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An In Depth Look at Kyle Abraham's Untitled America

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Video: Up Close With Ailey Dancers in Rehearsal

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Alvin Ailey dancers prepare for the New York premiere of the final installment of Kyle Abraham’s “Untitled America,” a trilogy about the effect the prison system has on African-American families.

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Review: Kyle Abraham’s ‘Untitled America’ Helps Open Alvin Ailey Season (Published 2016)

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The season’s premieres also included Johan Inger’s “Walking Mad” and Hope Boykin’s “r-Evolution, Dream.”

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Choreographer Kyle Abraham Expresses the Isolation of Incarceration | ESME

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A review of “Untitled America: First Movement” by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Watching is a must—a truly moving experience for any Solo Mom.

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World-renowned dance company Alvin Ailey is adding a powerful new piece to its winter season.

The final installment of choreographer Kyle Abraham's trilogy, dubbed 'Untitled America', is a piece to a three-part series that exposes the impact the American prison system has on African-American families.

Through raw interviews, stirring music and Abraham's signature avant-garde style dance movements the audience grapples with the connection felt when losing a loved one.

The audio-recorded interviews of former inmates and those closest to them played as a backdrop to the abstract dancing on stage but the words exposed the truths of love, loss and pain that incarceration brings to so many families. Nearly 40 percent of the 2.3 million Americans currently incarcerated by the U.S. criminal justice system are black.

The piece features Laura Mvula's "Father Father", which Abraham says he was initially drawn to when the idea to create "Untitled" began. On top of musical scores by pianist Kris Bowers and electronic duo Raime, the audience can hear the audio of the inmates' haunting words at one point crying, "I want to go home."

Speaking for those who may not feel seen or heard was important to Abraham. He said he wanted the audience to "connect to the things we all experience in one way shape or form which is family and allow that to be a major part of the storytelling."

"America's history in relation to violence in the black family and black people across the country and incarceration and thereafter are connected to family and isolation in many ways," he said.

As multiple dancers role-played guards and prisoners interacting in free flowing movements fighting and falling with force, the audience feels the helplessness inmates must feel being constantly constrained and reprimanded.

Abraham referred to the dance style used in the performance as a "postmodern gumbo."

"The gumbo aspect is really coming from my work being derivative of all the people that I have studied with and different techniques with my dance training and just to allowing them all to kind of simmer allowing movement to kind of come up or live in my body in different ways," he stated while acknowledging dance legends such as Alvin Ailey, Kevin Wynn, Martha Graham, Marcus Graham and Bebe Miller.

In addition, the company concluded the night's performances with Alvin Ailey's 1960 signature piece "Revelations."
"Untitled America" will be performed on Dec. 11, 15, 18, 24 and 30 as a part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's New York City Center Holiday Season through December 31. Follow NBCBLK on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

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Alvin Ailey's 'Untitled America' tackles mass incarceration

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World-renowned dance company Alvin Ailey is adding a powerful new piece to its winter season. The final installment of choreographer Kyle Abraham's trilogy, dubbed 'Untitled America', is a piece to a three-part series that exposes the impact the American prison system has on African-American families.

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use of space - levels, directions and pathways

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crossed arms, middle level, eyes focused low, forward direction

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High/Low space, all in a line

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grouped together, reaching for each other, reaching up, facing out of the circle they've created

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Intense

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Here we see dancers at different level facing different directions.

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Intentional lighting with focus on the shapes

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trapped within the lighting, reaching and rising

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Drawing inward

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Zig-zag spacing
unison

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Individuals who are still working together. Teamwork staggered

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Individuals who are still working together. Teamwork staggered

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Intensity; low levels

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solidarity - focused eyes and energy. strength - power

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Focus, up diagonal
High level
Arms reaching up diagonal
Straight legs

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Leaning Forward

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symmetrical arms, kneeling, powerful

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looking down, middle level, constricted

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Reaching together, soft and yet strong

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shadows of one another
various shapes

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possible tableau of a story or narrative
all different levels
focus is up high and down low

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multiple levels

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Falling, diagonals, unison, high focus, suspended time

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Use of levels

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Middle level
Bound
Legs plie/ knees bent
Focus down
Backs curved

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Moving as a unit with a specific intent, all looking down and leaning forward

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community; all levels used; tableau like

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Unison

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reaching - yearning - desire - wanting

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Together we can do

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Multiple levels, relationships

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Refusal and Acceptance

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Various directions, focal points -- seeing different sides/perspectives, reaching

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Various levels reaching sustained struggle strength

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Various levels reaching sustained struggle strength

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Gesturing upward with straight elbows

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Energy connection. all levels and directions

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Individuality within the group, shapes create a distinguished puzzle

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There are different relationships seen here. There is a sense of unity

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There

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leader and follower

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Making a connection shape

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focus toward one dancer; use of back/spine, arms, circular formation

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Multiple focus
Multiple level
Straight shapes

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Unison, Strong, angular, forward

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Upstage/downstage single line