"It's pretty clear that there's a love affair between audiences and 'Revelations'," choreographer Alvin Ailey wrote in his autobiography, speaking of the work that would become the signature of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He was not overstating the case.
Anna Gilligan hit the dance floor for a class on 'Revelations,' the signature choreographic work of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
This month Renee Robinson will make her last signature entrance as the "woman with the umbrella" in Alvin Ailey's Revelations.
During a performance of the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, principal dancer Renee Robinson wants the audience to feel "this is the only place in the world I want to be."
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Atlanta tonight. The Company is celebrating "Revelations at 50"...Which some consider one of the most popular ballet of all time.
Few dance companies carry the worldwide name recognition of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. And even fewer dance works boast the influential artistic legacy of Ailey's Revelations, which the New York TImes hailed as "modern dance's unquestionable greatest hit."
A seemingly bemused Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) uttered a sonorously drawn out "No!" to Harry Belafonte in a 1978 television conversation with the singer, who asked the choreographer, "When you were making 'Revelations,' did you know you'd be doing it forever?" At that point, Mr. Ailey's wildly popular dance suite set to spirituals and gospel music was already 18 years old.
After seeing "Celebrating 'Revelations' at 50," the film tribute by Judy Kinberg that precedes the piece this season at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Roslyn Sulcas wrote: "It's notable how rough hewn - and powerful - the dancing looks in the historical footage of Ailey and others performing in that work."
"Rocks my sould in the bosom of Abraham!" Sweet Honey in the Rock throws the words up like a tidal wave from the City Center pit, while from a corner of the stage, the voice of Ella Mitchell - which has been heard (both live and recorded) during Alvin Ailey's 1960 Revelations for 37 years - soars above the other singers.
Alvin Ailey fetes 'Revelations,' its singular masterpiece, all season long. Turning 50 is not always cause for outright celebration. Many of us are too depressed. And then that AARP card comes in the mail.