It was at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre where dancers with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater would unknowingly perform for the last time before a nearly two-year hiatus. Fast forward to today, and they’re back on their first national tour. Ailey's Artistic Director Robert Battle and Chicago-native dancer Solomon Dumas speak with Angel Idowu about the Company's return.
Twenty-five years is a long time to be involved in any discipline. Now imagine having to be in prime physical shape all that time—on the level of an elite athlete. Vernard Gilmore, who grew up in Chicago, has been with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for a quarter-century. He began his training at Curie Performing and Creative Arts High School before studying at the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater and then moving to New York City. Gilmore is currently featured in Alvin Ailey's solo "Reflections in D" and takes center stage in other classics such as Revelations and Blues Suite. Gilmore, who's openly gay, recently talked with Windy City Times about Alvin Ailey, the evolution of dance, the Ailey documentary and his own feelings during the past two years that have challenged everyone.
A local dancer will perform for a hometown crowd when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater comes to Chicago. Sarah Daley-Perdomo, who grew up in South Elgin and graduated from St. Charles North High School, is a company member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and will perform at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago March 2-6. Daley-Perdomo, 35, started out in ballet when she was five years old and continued her training at the Faubourg School of Ballet in Hanover Park. "It was something I realized I had a talent for and wanted to see how far I could go," she said.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is coming to Charleston. The world-famous African American dance troupe performs at the Gaillard Tuesday and Wednesday. One of the dancers taking the stage is a young woman who grew up in North Charleston. Ashley Green is a 2016 graduate of the Charleston County School of the Arts.
Instinct rather than intention guided Robert Battle, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, when he choreographed the image of dancer Renaldo Maurice, a Black man, draped in the American flag. Battle had envisioned his piece, “For Four,” as a light opener to a jazz score capturing the pandemic’s pent-up energies. But at some level, Battle said, he needed to respond to the murder of George Floyd and “these fragile times in our democracy.”
As a Black girl from the inner city of Baltimore, I hadn’t known anything about the codified world of dance growing up. Ballet was something I had only seen on TV—and who I saw in it never looked like me. I never thought that would be my future. My first introduction to dance was at my audition for the Baltimore School for the Arts, and from there a love bloomed.
Pittsburgh native James Gilmer always had a love for the arts. Growing up in a family that was musically and artistically inclined sparked an interest in dance at an early age. His parents began cultivating his love for dance by putting him in a ballet and tap sampler class at the Larry Cervi School of dance when he was just five years old. Gilmer went on to receive a scholarship to attend the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School when he was 8 years old. After graduating high school, he was accepted into the second company at the Cincinnati Ballet and joined the main company shortly thereafter. Eventually he went on to dance with ODC Dance Company in San Francisco before landing his dream job in New York. In 2019, Gilmer became a member of the prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Gilmer spoke with the SUN about his journey in the world of dance, his dream job with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s upcoming performance at the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus.
When he became the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 10 years ago, Robert Battle stopped seeing himself as a choreographer. “In fact,” he said in a recent phone interview, “there were parts of me that didn’t really think I would make another work.” Paradoxically, making work is precisely why Battle had landed at Ailey in the first place in 2011. It was his skill as a choreographer and director of his own small troupe, Battleworks Dance Company, that caught the attention of one of the world’s most prestigious modern-dance organizations. Judith Jamison, Battle’s champion and predecessor at Ailey, hailed him as “the creative force of the future.”
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater member Courtney Celeste Spears corresponded with Ballerina Book Club for “Friend Picks” about her favorite books, how reading informs character development, dancing at Ailey and her Bahamas-based organization ArtSea, which she started to share her love of dance and give back to the local community. Follow her on Instagram at bahamaballerina.
This month would have been Alvin Ailey’s 91st birthday; the celebrated modern dance visionary died in 1989. Decades later, his choreography is as vibrant as ever and his company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater remains as innovative. Christopher Booker spoke with the company’s artistic director Robert Battle about Ailey’s legacy.