Similarities Between Martha Graham And Alvin Ailey

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

After giving a brief introduction to her subject, Desmond quickly begins her analysis on the piece Radha choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. She states that St. Denis was one of the mothers of modern dance in America despite how her works are not as well remembered as others including Martha Graham’s. She depicts Radha by describing the dancing quality, patterns in choreography, lighting, set, and costume in detail. Desmond also recounts the social issues that are reflected in the piece including gender roles and race. The author’s main point in writing “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was to introduce St. Denis and share her detailed analysis of St. Denis’ Radha.

Alvin Ailey was an accomplished dancer and choreographer whose African-American heritage influenced his works in the 20th century. His successful dance career has gained international recognition and acclaim thus rendering a significant legacy. Ailey’s background as a dancer and choreographer had many strong influences from social, cultural, economic and political aspects during his early life. His African-American heritage has greatly influenced his works. Alvin was the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1958-), galvanized and stabilized an African American presence in theatrical dance. An outstanding performer, choreographer, company director, and mentor to scores of dance artists, Ailey oversaw the growth of his small, pick-up group of seven dancers into a large, carefully managed, internationally-renowned enterprise including several ensembles of dancers and a thriving school in New York City housed in the largest building devoted to dance in the United States. Along the way, Ailey changed the landscape of modern dance by developing new audiences for its performance through a consistent combination of exceptional artistry and wellcoordinated community outreach programs. In all, Ailey invigorated the art of dance with his distinctive creative imagination, his “blood memories” of cultural formations he witnessed as a child-- including the jook joint and the black church --and the strong survivalist ethic he learned as an African American man born in the

Alvin Ailey was a famous choreographer/dancer also founder of his own dance company (AAADT). Inspired by many, (including Katherine Dunham and Horton) he began dancing at the age of 15 where he found his love for dancing. Ballet, jazz and Broadway were the three main dance styles Ailey loved. These styles can also be recognised in nearly all of his choreographies. As choreographic styles identify the constituent features, when it comes to Ailey’s work we can clearly recognise them, through the movement used.

Alvin Ailey was a Modern Dance choreographer and he blended modern, jazz and ethnic dance styles. He formed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958. His company was composed of exclusively black dancer until 1963 when he decided to integrate his company. He choreographed close to 80 pieces, including Cry, Blue suites, Night Creatures and his most famous work Revelations. More people have seen Revelations across the globe than any other modern dance piece. Alvin Ailey died on December 1,1989 at the age of 58.

Alvin Ailey, a well known second generation American choreographer and activist was born in Rogers, Texas on January 5, 1931. Ailey grew up poor in the small Texas town of Navasota. Although he did not have much growing up, it did not stop his drive to succeed. He became inspired by attending black church services and by the music he heard at the local dance hall. Because of this, Ailey left Texas at the young age of 12 and moved to Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Ailey excelled in different subjects such as language and athletics. He became inspired to pursue dancing after seeing the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform. In 1949, at the age of 18, he began to study modern dance with Lester Horton and joined Horton’s dance company the following year. Horton became Ailey 's major influence, as he was his mentor that gave him a foundation and technique that allowed him to grow artistically. Even though he developed his own style, he still used Horton’s technique that emphasized a strong fluid torso and ease of movement. In his years to follow, Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958. Ailey’s dance company became very popular because of its multi-racial modern dance ensemble. Due to his modern, jazz and ethnic dance styles, and extensive world tours, Alvin Ailey became one of the leading figures in the 20th century modern dance, making modern dance popular all over the world. Ailey is a significant artist to me because he paved the way for

Many choreographers shape dance into something different and defy certain styles. Alvin Ailey not only did this through dance but changed the racial norms in the dance world. The Alvin Ailey American Arts Theatre has performed for over 25 million people in 48 states, 71 counties and on 6 continents. Throughout his life he made a difference. Ailey himself “changed forever the perception of American dance.” Alvin Ailey changed the views of modern dance and racial acceptance in the arts throughout America.

Graham is considered one of the major and most influential dancers in America. Graham's craving for dance gave her the strength and determination she needed to become one of the best. Her incredible emotions changed the dancing world, not only in her style as a dancer, but in her innovative style of choreography (182).

Essay Question: Compare and Contrast the movement styles of both Graeme Murphy and Rafael Bonachela as seen in Synergy-by-Synergy and 2 One Another. In your answer include how both choreographers have manipulated the elements of dance and used relationships to abstract movement to convey their intent.

King’s work with the Shaolin Monks “is renowned for its ability to connect audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity—of vulnerability and tenderness, but also of furious abandon and exhilarating freedom—and for its unique capacity to imbue classical ballet with new expressive potential” (Linesballet.org). King has already made an impact on the world of dance that will surely expand a great deal more in his career, and will undoubtedly continue beyond his lifetime.

She studied different types of dance and incorporated them into her own technique. “Called the matriarch of black dance her groundbreaking repertoire combine innovative interpretation of caribbean dances,traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham technique” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham technique is continued to be taught at schools and companies all over the world. Her travels to other countries always inspired her choreography. “She is credited for bringing caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated world” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham’s use of different world influences innovated dance and created more significant choreography. Dunham not only changed how she danced; she created an entirely new

Petipa’s production of Swan Lake is a beautiful example of the structure movements that dancers must perform; in the clip titled Odile entrance & Black Swan pas de deux, you see “The Black Swan” perfect posture and balance, dancing on en Pointe all the while managing to gracefully seduce the prince through her seductive movements and entrancing expressions. In contrast Modern dance focus is on the dancer expressing their inner most emotions and feelings through free flowing movements. The modern dancer uses their whole body more naturally and fluidly to convey what their current emotional state is, unlike classical ballet where the ballerina at all times keeps an upright posture, and performs with structured, angular lines. Martha Graham’s “Frontier” is a great example of the free movements of Modern dance; In this performance Martha Graham uses her whole body to move to the rhythmic sounds of the drums and music, you can clearly see that there is no confined structure in this performance, she is completely moving organically to how she is feeling and what she is trying to convey through her movements.

He is seen today as one of the most enduring forces in modern dance choreography, having pioneered for decades. One of his most well-known works Gloria has been performed, with adaptation, since 1981. He has also had the distinction of performing to the playing of world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma on numerous occasions, with Ma remarking that “Mark always manages to put the perfect movement to even my extemporaneous flourishes.” His work on preparing for the funeral of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and his international performances have made him recognizable around the globe. Having choreographed and or conducted (along with other recognizable choreographers) special performances for dignitaries such as 3 sitting US presidents, the Emperor of Japan, the Queen of England and a Premier of the Soviet Union has enlarged his admirers to superstar levels.

Choreography is the act of creating movement to produce dance. It is a creative process that requires knowledge of how the process functions (Minton, 2007). Smith-Autard (2010) believes there is a vast difference between dancing and choreographing. Dancing can be enjoyed for pleasure and the expression of feeling- but to choreograph movement is to ‘create a work of art’ (Smith-Autard, 2010: 3). According to Smith-Autard, (2010) a work of art has to be created with the composer’s intention to communicate a theme or emotion. The movement content is an abstraction from actual feelings of the choreographer, or the character of the dance that is being portrayed, which creates a representation of the work that is significant to the dance idea as an entity.

Martha Graham was born on May 11, 1894 in Pennsylvania. As a child, she was regulated by her father George Graham, a psychiatrist who used physical movement to treat mental sickness; he assumed that the body could demonstrate its precognition, which captivated his daughter. The Graham family moved to California in the 1910’s, and when Martha was in her late teens, she saw Ruth St. Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. Later once the show ended, she pleaded with her parents to let her to study dance, and however they rejected her request as they were powerful Presbyterians. After Martha’s father died enrolled into Denishawn School in Los Angeles which was an arts-orientated junior college, Graham spent more than 8 years there being a student as well as an instructor. She was then willing to progress and began her chance to start dancing in the vaudeville revue Greenwich Village Follies. At the Greenwich Village Follies, she had the chance to plan and teach her own dances pieces. Graham made her own dance company official in New York City, 1926 which her most predominant dancers included Merce Cunningham and Twyla Tharp, she developed an unprecedented technique that spoke to more taboo forms of movement and passionate style. Graham choreographed over 200 pieces for her company and was the first dancer to perform in the White House in Washington DC for Franklin Roosevelt. Graham still performed up until the