{"id":849,"date":"2017-11-28T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/?p=849"},"modified":"2025-06-11T10:10:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T10:10:59","slug":"why-we-need-aileys-revelations-now-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/28\/why-we-need-aileys-revelations-now-more-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Need Ailey’s Revelations Now More Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn 1960, America was in the midst of a social transformation. The Supreme Court had ruled \u201cseparate but equal\u201d unconstitutional six years prior, but the country\u2019s response was slow and turbulent as desegregation incited violent responses. Surrounded by powerful civil rights momentum, a 29-year-old Alvin Ailey created an ode to the resilience of the human spirit: Revelations. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t<\/em>
\n\t\u201cAlvin was making a statement about African-American cultural experience, saying, \u2018Hey, this is who we are, we live here, we were born here,\u2019 \u201d says Judith Jamison, artistic director emerita of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. \u201cIt was a brave action. Civil rights were roaring, and our protest was our performance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEven today, Revelations <\/em>presents a compelling plea for society through its renderings of the highs and lows of our human condition. \u201cWhen I look at recent events in this country and hear rhetoric that is more than a throwback to the Jim Crow era,\u201d says current AAADT artistic director Robert Battle, \u201cI know that now, more than ever, Revelations<\/em> is urgently needed.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe piece has made a profound impact. AAADT dancers perform Revelations<\/em> hundreds, even thousands, of times in the course of their careers. Their bodies carry not only the steps, but the weight and historical relevance of the piece. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t Judith Jamison. Photo courtesy the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Archives<\/small>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t<\/em>
\n\t\u201cI haven\u2019t danced it in years, but I remember every step I ever learned,\u201d says Jamison, whose performances as the umbrella woman helped propel her to stardom. \u201cYou feel whole by the time the curtain comes down. No matter how many times you perform or see it, it lifts you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile creating Revelations<\/em>\u2014one of his earliest works\u2014Ailey was searching for personal, artistic and cultural identity. He investigated what he described as his ancestral \u201cblood memories,\u201d and his personal history growing up an only child in rural segregated Texas, attending Baptist churches with his single mother, being overwhelmed by spiritual gospel music.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDivided into three sections, his narrative journeys through a mournful \u201cPilgrim of Sorrow\u201d; the baptismal second section, \u201cTake Me to the Water\u201d; and \u201cMove Members, Move,\u201d depicting an uplifting spiritual community.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRevelations <\/em>began with the music. As early as I can remember I was enthralled by the music played and sung in small black churches,\u201d Ailey described in his memoir Revelations: The Autobiography of Alvin Ailey<\/em>. He wrote that he was also stirred by the sculptures of Henry Moore, the writings of Langston Hughes, and the technical elements of Martha Graham and his mentor Lester Horton: \u201cMoore\u2019s work inspired the costumes made of jersey in the first part. When the body moves, the jersey takes on extraordinary tensions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims. Photo by Paul Kolnik, courtesy AAADT<\/small>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe piece premiered in New York City at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday, January 31, 1960, with nine dancers including Ailey, and live musicians. \u201cThe theater was packed,\u201d recalls Sylvia Waters, a former Ailey II director, and current director of the Ailey Legacy Residency. \u201cI was in the balcony, and when the curtain came down there was a moment of silence and then an eruption of clapping, stamping\u2026it was huge!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original version was a full hour, which Ailey said he then \u201csnipped, cut, pushed and pulled down to a half hour.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it proved hugely popular. \u201cOnce, in Germany, we had already gone offstage and into our dressing rooms; I was about to take my eyelashes off, but the audience kept going, so Mr. Ailey had us do an encore, and all the bows, several times,\u201d recalls Jamison. \u201cThey closed the curtain, they opened it again\u2014it went on for 15, maybe 20 minutes. We finally put our heads in our hands, like \u2018We are tired.\u2019 They had to lower the metal fire curtain!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t Gert Krautbauer, courtesy AAADT<\/small>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tReaching the pinnacle of his choreographic career early on, Ailey struggled at times with his personal relationship to Revelations.<\/em> \u201cHe sometimes referred to Revelations <\/em>as \u2018the albatross around his neck,\u2019 \u201d says Waters. \u201cHe was frustrated, always being put in that box, because he created 79 ballets and many thought this was the only piece he ever created!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Revelations<\/em> approaches 60 years of nearly uninterrupted performances, Ailey\u2019s hopeful message continues to spread. \u201cAlvin Ailey was able to create a work about faith in God, yet it transcends religion,\u201d says Battle. \u201cRevelations <\/em>has a way of breaking through spiritual and language barriers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t<\/span>
\n\tBattle has witnessed the passing of the torch firsthand since becoming director in 2011. \u201cI see new dancers in their first performance, or longtime dancers moving into iconic roles\u2014it connects them to the past, to Alvin Ailey himself. It is a powerful, moving experience,\u201d says Battle, who sometimes marks the movement in the wings to interplay with the dancers. \u201cI never danced Revelations <\/em>myself, so [associate artistic director Masazumi] Chaya has threatened to put me into \u2018yellow section\u2019 at some point\u2026I humbly decline!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t Robert Battle and Masazumi Chaya in the wings. Photo by Michael Francis McBride, courtesy AAADT<\/small><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Why We Need Ailey’s Revelations Now More Than Ever<\/a> appeared first on Dance Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1960, America was in the midst of a social transformation. The Supreme Court had ruled \u201cseparate but equal\u201d unconstitutional six years prior, but the country\u2019s response was slow and turbulent as desegregation incited violent responses. Surrounded by powerful civil rights momentum, a 29-year-old Alvin Ailey created an ode to the resilience of the human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}