The Black Archives of Mid-America is pleased to host and make available to the public the Allan Gray Family Personal Papers of Alvin Ailey (AC10), on long term loan from the Allan Gray Family.
Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) was one of the seminal figures in American choreography in the twentieth century. His most important works – including Blues Suite, Revelations, Masekela Langage, Cry, Night Creature, Memoria, and For Bird, With Love – have been performed for audiences around the world. Mr. Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. What started as a small group of seven dancers grew into a large, carefully managed, internationally known and celebrated company. As Mr. Ailey began considering a second home for his dance company, Kansas City civic leaders and arts organizations actively encouraged Mr. Ailey to consider Kansas City. The Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, founded in 1984, serves as the official second home to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
While Mr. Ailey’s work speaks to human experience in general, it is rooted in the cultural and historical experience of African Americans. “From his roots as a slave,” wrote Mr. Ailey, “the American Negro – sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant but always hopeful – has touched, illuminated, and influenced the most remote preserves of world civilization. I and my dance theater celebrate this trembling beauty.”