Watch: Trailer for ‘Ailey’ Documentary Highlights the Dancer’s Revolutionary Career
The NEON doc offers background on the man behind the prestigious name.
The name Alvin Ailey is very well known around the arts scene in New York City, but few details about the revolutionary dancer are commonly known. NEON’s new documentary, Ailey, attempts to change that, highlighting his pioneering choreography that centers around the African American experience. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and received positive reviews from critics and audience members.
Ailey is best known for founding one of the world’s most prestigious dance companies, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The AAADT was designed to nurture black artists and inspire new breakthroughs in modern dance. His most famous project was Revelations, a ballet-inspired piece with modern and jazz elements that presents the history of the African American experience from a religious perspective. Ailey unfortunately died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989, although his work lives on through the AAADT, which the United States Congress declared a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.
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