The First Major Exhibition Dedicated to Alvin Ailey Opens at the Whitney Museum
Throughout his life, Alvin Ailey recorded his artistic inspirations and reflections in journals, writing about the visual art that excited him, his fascination with performance art, and the things he swore he’d never do in his choreography—at least until a dozen or so pages later, when he amended the hard and fast choreographic rule.
“Edges of Ailey” features art that inspired and was inspired by the choreographer. Here: Benny Andrews’ The Way to the Promised Land (1994). Courtesy Whitney Museum.
“I think contradiction is kind of a sign of brilliance, actually,” says Adrienne Edwards, senior curator and associate director of curatorial programs at New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art. Those notebooks heavily influenced the structure of “Edges of Ailey,” the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to the modern dance pioneer’s life, work, and legacy, on view at the Whitney from September 25 to February 9. It is assembled thematically into 10 sections, including Black spirituality, Black migration to the western and northern U.S., the prominent Black women in Ailey’s life, and more. The presentation specifically highlights Ailey’s musings and multidisciplinary approach to movement, combining his dance practice with the music and visual artists he was inspired by—as well as featuring work by artists who were inspired by him. “Edges of Ailey” will also include a curated performance program in the museum’s theater spanning the run of the exhibition.
Edwards sensed there was a gap in knowledge about Ailey: We know him for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the work he’s created, but she started to question, “Who is the man that started this thing?” While working on the exhibition, she discovered that the majority of Ailey’s archives were split between materials about his company accessible at the Library of Congress and a trove of memorabilia and notebooks Ailey gave Allan Gray—a community figure in the Kansas City area—who then loaned them to the Black Archives of Mid-America. Over the course of six years, Edwards dug through 10 different archives of videos, memorabilia, and journals, which showcase Ailey’s “extraordinary curiosity” and provide deep insight into the development of his choreographies and the inspirations cited in his work.
“We found this recording of him where he says, ‘You know, I wanted to paint, I wanted to be a sculptor, I wanted to write the great American novel, I wanted to be a poet,’ ” Edwards says. “And dance somehow became a way for him to see all of those things.”
The performance program running alongside the exhibition showcases Ailey’s living legacy, not only through his eponymous company but also by reflecting his practice of uplifting other choreographers. “The fact that a modern dance choreographer could provide support to other choreographers and dancers, and then bring those works into the repertory of this modern dance company, was truly unique” at that time, Edwards says. “He did that because he had observed, through his own experience, the lack of support for Black choreographers to make dance, so he used the company like an engine to ferment the evolution of Black dance in the United States.”
The Whitney will welcome AAADT to use its performance space one week per month for the span of the exhibition for a broad range of programming, including performances, classes, and arts education initiatives. In the other weeks, commissioned artists will rehearse in the space and present work at the end of their assigned week. The list of artists includes Trajal Harrell, Ronald K. Brown, AAADT interim artistic director Matthew Rushing, Bill T. Jones, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Will Rawls, Sarah Michelson, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Okwui Okpokwasili with Peter Born, and Ralph Lemon with Kevin Beasley.
The work created by the artists will reflect Ailey’s impact on modern dance, highlighting specific aspects of his choreographic development. Michelson’s work will explore Ailey’s connection to Merce Cunningham, while Zollar’s piece will be built around jazz music—which Ailey was also inspired by—and her childhood in Kansas City. Both the performance program and the exhibition aim to excavate the man behind the dance company to better understand who he was and what he stood for.
