Robert Battle has been leading the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for four years now. But there are still times the Liberty City-raised artistic director can't quite believe he's heading one of the most famous dance troupes in the world.
It's said that Odetta, American folk singer-songwriter and activist, was so meticulous when researching traditional black prison songs that she once tried to break rocks with a sledgehammer to understand how convicts felt when singing those songs.
Martin Luther King III and Andrea King, along with their daughter, Yolanda, visit with artistic director Robert Battle (and dancers) at the Fox Theatre following a performance of Alvin Ailey’s American masterpiece “Revelations” and the Atlanta premiere of Matthew Rushing’s ODETTA, a tribute to the legendary singer and activist known as the “voice of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient - Robert Battle on Behalf of Alvin Ailey
As only the third artistic director of the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since its founding in 1958, Robert Battle carries the weight of history on his shoulders. But Battle, a choreographer and leader of his own rising dance company when he was handpicked to lead Ailey in 2011 by his predecessor Judith Jamison, hardly considers that history a burden.
Everyone expects professional dancers to be in great shape. But a company like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, with an annual five-week season in New York, 150 days a year on tour and over 200 performances annually, requires Herculean physical strength and extraordinary mental clarity. Each Ailey dancer develops a personalized regimen to sustain their energy and ward off injuries, all while maintaining some semblance of "normal" life.
Denmark-born Peter Brandenhoff's talents have taken him around the world, performing with the Boston Ballet, Hamburg Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. An in-demand ballet instructor, he is currently teaching at the Ailey Extension.
A bold signature hairstyle can do more than turn heads. As these four women reveal, choosing a unique cut, color or style can transform your life, too.
When awarding a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to choreographer Alvin Ailey, President Barack Obama said, "Through him, African American history was told in a way that it had never been before - with passionate, virtuoso dance performances that transfixed audiences worldwide."
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater honored Joan Weill at its opening gala.