SUNDANCE 2021: Ailey
Jack Mitchell Photography of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection 1961
In Ailey, director Jamila Wignot brightens Sundance's (virtual) room with her intersection of arts. She illuminates some of the life and art of the elusive visionary choreographer Alvin Ailey. Through accounts of those who knew him, footage from throughout his career, clips from his shows, and clips from rehearsals at his namesake school, Wignot displays the nature of art as well as the nature of legacy.
The cultural consciousness paints dance as a white sport for blonde bun-headed women with petite. Racism is systemic in dance, just as it is everywhere else. Ballet's very basis was formed with the thought that black bodies were not well-suited to the techniques. Having not known whom Ailey was before viewing Ailey, I assumed that the story of a successful black choreographer would address the difficulties of existing in a space so dominated by white ideals and standards.
Despite the indisputable truths of racism in the dance world, Wignot keeps a razor-sharp focus on her subject and not necessarily on race. She centres the art and influence he had on the world, not that of which the world had on him. This approach is fitting with Ailey's philosophies which, aside from the interviews he gave shortly before his death, is made clear through clips of his shows. As a choreographer working with black/mixed ensembles, Ailey's choreography somehow captures a uniquely black experience through his movements, angles, and lines that exist almost in a completely different world than that of how we usually perceive the world of dance. Imbued with strength and celebration but also just existence, if you weren't aware of Ailey's significance in the art world, you can see it plainly in the examples of his work.
Of course, he was not without his struggles. Ailey preferred to live a life of privacy. Much of his personal life was veiled to even the people closest to him. Ailey eventually rose to prominence among mainstream dance culture. His Achilles heel was how he came to relate to his work in the face of the public eye, a weight that he bore for the rest of his career. It is a somewhat surprising turn of events from the sanctified image of him that has been shown thus far, but again, Wignot follows her subject's lead. She is unafraid to acknowledge that he was no impenetrable force, as the pressures he faced became a source of his elusiveness more than his genius. He made his demons as private as he did with all aspects of his personal life. Many close to him acknowledge their ignorance of his failing health in his later years. The subsequent vagueness of this section does feel tedious, but the intent is appreciable.
Even so, the portrait Wignot paints of one of the great artists of the 20th century is admirable, but where it lacks, her structuring and perspective prove to be just as, if not more interesting. Not to sidestep the impact of Ailey himself, but his hailing as an all-important man would be counterproductive to what he went through in the art world. Time would be much better spent appreciating his legacies that live in the bodies of black dancers and creatives today.
By Jessica Vance
(she/her)
Edited by Paola Duran (@wintrytokyo)