Happy Birthday, Alvin Ailey!
The following is a guest post by Stephanie Akau and Maya Lerman, the archivists who recently completed the processing of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater collection housed in the Music Division.
In celebration of the 94th birthday of dancer and visionary Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), the Music Division is excited to announce that the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection has been processed and is available for research. The extensive collection greatly enhances dance resources at the Library of Congress and provides connections to other Music Division collections of major choreographers, such as the Lester Horton Dance Theater Collection, the Katherine Dunham Collection, and the Pearl Lang Papers. Please explore the recently published Ailey Collection finding aid, which illustrates the scope and breadth of the output of Alvin Ailey and his company and allows researchers to identify and locate materials for study in the Performing Arts Reading Room.
Alvin Ailey’s interest in and pursuit of dance began early in his life. Before founding his company in 1958, Ailey studied various dance forms as a member of the Lester Horton Dance Theater, and with other dancers and choreographers including ballet master Karel Shook. Through training, observation, and his experience directing the Lester Horton Dance Theater after Horton’s sudden passing in 1953, Ailey sowed the seeds of his own dance company that articulated his unique vision of dance. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) has become one of the most successful and largest American dance companies, showcasing the artistry of numerous African American choreographers and dancers. The AAADT collection provides evidence of Ailey’s creative process in his choreography and production of works, as well as the administrative side of the AAADT and its education arms, documented by promotional materials, photographs, and programs. The collection provides a comprehensive view into the inner workings of the creative and administrative support required to run a successful dance company.
The collection is organized into eleven series, which represent the major intellectual and physical groupings of materials. The Correspondence and Subject Files series highlight Ailey’s circle of acquaintances and collaborators, which included artistic luminaries such as Katherine Dunham, Pauline Koner, Mary Lou Williams, Samuel Barber, and Duke Ellington. Additional series record the history and development of Ailey’s company from a small ensemble to a major force in American dance. Thousands of programs, posters, and clippings, plus 165 scrapbooks testify to the company’s domestic and international popularity. Business records document the activities of the newly formed Board of Directors in the 1970s that was tasked with growing the company’s financial base. Ailey believed that dance is for everyone: administrative records, correspondence, and brochures show the realization of Ailey’s goal beginning with formation of the company’s first dance education programs in the 1970s.
Items comprising the Photographs series were primarily taken during performances or for publicity, providing rich visual documentation of the AAADT’s choreographic works and performances, as well as headshots and professional photographs of Ailey and the company’s talented cast of dancers. Unsurprisingly, the work with the most photographs is Revelations, choreographed by Alvin Ailey in 1960 and an instant success. The Revelations photographs date from 1960 through 2020, chronicling a dance that remains the cornerstone of AAADT performances and one of the most popular modern dance works in the world.
Ailey’s creativity is evident in his numerous notes documenting his artistic process, which can be found in the Creative Output and Process series. The following notes from a rehearsal for Feast of Ashes are less about the choreography itself and more about how to bring a dance to life: “… the dramatic values are as important as the dance values—who you are, what you are doing and why from one moment to the next dictate the texture of the work.”
More often, Ailey’s notes do not easily correspond to an existing dance. In one example, he used the front and back of an Air France air sickness bag, presumably, all that was available. On the front are rough ideas for dances: “Jazz movements – ballet done to classical score” … “African Ballet of Benin,” music “Scarlatti – Vivaldi – Pergolesi,” and upcoming scheduling reminders for himself. On the back is an illustration of the opening of the “African Ballet of Benin” that he refers to on the front. His mind was always working, whether sketching creative ideas or keeping track of the many components of his busy career.
We would also like to note the presence of materials featuring the late dance powerhouse Judith Jamison (1943-2024), found throughout the collection. Of the many dancers and choreographers championed by Ailey, Jamison was perhaps the most prominent. She joined AAADT in 1965 and became best known for her performances of Alvin Ailey’s Cry (1971), which Ailey choreographed for her as a birthday present to his mother, Lula. After dancing with AAADT for 15 years, Jamison went on to forge her own successful career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, before returning at Ailey’s request to succeed him as the company’s Artistic Director in 1989. She held the position until 2011, when she became Artistic Director Emerita. In The New York Times obituary for Jamison, Brian Seibert wrote about Jamison and Ailey’s unique relationship: “Ms. Jamison was the Ailey company’s celebrity and Mr. Ailey’s muse. But they had a sometimes stormy relationship, which she once compared to that between twins. ‘We could read each other’s minds’ she told Ms. [Olga] Maynard [Jamison’s biographer]. ‘He was there as a guide, but he let me find my own way.’” The most notable item gifted by Jamison to the Music Division is one of the white parasols she danced with in Revelations, depicted in a photograph earlier in this post.
We invite you to explore these and other treasures in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection, a comprehensive body of work from one of the most celebrated dancers and dance companies in the world. In addition, the online exhibit “Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: 50 Years Cultural Ambassador to the World,” curated by the Music Division in 2008, highlights photographs, digitized posters, and costume designs from the Ailey collection alongside their historical context. We encourage you to look through this online exhibit if you cannot experience this wonderful collection by visiting the Library of Congress in person.
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