Analyzing Choreography by Alvin Ailey in a Dance Video

Alvin Ailey

First Viewing:

The overall tone of the work is positive and life-affirming in spite of apparent obstacles that are perceived as externalities to the dancer's range of motion. The dancer at times hugs herself, which seems to suggest a need to love oneself; at other times, the dancer opens the arms wide in an embrace of the world and of life's possibilities. Then the dancer moves in a circle as though to encompass the range of these possibilities and move towards them. When the dancer shrinks down, there is danger or one of life's obstacles getting in the way. When the dancer rises again, life is once more possible because of the inner strength within.

The sound score is dramatic with a woman's voice singing the words over a few instruments that sound like strings. The work seems to be about a woman awakening to life. The dancer is Marylin Banks and she stretches out her limbs with such fluidity and grace that she seems at once to be like a tree reaching up with life and like a ballerina spinning with grace. I think the choreographer wants us to know that the female life is dramatic and beautiful as it grows and develops.

Second Viewing:

Alvin Ailey's cultural background shapes his artistic process in the sense that he is an African-American who comes out of a situation where there is a lot of baggage that African-Americans are burdened with as a result of prejudice. Added to that is Alvin's sexual orientation and one senses that there is a lot that Alvin wants to express through dance, and through his modern style of dance, that is like the soul trying to come to terms with so many barriers that society puts in its way towards self-fulfillment and self-expression. Thus, his artistic process is like a way of cutting through the jungle of these externalities and refining the dance form -- the image -- that he wants to project on the stage.

In this manner, Ailey is exploring ideas of the mixing of cultures, of the ideas of the sexual and social revolutions happening in his era, showing his dancers in movements that appear to be almost orgasmic at times, and at other times somewhat spiritual as though the soul were growing through the dance movements like a flower opening up to the sun. Ailey explores ideas about tradition and value as well by incorporating traditional dance moves into the choreography but he is very innovative with these at the same time and does not use anything just for the sake of it being valued as traditional: Ailey wants to transcend the past and project a new representation of the spirit through modern dance. In this sense, I feel it is Ailey's intention to show the soul that is trying to find itself, trying to give voice to its pain, pleasure and sense of awareness. There is in the dance movement an obvious sense of struggle towards some higher place in the realm of the mind and senses that can bring peace.