Alvin Ailey: Celebrating African-American Culture in Dance

Alvin Ailey: Celebrating African- American Culture in Dance The biography Alvin Ailey: Celebrating African- American in Dance would be described as surprising, excellent characters, and excellent word choice. This book was based on Alvin Ailey's life. He was born on January 5, 1931 in Rogers, Texas. He grew up with his mother who couldn't keep a steady job, therefore they moved often. Ailey became interested in ballet when he sees on of Katherine Dunham performances. That's how his legacy began. He created so many pieces and his most famous one's were Revelations, Night Creature, and For Bird, With Love. After winning many awards, Ailey died on December 1, 1989 in New York City. Today his legacy lives on through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (AAADT). The book is very surprising because of the many facts that you will receive from this book. For example when I found out that Alvin Ailey was gay was very heart breaking. Even though there are plenty of male dancers, he was the last dancer I would think of being gay. Another example is when I found out that he danced with Maya Angelou, Marguerite Angelos, before she became a poet. Alvin Ailey is an excellent character because if the way that the author described him and others. For example there were many quotes in the book the described the way he taught others to dance. One of them are: "He made dance accessible to everyone. You didn't have to have a trained eye or read a book- all you had to do is open your heart. That's what Alvin was about, that spark of spirit," Keith McDaniel, a dancer of the Ailey Company, once spoke. The word was very vivid. The author described places, people, and movement really well. For example when Ailey was younger and he moved from place to place she said it to be heart-breaking and annoying. She also said that the places he moved back-and-forth to be disgusting, trashy, poor black neighborhoods. She also said that Ailey's movements were touching and surreal. They were so that one time he received a twenty minute standing applause. Surprising, excellent characters, and excellent word choice were the three reasons why I give this book a four star rating. It was heart- breaking and made me want to dance more than what I do now. This book could not get any better. S. Bowens