Alvin Ailey(1931 — 1989)

« I want to show that dance comes from the people and must always be given back to the people.»

In 1960, Alvin Ailey created "Revelations", a ballet inspired by the religious songs (the "negro spirituals") he heard as a child in the Baptist church of Texas. Now his most famous work, it is today one of the most performed pieces of modern dance in the world and closes nearly every show by his company.

Ailey grew up in rural Texas during the Great Depression: as a child, he picked cotton with his mother and experienced racial segregation every day. These memories of a poor African-American childhood in the South would feed his entire body of choreographic work.

He discovered dance almost by chance in Los Angeles, while attending performances by the Ballets Russes and Katherine Dunham's troupe. Encouraged by a high-school classmate, he joined the school of choreographer Lester Horton, whose company he took over upon Horton's death in 1953.

In 1971, Ailey created for dancer Judith Jamison a sixteen-minute solo titled "Cry", dedicated "to all Black women everywhere, especially our mothers". This birthday gift for his own mother became one of the most moving moments in the repertoire.

When he founded his company in 1958, Black dancers had very little access to the great American stages. Ailey opened the door for them: his theater became a showcase for the African-American heritage and toured all over the world, sometimes as a "cultural ambassador" sent by the United States.