A deep dive into the life and career of a dancer and choreographer might not seem like a natural fit for the Whitney Museum, but it turns out that its new exhibition on Alvin Ailey (1931–89), “Edges of Ailey,” feels perfectly at home at the New York institution.
Music’s in the air, and there’s painting and sculpture in imaginative variety as an art museum gives rare treatment to an ephemeral medium. With the spirited, sense-surround show called Edges of Ailey at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York art season gets off to an exuberant, enveloping, though puzzling start. The show is a major institutional tribute to the American choreographer and performer Alvin Ailey (1931-1989). It’s also a relatively rare example of a traditionally object-intensive art museum giving full-scale treatment to the ephemeral medium of dance.
As a retrospective opens at the Whitney Museum, New York, writers, curators and those close to the choreographer explore his vision to transform American dance
Alvin Ailey is one of the most accomplished and revered dancers in history. And yet, there has never been a wide-ranging exhibition chronicling his singular life, style of dance, company, and the impact he left on American culture. “Around 2018, there was a range of shows at museums about dance: the Lincoln Kirstein ballet, the Judson Dance Theater, Merce Cunningham,” Adrienne Edwards, senior curator at The Whitney Museum in New York City, told me recently. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why not Ailey? Why hasn’t a museum done a show about him?’”
Ailey II, the celebrated second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will embark on a 28-city tour, October 4, 2024-May 1, 2025. The next generation of dance will captivate audiences across the United States from Albuquerque, NM, to Kansas City, MO, to Miami, FL, before returning home for its annual New York City season, March 26–April 6 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The 2024-25 repertory features two world premieres by former Ailey II member Alia Kache and by Houston Thomas, as well as repertory favorites and beloved classics.
The Whitney Museum of American Art just previewed the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences and enduring legacy of artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey. CBS News New York's Dave Carlin shows us some of the highlights.
HELL'S KITCHEN, Manhattan (WABC) -- Eyewitness News got a behind-the-scenes look at rehearsals for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's upcoming holiday season. The company is preparing for several productions including the world premiere of, Sacred Songs. It will feature spirituals from the original 19-60 premiere of Alvin Ailey's influential work, Revelations.
Alvin Ailey has never left the hearts of dancers, and it is that legacy which guides Edges of Ailey, the large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibition opening September 25 at the Whitney Museum. Under the direction of Senior Curator and Associate Director Adrienne Edwards, the life and works of the choreographer, dancer and artist are displayed alongside an archive of personal ephemera, music, and performance.
The name Ailey is synonymous with dance. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is more than a company: It’s a brand, an integral piece of the cultural fabric of this country. It’s huge. But somehow the man who created the Ailey empire has become lost inside it, obscured as if by an eclipse. Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who seamlessly melded dance forms, a dancer of extraordinary strength and beauty, and a man — a queer man — with an expansive, restless mind.
It was a summer to talk about for Nylah Taylor, a 15-year-old dance prodigy from Southfield, who secured a coveted scholarship to attend the Ailey Experience NYC workshop. This prestigious program, hosted in early August by the Ailey Extension in New York City, is a dream come true for the talented teen who has been dancing since she was 3.