Analysis Of Alvin Ailey's Cry

Cry is a sola dance piece choreographed by Alvin Ailey which in his words, "is dedicated to all black women everywhere, especially our mothers." Ailey 's subject matter or work is greatly reinforced by his use of space. Spatial elements such as levels, planes, shapes and paths are used commonly. This dance was meant to be a birthday present for Ailey 's mother Lula who is the subject matter, it 's inspired by the events of his childhood and his mother 's life such as his mother 's rape and their abandonment by Ailey 's father. Cry was also influenced by other factors such as Alvin 's love for church and the black community, his fear of white people, and his "blood memories". Cry explores Lula 's life through sociohistorical concepts such …show more content…
Sources have proclaimed Lula to be a resilient, strong women, "her fierce determination would rule her like and that of her son". In the opening, the dancer is slowly bending with her hands in fists tightly over her torso, that uses closed shapes and medium levels to accentuate how her pain and inward descent into that pain as the subject is meant to be strong, self-reliant and private. This is followed by several movements and then a sudden position where the dancer has a wide stance with her arms extended, over her joined at the palms which uses triangle shapes and high levels that has allusions to prayer, or reaching out for an outward source of help in her struggles. This concept is expanded upon with a movement later on where the dancer has jerky contractions in bending down and then she covers her face with her dress which replicates the wiping of tears. This usage of low levels and closed shape shows the subject 's suffering and her inability to stay strong in her tribulations yet still manages to have pride where she hides her sorrow. In the climax of the dance, performance space and circular path patterns are used when the dancer is spinning around the outskirts of the stage and has leaps in her …show more content…
In this section, performance space is used the most with the first travelling sequence involving the dancer walking diagonally with her leg extended sideways and her arms extended to the side and jerkily advancing them forward in a bird like motion that uses straight lines and high levels. This deliberate animal comparison is used to indicate the subject 's freedom from problems and her joy. Juxta positioning with the second section, this section has another travelling sequence where the dancer bunches up her skirt and has diagonal hitch kicks that use path and higher levels. This contrasts with the second section as even though they both had leaps, section 3 's were much higher and calm while section 2 's were frenzy and quite low.

Overall, Cry uses Ailey 's mother as its subject matter and explores themes of slavery and heritage through that. Ailey has used low levels, straight lines, closed shapes and angular movements to indicate negative stages or pain, entrapment while high levels, curved lines, open shapes and energetic movements were used to indicate happiness and freedom. Overall Ailey has reinforced the subject matter using