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They Danced Like The Stars

By Ruthanne Johnson

Denver Urban Spectrum; May 2008

On the weekend of April 4, a supernova hit the dance stage of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to shine for Denver audiences. For only about the third time since its inception, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

performed in Denver, stirring audiences with their preternatural dance moves, motivating music and captivating costumes and lighting. The performance was part of Ailey’s landmark 50th anniversary tour de force to

more than 25 cities in 2008 and 2009, and an international tour slated to include Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Bucharest, Munich and Tenerife, Spain. Ailey’s performance in Denver was the first time the New York-based dance company collaborated with the Colorado Ballet and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance to bring their talents to the Mile High City.

“Next year is the official year of the 50th anniversary, because the company premiered on May 27, 1958,”

said the company’s Artistic Director Judith Jamison, who

has been with Ailey since 1965 – initially as one of its premier dancers and choreographers and later as its creative director after Ailey’s death in 1989. “It’s just so wonderful to have dance companies working together to

present. I think that’s fabulous. That should happen more often.”

What began as a small company of young Black modern dancers under the creative leadership of Alvin Ailey

(whose first performance, Blues Suite, was staged at New

York’s 92nd Street Y), quickly took flight after a series of “station wagon tours” across the country and Ailey’s masterpiece creation Revelations in 1960.

“New York was very exciting with modern dance at the time,” said Jamison, “and Alvin celebrated what he couldn’t see, the image of that and the enormous talent that wasn’t being seen.”

“Part of the idea of Alvin Ailey is not to perform in a vacuum,” she explained, “because there are people out there you’re trying to reflect, which is an important fact in something called Sankofa – a Ghanaian word meaning ‘you have to reach back to understand what your ancestors did so you understand where you’re going in the future.’”

For Jamison, diversity, heritage and sharing dance and theater with people never before exposed to the arts are important aspects of the Ailey legacy. “Alvin fused lots of different things,” she said. “He combined a great variety of dance styles, and helped foster new choreographers, which is one of the great hallmarks of the Ailey company.”

Considered as a historic event by Cleo Parker Robinson and Colorado Ballet Artistic Director Gill Boggs, the Ailey performance in Denver brought a full house and exuberant standing ovations.

“Bringing a dance troupe such as Alvin Ailey to Denver brings awareness to the arts,” said Parker Robinson, adding that at times it’s difficult to draw Denver audiences to the local arts scene. “It was nice to see the young people driven and inspired by bringing in a dance talent such as Alvin Ailey. And that’s what happened – the people came out and felt the power of dance.”

Since its pre-‘60s debut, the Ailey performance group has grown from seven to 35 dancers, who have performed over the years for an estimated 21 million people – including presidents, kings and princes in 48 states and on seven continents. The company’s awards are as many as they are diverse, from being the recipient of the Gold Star at the 1970 International Dance Festival to receiving the United Nations Peace Medal in 1982 to being designated by Congress as an American Cultural Ambassador to the World in 2008. The contributors to the Ailey repertory read like a “Who’s Who” of dance, with Masazumi Chaya, Ulysses Dove, Twyla Tharp, Hans van Manen, Jennifer Dunning and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar listed as just a few of the renowned choreographers who have staged works for the gifted Ailey dancers.

Although the company has struggled financially over the years, their work has always received international acclaim. Their financial strength was recently announced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Executive Director Sharon Gersten Luckman, after more than $55 million in contributions were raised for their anniversary year.

In a symbolic toast to their past, present and future years of innovation and success, Ailey’s 50th anniversary festivities kicked off in New York on March 27 with performances by the company’s dancers and students, announcements of upcoming events, and a program packed with a variety of activities.

Perhaps not even the visionary Ailey could have foreseen the company’s rise from their meager beginnings to international icon. With his goal to establish a dance troupe in celebration of the African-American heritage successfully attained, Ailey expanded the company’s repertoire to represent something far beyond. His works and those who followed have come to embody all aspects of the human experience, something universal that is woven in the very fabric of humanity.

Today, Ailey tours more than any other dance company in the United States, with fans from China to South Africa , from Moscow to Buenos Aires. The Ailey School – founded in 1969 with 125 students – now trains over 3,000 boys and girls annually. They offer educational outreach programs and classes to the general public. Ailey II, the junior company, serves as a bridge between the school and the professional dance world, offering dancers in the repertory troupe an opportunity to more smoothly make the leap from the classroom to the stage.

“Alvin did so much that left us so much,” Jamison said. “We have taken his legacy and expanded. He wanted us to go out and connect with people and that’s what we do with our school and company. We keep the flow going.”