy. To date, the Company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theatres in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents – as well as millions more through television, film, and online. More than 235 works by over 90 choreographers have been part of the Ailey repertory. In 2008, a US Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.” Before his untimely death in 1989, Mr. Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Ms. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.” Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater gratefully acknowledges The Joan & Sandy Weill Global Ambassador Fund , which provides vital support for Ailey’s national and international tours. ALVIN AILEY, FOUNDER AlvinAileywas born on January 5, 1931, inRogers, TX. His experiences of life in the rural South would later inspire some of his most memorable works. He was introduced to dance in Los Angeles by performances of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, and his formal dance training began with an introduction to Lester Horton’s classes by his friend Carmen de Lavallade. Horton, the founder of one of the first racially-integrated dance companies in the United States, became a mentor for Mr. Ailey as he embarked on his professional career. After Horton’s death in 1953, Mr. Ailey became director of the Lester Horton Dance Theater and began to choreograph his own works. In the 1950s and 60s, Mr. Ailey performed in four Broadway shows, including House of Flowers and Jamaica . In 1958, he founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to carry out his vision of a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience. He established the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (now The Ailey School) in 1969 and formed the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (nowAiley II) in 1974. Mr. Ailey was a pioneer of programs promoting arts in education, particularly those benefiting underserved communities. Throughout his lifetime he was awarded numerous distinctions, including the Kennedy Center Honor in 1988 in recognition of his extraordinary contribution toAmerican culture. In 2014, he posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, in recognition of his contributions and commitment to civil rights and dance inAmerica. When Mr. Ailey died on December 1, 1989, The New York Times said of him, “you didn’t need to have known [him] personally to have been touched by his humanity, enthusiasm, and exuberance and his courageous stand for multi- racial brotherhood.” ROBERT BATTLE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Robert Battle became artistic director ofAlvinAileyAmerican Dance Theater in July 2011 after being personally selected by Judith Jamison, making him only the third person to head the Company since it was founded in 1958. Mr. Battle has a longstanding association with theAiley organization.Afrequent choreographer and artist-in-residence atAiley since 1999, he has set many of his works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II, and at The Ailey School. The Company’s current repertory includes his ballets Ella, In/Side, Mass, No Longer Silent , and Juba . In addition to expanding the Ailey repertory with works by artists as diverse as Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, Jessica Lang, and Wayne McGregor, Mr. Battle has also instituted the NewDirections Choreography Lab to help develop the next generation of choreographers. Mr. Battle’s journey to the top of the modern dance world began in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, FL. He showed artistic talent early and studied dance at a high school arts magnet program before moving on to Miami’s New World School of the Arts, under the direction of Daniel Lewis and Gerri Houlihan, and finally to the dance program at The Juilliard School, under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, where he met his mentor, Carolyn Adams. He danced with the Parsons Dance Company from 1994 to 2001, and also set his choreography on that company starting in 1998. Mr. Battle then founded his own Battleworks Dance Company, which made its debut in 2002 in Düsseldorf, Germany, as the US representative to theWorld Dance Alliance’s GlobalAssembly. Battleworks subsequently performed extensively at venues including The Joyce Theater, ABOUT THE COMPANY - 60 YEARS AILEYASCENDING