{"id":149632,"date":"2021-02-02T08:54:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T13:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=149632"},"modified":"2021-02-02T15:43:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T20:43:19","slug":"sundance-review-ailey-tribute-to-legendary-dancer-choreographer-alvin-ailey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/sundance-review-ailey-tribute-to-legendary-dancer-choreographer-alvin-ailey\/","title":{"rendered":"Sundance Review: \u201cAiley,\u201d Tribute to Legendary Dancer\/Choreographer Alvin Ailey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAiley,\u201d a deep dive into the life, the work, the mind and the man \u2013 Alvin Ailey, premiered on the third day of the Sundance Film Festival. The name Ailey, is synonymous with modern dance worldwide but little is known about the man himself. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater<\/a> changed modern dance with its poetic, emotional, yet technical and precise choreography.\u00a0Ailey\u2019s work fused modern dance, ballet, jazz and the black experience in a way that connected to Black people and audiences around the country and the world. Sundance Review: \u201cAiley,\u201d Tribute to Legendary Dancer\/Choreographer Alvin Ailey<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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photo by Jack Mitchell<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The film\u2019s director, Jamila Wignot, and editor, Annukka Lilja, did an excellent job in crafting the documentary using beautiful archival dance footage, with audio recordings of Ailey later in life, artistically layered with still images and music. The feel of poetry-in-motion set to music comes through so beautifully in the film as it did in his work on stage. The film is really well done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we were trying to do is create a poetic experience and a film experience that, I think, would feel the \u2026 same way that you would feel when you experienced an evening of Ailey\u2019s work,\u201d said director Jamila Wignot during the post screening Q&A about \u201cAiley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way it was presented, the way it was edited together, the way it made me feel, I was inspired,\u201d said Rennie Harris, the current AAADT choreographer. \u201cFrom a choreographic perspective, it was amazing to me,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt was beautifully done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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photo by Jack Mitchell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film captures Ailey at work, where you see his talent and vision in his eyes when working with the dancers, as well as his confidence in what he was doing. The mindset and motivation behind Ailey\u2019s work is explained in his own voice as he talks about his upbringing in the south and in the church, which would later lead to his creation of his most famous piece, \u201cRevelations.\u201d  He also talks about his discovery of dance and his journey to Los Angeles and New York as a young man following his dream of dance and choreography.  Contemporary interviews with his beautiful former principal dancers and choreographers are included as well, namely AAADT Director Judith Jameson, Carmen de Cavallade, George Faison, Mary Barnett, Sylvia Waters, Sarita Allen, Masazumi Chaya, and choreographer Bill T. Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these ladies and gentleman are now in their 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s and still look fabulous. I have a mind to take up dance now, if it helps you to age this well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Kennedy Center Honors, the late Cicely Tyson called Ailey at the \u201cpied piper of modern dance.\u201d Now in it\u2019s 60th<\/sup> year, Alvin Ailey American Dance theater and the Ailey School are still going strong. We lost Alvin in 1989 to AIDS related illness, but his legacy will live on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n