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History of dance in physical education
Alvin Ailey and his legacy
History of dance in physical education
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Alvin Ailey
It was really impressive performance I ever seen. I like all programs and their performance was too attractive and interesting. I like lighting and music because it looked very decent with the performance. In addition, they organized it very well. I really like it. The following paragraphs give a few facts about Alvin Ailey and his background.
Alvin Ailey was born in Rogers, Texas on January 5, 1931 and moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of twelve. There, on a junior high school class trip to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, he fell in love with concert dance. Inspired by performances of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company and classes with Lester Horton, Mr Ailey began his formal dance training. It was with Mr. Horton, the founder of the first racially integrated Dance Company in this country, that Mr. Ailey embarked on his professional dance career.
After Horton's death in 1953, Mr. Ailey became the director of the Lester Horton Dance Theater and began to choreograph his own works. In 1954, he and his friend Carmen de Lavallade were invited to New York to dance in the Broadway show, House of Flowers by Truman Capote. In New York, Mr. Ailey studied with many outstanding dance artists, including Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and took acting classes with Stella Adler. In 1958, Mr. Ailey founded his own company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 1960, he choreographed Revelations, the classic masterpiece of American modern dance based on the religious heritage of his youth.
Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Ailey created some 79 ballets, many of which have appeared in the repertoire of major dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Paris Opera Ballet and La Scala Ballet.
Leroy Anderson was born June 29, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents, as children, immigrated to the United States from Sweden with their families. His father, Bror Anton Anderson, worked as a postal clerk in the Central Square post office. He also played the mandolin. Anna Margareta Anderson, his mother, was the organist at the Swedish church in Cambridge. He lived in the suburbs of Boston for twenty seven years with his parents and brother.
Katherine Dunham not only significantly contributed to the rise of modern dance, but she was also a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology; and a staunch political and social activist. Dunham was born in Chicago, Illinois and primarily raised in nearby Joliet, Illinois. Dunham first became interested in dance when she was a teenager and trained with Ludmilla Speranzeva, formerly of the Moscow Theatre, Vera Mirova, Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page in Chicago before and during her college education. She even started her own private dance school, Ballet Négre, in 1930, while at the University of Chicago where she first began to cultivate her own technique that would change modern dance.
His father abandoned the family when Alvin was a mere six months old, leaving him and his mother with the struggle of fending for themselves. The inability for Alvin’s mother to find work led to their move to California in 1942, where Alvin was introduced by a classmate to the most influential person that would be the foundation for his future successful career in modern dance, Lester Horton (DeFrantz 1). Alvin was captivated by Lester’s work, which focuses on building a strong body, and made the executive decision to start his dance training in 1949 when he was eighteen years old. Because Lester Horton’s dance company embraced diversity, and accepted dancers of all ethnicities and backgrounds, Alvin was given the opportunity to do something great with his One of the first concerts ever produced by his company was titled Blues Suite, which was a well-received depiction of poverty in the deep south set to a soundtrack of blues music. This concert was an integral part in defining Alvin Ailey’s choreography technique, which is loosely based on the technique associated in ballet with strong legs and feet, while still maintaining a more evocative, modern-style torso.
In Ailey’s own account, he moved to California a shy, lonely child and found comfort in the alter-realities of the theater, dance and movies. It was during this time that he came to identity as a homosexual. Horton, an openly gay white man, pioneered a school and company of gay, lesbian and straight dancers from ethnic backgrounds who executed innovated choreography at concerts. Through Horton’s mentoring and his accepting Dance Company, Ailey reacted to this sexual and racial liberation in a manner that helped develop his creative talent into a weighted and sensual style that worked with his athletic body (43). Though Ailey remained closeted through life, he preformed numerous interviews throughout his career and, but remained private about his personal affairs. He often described himself as a bachelor and a loner in interviews and maintained that he did feel the needed to sustain a long-term relationship (44). Ailey’s struggle with accepting his own sexuality could be seen as a limitation to his creative expression; however, his resilience to this obstacle created by society can be easily seen in his work. His technique is known for physically and emotionally moving both the dancer and the audience. It is clear that though he may have kept his personal life to himself, his passion and intensity exploded on the stage through his
Merce Cunningham was known as a “leader of the American avant-garde whose constant innovation and artistic collaborations expanded the frontiers not only of dance, but also of contemporary visual and performing arts”. His passion and drive to succeed and push boundaries of dance and technology helped him throughout his career and in the building of his own dance establishment, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He also worked closely with the composer John Cage, where together they created different, new music. He was one of the most daring choreographers of his time regarding the exploration of technology in dance. He had begun to look into dance film in the 70’s, and further started to choreograph new dances using a computer program named ‘Dance Forms’. He also further created a webcast series where the public were able to view his teaching in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and could essentially sit in on the rehearsals
Ira Frederick Aldridge was born on July 24, 1807 in New York. However, his birthplace remained questionable until 40 or so years ago. It has also been listed as Senegal(Africa), and Maryland. However conclusive evidence was found in the 1950s that he was born in New York. Included in this evidence are his British Naturalization papers and Death Certificate. His father was Reverend Daniel Adlridge , a straw vendor and preacher in "Old Zion". His mother was Lurranah. Ira grew up in a house on what is now West Broadway in New York City. He attended the African Free School No.2, which provided free education for Black children. The African Free School was established in 1787 on Cliff Street with one classroom for 40 children. After it was burnt down in 1814, it was relocated to No. 245 William Street. In 1820, A second African Free School was built in 1820 on Mulberry Street. This was known as the Arfrican Free School No. 2. It was here that Ira attended school. However, it is believed that he also attended No. 1 in his earlier childhood years. The African Free Schools are credited with contributing to the Abolitionist movement. They inspired them to fight for equal rights and use themselves as living examples that Blacks and Whites have the same potentials.
Catherine Little first began her dance training when she was eight years old and studied tap, ballet, and eccentric dancing from an Erie dance studio that is no longer in operation. When Catherine was 14 she began her teacher training in New York City at Ned Wayburn School. By the end of the year Ms. Little began to teach students in the music room of her parent’s home and every summer was spent studying in New York. While attending Lucille Stoddard’s Dance Congress Catherine was chosen from more than 200 students by the famous Bill “Bo Jangles” Robinson to be his protégé. Along with Bo Jangles, Catherine also studied with Ernest Carlos, Jack Manning, Peter Gennaro, Charlie Morrison, Charlie Lowe, Gene Kelly, and Katherine Dunham. While studying in New York Catherine performed at the Palace Theatre and even travelled to Cleveland, Ohio for the premiere of the first talking movie. Because of Catherine’s love for children and recognition that it was good for their development, she began to specialize in teaching pre-schoolers. Later, Catherine decided to take her work with children a s...
Every performance was presented with charm. The flashing, changing colors seem to go along with the performances. The director was humorous. The performers outfits were on point too. I liked the color coding of the vocalists, Jeremy, Jordan, and Rowan. Also, Julie wore a pretty suede dress and had a great voice. It was nice to see her come out for the 2nd time to sing. When Spencer kept playing his saxophone in some of the performances, it was just amazing. Some of my favorite performances were Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, Ain’t too Proud to Beg, In a Sentimental Mood, and more. It really made me feel like I was in New Orleans all over again. I absolutely love Otis Redding and The Temptations music, so I wasn’t new to these songs they played. I was sitting in the back (R-125) where I felt comfortable to bob my head to the music. If I ever come back to see another concert, I will make sure to get a seat in the back again. I adore Jordan that did sung the Temptations song. I thought it was exciting to see his enthusiasm while on stage keeping us engaged, but everyone did great in their own way. The song by Duke Ellington made me feel melancholy, the piece was soft. I just couldn’t believe how well everyone contributed and gave an outstanding
Anna Sokolow was a brave young jewish woman born in Hartford, Connecticut on February 9, 1910 to Russian immigrant parents named Sara and Samuel Sokolowski. In 1912 they made the decision to move to New York to pursue better jobs to better support their young daughter. Sokolow started out training with Elsa Pohl who taught a very Isadora Duncan style dance which lead to her joining Martha Graham’s company sometime in the late 1920’s, when she would have been about twenty. According to her foundation's website she began taking choreographic lessons from Louis Hort just a year or two later, once she got adjusted to her new style of living and company life. When she started taking these classes she realized her interest in the general population
Why is it socially acceptable for a woman to show her feelings but for a man to stores his away? Why is it okay for a man to be more sexually active than a woman? Lilly Allen confronts double standards in her song “Hard Out Here” especially in her lyrics, “If I told you ‘bout my sex life, you’d call me a slut. When boys be talking about their bitches, no one’s making a fuss. There’s a glass ceiling to break, uh-huh, there’s money to make. And now it’s time to speed up ‘cause I can’t move at this pace”. Just like Lily Allen states there is a glass ceiling that has been hanging over feminists in their conquest of equality. The feminist movement, although accomplishing many things, has had a long time coming for equality to actually become attainable. No matter who you ask, the ways that they see feminism will be different then the person next to them. We need to try and break though the stereotypes of feminism and see it for what it really is, a cause for equality. Feminism. What does it mean to
Ruth was born in 1879 that was growing up on a farm in Somerville, New Jersey; Ruth Dennis lived a very happy childhood. She was encouraged to study dance when she was very young by Emily Dennis who is her mother was a highly educated woman who was a physician. As can be seen, her mother is a significant person to contribute a success in her career. After her passion for dancing turned more clearly, her mother worked so hard to take opportunity to perform in New York. She encouraged fully
Norma Rae is a film about a factory worker named Norma Rae. Norma was a low paid worker in a cotton mill. The cotton mill has poor working conditions and Norma took over the roll for the family to work and provide. She’s a single mother who provides for her family. She has two kids and both kids have different dads. She does however have a few guys that she flirts with and has things with. She Is against the company as a whole though because of the work environment and the way they treat their employees.
The choir immediately captured my attention and seemed to do the same for everyone else in the audience. I was very impressed by the fact that the choir was made up entirely of college students. It was also stated that some of them sing in the choir just for fun as they are not music majors. There seemed to be an appeal in the fact that the singers were mostly very young. The piece as a whole was also very enjoyable.
Although blackness influenced much of Alvin Ailey’s work, he ultimately felt that the importance lay in the dancer rather than the race. Ailey told the New York Times, "I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work." Alvin Ailey, an iconic American choreographer, was born on January 5, 1931, in Rogers, Texas. Being an African-American born in the South influenced much of Ailey’s later work. He grew up in the height of racial segregations, lynching, and violence. Ailey’s mother Lula Ailey had him at 17 years old, his father, Alvin, abandoned his family. The history and experiences Alvin Ailey had in the South drastically changed Ailey’s view of whiteness. He drew his inspirations from his church, his local dance hall, and the music he heard at these black gatherings. At age 12, Ailey’s family moved to Los Angeles to look for different job opportunities. There, Ailey’s interests took flight and he became involved in dance.
In conclusion, the concert was really interesting and I enjoyed myself. In my opinion the two pieces that I really like in this concert, are Sounden Horn and Polonaise from Engine Onegin, the shift between the melodic lines and the element of beauty is what made me like it. In the future I would recommend it to my friends and I will not mind to go with them at all. This kind of music is the best to me by far.