Isabel Wallace-Green

The Root - Why the ‘Confuse the Enemy’ Challenge is the TikTok Dance White Folks Can’t Seem to Get

The Root - Why the ‘Confuse the Enemy’ Challenge is the TikTok Dance White Folks Can’t Seem to Get

It looks like Black dancers finally have a trending TikTok dance that white folks can’t steal or replicate with the “Confuse the Enemy” challenge. Syncopated arm movements, dramatic running and Camden Bop choreography have caused the trend to go viral among Black audiences on TikTok – without the unwelcome interference from white content creators. Then, late last week, Ailey dancers entered the discourse with their own dance cover. “Did someone call for us?” the video was captioned. Four performers — Corrin Rachelle Mitchell, Isabel Wallace-Green, Shawn Cusseaux and Ashley Kaylynn Green — joined the trend from backstage dressed in a mix of costumes and street clothes, as they were minutes away from the start of a performance of the iconic Ailey piece “Revelations.”

Houston CityBook - In Homecoming Show, Isabel Wallace-Green Dances Her Way Back To Jones Hall With Alvin Ailey Company

Houston CityBook - In Homecoming Show, Isabel Wallace-Green Dances Her Way Back To Jones Hall With Alvin Ailey Company

Houston-born dancer and arts educator Isabel Wallace-Green vividly recalls seeing a performance of Alvin Ailey’s landmark 1960 dance work Revelations as a child, peering over a high balcony in Jones Hall. “The dancers were pretty small!” laughs Wallace-Green, who nevertheless was captivated, especially by a section in Revelations titled “Wade in the Water,” where translucent white, cobalt, and aquamarine cloths are stretched across the stage to evoke baptismal waters and — for African American slaves — the riverbed as a pathway to freedom. “I’d never seen anything like that.”

The Leader - Heights Dancer Returns To Houston With The Acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Leader - Heights Dancer Returns To Houston With The Acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

This March, audiences in Houston will have the opportunity to experience a historic dance company and a historic work of art. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded by its namesake, dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, in 1958. Soon after, drawing upon music from gospel, spirituals, and blues, he started creating a work that evoked childhood images of his family and of attending church in Rogers, Texas, which he called “blood memories.” The result was his iconic work, Revelations, that premiered in New York in 1960. In over six decades, the work has been performed all over the world. In 1968, it was part of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and has been presented numerous times at the White House.