Alvin
Ailey dance company recently came to Memphis to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.
and black artistry. The company is known for featuring dancers from minority
backgrounds, specifically those from the black community, and using dance to tell
their stories of struggling with racism in America. These physical and cultural
aspects of race being incorporated into dance is significant because it is
unique. Typical dance troupes are white and serve as an artistic space for
high-brow, white expression. This catering to white only artists and audiences
limits creativity and marginalizes minority identity. Dancers like Misty
Copeland have gained national attention, challenging these white only spaces
recently, but dance companies like Alvin Ailey began pressing for inclusion
into dance circles since the 1950s during the height of segregation.
Black
culture and dance has always been a subject the Alvin Ailey choreographers explore
in their performances. “Revelations,” their most famous dance, is a piece choreographed
to black songs heard typically in church. These songs feature “spiritualism,
Baptist Spiritualism, and Christian spiritualism” to encompass many different
aspects of the black religious experience in America (Greene). One spiritual,
titled “Fix Me Jesus,” had a dance about struggles choreographed to it. A
company member commented that he felt the dance transcended personal religion,
making it accessible for all audience members, because it looked at struggle
and overcoming hardship that is felt to the soul. Many people, especially those
from the black community, can identify with this deeply felt struggle due to
their shared history of slavery, white terrorism, and movement for civil rights
that is still ongoing in many aspects. The dance highlights not only the overarching
struggle of the black community but also serves as a more specific historical
space. The dance asks audience members to remember and glorify African
Americans who furthered the movement through traditional Civil Rights protests
as well as those who engaged in everyday resistance. It honors their legacy
that allowed for African Americans to progressively gain freedom in America. The
dance concludes by looking at the contemporary resistance movement for African
Americans in America.
In
regards to honoring Memphis and its specific black history, Alvin Ailey
choreographed a dance as a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. This inclusion is significant
because of the fifty-year anniversary of his assassination in Memphis, and
Ailey wanted to honor his life. The dance was originally choreographed to the
spoken speeches of MLK; however, due to copyright issues, they used spoken word
poems and songs inspired by the works of MLK. By using modern day interpretations
of his work, it connects modern activists, black culture, and contemporary
problems to that of MLK’s time. Overall, the work of Alvin Ailey—in the past
and present—is relevant as it speaks to black versus white culture and who
controls certain spaces in the arts.
Source:
https://www.memphisflyer.com/TheaterBlog/archives/2018/02/02/alvin-ailey-kicking-off-black-history-month-with-the-legendary-ny-dance-company-by
The dance constructed by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company for MLK50 sounds like a powerful experience given the company’s intention to connect history and the soul. The description of the company being able to transcend religion to touch the on a shared existence creates a space for the black audience to come together and celebrate their identity, which is especially important since a majority of artistic spaces are defined according the ideals of a white audience. The dance is forcing the audience to consider the emotional and historical implications of King’s life and his death in Memphis and what that means for the movement today.
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