Alvin Ailey Dance Analysis

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Alvin Ailey is such a great contributor to the dance world and his dance pieces are phenomenal. The purpose of Alvin Ailey 's dance pieces is to show the history of African American and the cultural heritage of African Americans. The history of African Americans and cultural heritage of African Americans is portrayed throughout Alvin Ailey 's amazing dances. Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” portrays the hardship of slavery, christianity, baptism, and the reconstruction era. The lighting, music and costumes of the piece are inspirational to the people. The first section of the dance that is titled “Pilgrim of Sorrow”, begins with seven dancers forming a pyramid. The lighting in this piece is dim. The music in this piece is sorrowful, this sets the …show more content…
This section is about being baptized and asking God for salvation after being enslaved for over four-hundred years. What was portrayed in this section was African Americans being baptized and being saved by God. In this section the dancers are wearing all white to show cleanliness. The dancers are wearing all white because it portrays purity. The lighting on the stage is blue to portray the ocean. There are also a lot of props used in this section, because in the first section the people were poor and had nothing. But, since the slaves are now free things are beginning to change and the people are beginning to have more over time. The dance moves begin to get upbeat and then over time the moves are slower and the lighting is a darker blue but the dancers are still wearing white. Which indicates that the dancers are still becoming …show more content…
African Americans entire experience throughout this country is represented through Alvin Ailey 's dance. The first section portrays slavery, and sorrow. The second section portrays salvation and purity. The final section portrays a celebration of freedom. This dance played such a huge part of the dance community in America. I really enjoyed watching this dance because it was upbeat what is being portrayed in this last section is a celebration, and it ends with a ton of excitement, because the African Americans are free in modern

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