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Individual movements were built upon until they made collective movements/images. Similar to how each representation of black dance, bodies, or story made an impact for the collective in dance spaces.

“Africanist aesthetic devices of downward-directed energy, insistent rhythmicity, angularity of line, percussive rupture of underlying ﬂow, individualism within a group dynamic, and access to a dynamic ‘ﬂash of the spirit’ that conﬁrms simultaneously temporal presence and ubiquitous spirituality,” (DeFrantz, 2004).

The expressive relationship with rhythm, that at the time was unconventional, is an additional form of communication in black dance. Similar to the sharp angles, all of the juxtaposition and tension communicated emotional story efficiently.

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Thoughts on Black Dance in America - Anneliese W. 

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Thoughts on Black Dance in America - Anneliese W. 

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Alvin Ailey was quite the pioneer of his time and I had a really nice time reading about his work and his accomplishments for black dance in America. One quote from Thomas F. DeFrantz’s article titled Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture really stood out to me, “Ailey’s goal and achievement was to make black bodies visible, if not dominant, in the discourse of modernist American dance. He did this in selecting his company of mostly black artists, but also in the very real establishment of a solid, African diaspora concert dance-going public” (21). I believe that Ailey took concise and thoughtful steps to recognize African American experience in modern dance stages thus giving much needed representation to these dancers. The work itself is athletic, vulnerable and visually pleasing to audiences. His legacy made its way to my high school dance program where we spent a couple weeks learning about Ailey, learning some of the choreography from Revelations, and unpacking the impact he made for African American dancers.

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It was interesting to focus upon African American culture as a paradigm able to constitute high modernity. There is a consideration of multiple intersectional values established into practice through Ailey’s work which allows a variety of shifts in the way his choreography is perceived.

jillian gutierrez

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“Mitchell’s goal and achievement with DTH were to develop African American can expression and bring visibility to the black dancing body in American ballet” (Lipton 76).
Dance Theatre of Harlem continued to break racial and political boundaries, to worldwide acclaim.

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Alvin Ailey’s creation of Black American dance is interesting as I have never seen a dance like this before. Watching the video has made me think about how much power our bodies play in impacting not just themselves as dancers but also the audience. Revelation captures the hardship, pain, and so much more where the impressions can be presented from a unique perspective.

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-Inclusion and diversity to all ethnicities, experiences, etc. to the stage and dance

-Brought up important and controversial topics of discussion through dance and creating a narrative that people don’t know a lot about or haven’t heard of before

My impression of the piece was that the dance had really good storytelling of what black people have experienced and are still experiencing. The dancers portrayed the emotions/feelings really well through their movements.

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I chose this image to represent the space Alvin Ailey created for Black dancers to comfortably express their authenticity as shown from Revelations. “One of America’s richest treasures was the African-American cultural heritage—sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.”

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as stated in the reading this week about Aileys piece, “for years american modern dance had searches for ways to connect with an expanded general audience.” this quote stood out to me because Aileys primary motivation was to acknowledge/share the culture and experience of African Americans, the success and struggles. With him doing so, I believe it opened various opportunities for education as well as invite an audience that could relate, understand, or be inspired by.

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Dance theatre of Harlem created a gateway for black dance to be respected and appreciated in its community. It created a platform in which stars like Alvin Ailey could present their art and create pieces that represent and signify black culture. I feel as though the pieces are aesthetically pleasing to watch as they tell a very clear story and include lots of costumes and props. The dance quality is also very high which I think is important to note considering black artists where denied entry simply because of their blackness. Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Aileys company have extremely talented dancers and prove to the public that black dancers are a force to be reckoned with.

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https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/13811/jamila-wignot-on-her-alvin-ailey-documentary

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To be completely honest, I tried to finish all the readings this week but I sadly was unable to. However, based on the videos and lectures in class, Dance Theatre or Harlem & Alvin Ailey have a had and still a significant impact on the community. It provides a space for black people and other people of color to have a space to create their own works. They were not allowed or every few people of color were allowed into these companies, so they created their own. When they did create their own companies, people expected them to stick to only black dance or whatever dance was associated with their culture. It was as if they didn’t want them to do “western” and Euro-centric dance. They faced criticism from both people on and out of their community which was interesting to me. Today they are both widely popular and well-known, yet the question remains if they will ever reach the same “status” of these other companies first created by white founders like NYC Ballet.

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Black dance and movement has always informed American culture and identity, even when that influence was intentionally erased or obfuscated. With the rise of HDT and prominent dancers and choreographers in the 20th century - such as Alvin Ailey - reclamation of Black dance narratives, Black movement vernacular and kinesthetic knowledge was steadily rising in public, global and artistic realms and discourse. I wonder how this legacy continues today, with evolving discourse around race in dance, narrative, kinesthetic knowledge and identity operating under our current socio-political context.

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Black dance and movement has always informed American culture and identity, even when that influence was intentionally erased or obfuscated. With the rise of HDT and prominent dancers and choreographers in the 20th century - such as Alvin Ailey - reclamation of Black dance narratives, Black movement vernacular and kinesthetic knowledge was steadily rising in public, global and artistic realms and discourse. I wonder how this legacy continues today, with evolving discourse around race in dance, narrative, kinesthetic knowledge and identity operating under our current socio-political context.

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I've never really seen dance like this before, but I do see how many current day choreographies draw from Alvin Ailey's style (i.e. familiar movements/postures). Watching Revelations for myself also put into context this week's reading by DeFrantz. The first chapter goes into great detail describing the movement so I coukd better understand some of the description used. Phrases like "angry contractions" and "emotional urgency" stood out to me because that could be implememted many ways but it was interesting to see how Ailey presented that.

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Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” was a space for Black dancers to express themselves and share their cultural heritage to the world. Through his powerful choreography and emotional impact, “Revelations” captures the struggles, pain, and triumphs of the African American experience.

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seems to be telling a story of ethnic faith as movement abstraction in its first section… Explicitly Christian in principle but Afro-Caribbean in practice.

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“…How audiences witnessing the work imagine it to embody African American experience, and how that impression forecloses its expressive possibilities.”

jillian gutierrez

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Quote from the reading: “Just as the ballet idiom is not inherently racist, neither is it innately recuperative. Practices are rooted in and controlled by discourses of their time” (Lipton 78).

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Dance theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey dance..To tell..to express the experiences of a people through dance, through choreography is everything in helping society to understand each other for more compassion and empathy..leading to less racism and judgement 

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Dance theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey dance..To tell..to express the experiences of a people through dance, through choreography is everything in helping society to understand each other for more compassion and empathy..leading to less racism and judgement 

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personally the story of Alvin Ailey and the creation of black-American modern dance was very interesting to me because of my love for modern dance. Dance revelations was fun to watch because of the diversity in music, dancers, and movement he choreographed