“Edges of Ailey” is the Whitney Museum’s stunning, groundbreaking, exhibition dedicated to the brilliant, mold-shattering choreographic genius Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) which runs from Sept. 25 until February 9. It is the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of the visionary artist and choreographer whose global impact on dance is undeniable.
While the word “exhibition” itself often conjures up images of brilliant paintings hanging on a gallery wall or imposing sculptures demanding our attention and whispered admiration, this undertaking performs the magical feat of capturing lightning in a bottle, making it extraordinary. The exhibition is a dynamic interdisciplinary showcase that takes a 360 degree look at the scope of Alvin Ailey’s personal and creative life and the world that gave birth to both bringing together visual art, live performances, music, and, of course, a treasure trove of archival material, in addition to a multiscreen video installation drawn from recordings of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater repertory. The Whitney exhibition offers a robust program of over 90 live dance performances, classes, and engaging talks as part of the exhibition. Presented in the museum’s third-floor theater, this series of programs will accompany the exhibition’s in-gallery component, which includes works by more than 80 artists and never-before-seen archival materials.
As the Whitney Museum exhibition curator Adrienne Edwards told the Amsterdam News during a recent interview, “In some ways, ‘Edges of Ailey’ is three exhibitions in one.”
She continued: “In the gallery space you have the video, which is a little under an hour, that takes you from Ailey’s beginnings in Rogers, Texas. We sent filmmakers down there to record the landscape and to talk to the people, and visit the church he referenced often, as well as this lake that he talks about being inhabited by this ancient alligator. Then we turn towards the archive and you’re able to spotlight key dances, like ‘Cry’ and ‘Revelations,’ and it culminates with Ailey at the Kennedy Honors, introduced by Cicely Tyson. Also, there is the video that longtime Ailey dancer, the late Dudley Williams, made when Ailey was hospitalized. It is so moving. That’s one experience. Then you could come back to the museum and spend all the time you want in the archival section of the exhibit — a whole section dedicated to the people that influenced Alvin Ailey, who he was in conversation with. It’s not just what we found — photographs, correspondence, and ephemera. It’s also the music of Duke Ellington, the work of Langston Hughes, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Lester Horton, Ted Shawn, and more. Then, there are his notebooks where you can see him writing on different topics. That’s one experience. Then you have the visual artworks, another and very important experience.”
The impressive scope and scale of the exhibition is made even more magnificent thanks to the invaluable collaboration and input of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and such luminaries as Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, Executive Director Bennett Rink, Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, former Artistic Director Robert Battle, former Associate Artistic Director Masazumi Chaya, and Ailey Archivist Dominique Singer. They and others who knew and loved Alvin Ailey and danced or worked with the company have added flesh to the skeleton and breathed life into the body of the Whitney project. By sharing their incredible wealth of knowledge, these long standing associates are responsible for helping to breathe life into this remarkable exhibition. For instance, Alvin Ailey’s notebooks were discovered by Sylvia Waters and Masazumi Chaya when assembling material that would form the Ailey archive following his death. Now, they offer an invaluable glimpse into the mind of the genius. “Every page turn was literally a page turner,” Waters said of the notebooks which are among the treasures on display at the Whitney exhibition.
“The exhibit delves into corners of Alvin’s life where you are getting the essence of who he was and why he did what he did and what compelled him, motivated him, and inspired him to do this,” said Waters, who not only danced with the company but was the founding artistic director of Ailey II and served as executor of the Ailey estate. “The breadth of it to me is amazing and what you’re struck by when you go in is the film footage, larger than life, of all these women doing ‘Cry’ (the iconic 1971 work Alvin Ailey choreographed as a tribute “For all Black women, everywhere – especially our mothers” and which catapulted the mesmerizing Judith Jamison into a dancer’s stratosphere.). It’s brilliant the way they put that together,” Waters added. The film is yet one more indication of Ailey’s prescience because, Waters notes, the company had just come off of a whirlwind tour when Ailey took them to the Harlem School of the Arts where the dancers videotaped many of the works in the company repertory, leaving this invaluable visual record.
Presented at the museum in multiple parts, the in-gallery exhibition also features the work of artists, a mix of Ailey contemporaries and young artists, some who made works for the exhibit. The list is an impressive one that includes Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence, Rashid Johnson, Kevin Beasley, Kara Walker, and many others. “Edges of Ailey” also includes a weekly roster of live dance performances, talks, and workshops in the museum’s theater. This includes the AILEY organization in residence at the Whitney for one week each month, for a total of five weeks, and over 90 performances. When AILEY is not in residence at the museum, a series of dance commissions by leading choreographers and their collaborators will take place.
The Whitney dance performances will include: Sept. 25–29: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II; Oct. 4–6: Trajal Harrell; Oct. 10–12: Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE; Nov. 1–3: Matthew Rushing; Nov. 7–9: Yusha-Marie Sorzano; Nov. 16: Bill T. Jones; Nov. 20–24: Ailey II; Dec. 13–15: Will Rawls; Dec. 18–22: Ailey II; Jan. 9–11: Sarah Michelson; Jan. 17–19: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; Jan. 22–26: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School; Feb. 6–8: Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born; Feb. 7: Ralph Lemon and Kevin Beasley.
Additional performances and programs will also be added throughout the exhibition For more info, visit www.whitney.org.