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Blues Suite

Choreographer: Alvin Ailey

With the rumble of a train and the toll of distant bells, a cast of vividly-drawn characters from the barrelhouses and fields of Alvin Ailey’s southern childhood are summoned to dance and revel through one long, sultry night. Ailey’s first masterpiece poignantly evokes the sorrow, humor and humanity of the blues, those heartfelt songs that he called “hymns to the secular regions of the soul.”

Cinco Latinos

Choreographer: Alvin Ailey

Fanga

Choreographer: Pearl Primus

Games

Choreographer: Donald McKayle

Donald McKayle's Games finds the Ailey dancers prancing, skipping, hopscotching, and singing their way through a touching scene of street-corner friendship, grief, and games.

Impinyuza

Choreographer: Pearl Primus

Paz

Choreographer: Miguel Gordreau

Rainbow Round My Shoulder

Choreographer: Donald McKayle

Hailed as Donald McKayle’s masterpiece, this powerfully athletic piece portrays the life of men on a prison chain gang. The memories of love and joy that sustain them are personified by a dream figure who appears as sweetheart, mother and wife. By turns lyrical and muscular, McKayle’s sharply theatrical choreography explores the characters’ physical trials and emotional despair with equal intensity.

Roots of the Blues

Choreographer: Alvin Ailey

Spirituals

Choreographer: Janet Collins

The Wedding

Choreographer: Pearl Primus

Witness

Choreographer: Alvin Ailey

Amidst a visually arresting stage decor of flickering candles, a female soloist embarks on a spiritual journey that echoes the repeated lyric "my soul is a witness for my Lord." Alvin Ailey drew inspiration from a recording of traditional spirituals sung by Jessye Norman to create this stirring ballet celebrating the strength, elegance and versatility of the Ailey woman.

Copyright © 2013 Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in 1958 by dancer, choreographer and visionary Alvin Ailey, to bring African-American cultural expression and the American modern dance tradition to the world.

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