2. Is it ever possible to create work ignoring
the society it had been created in?
Why?
3. Learning Objective
• To understand the impact that the social
events during Alvin Ailey's’ life time effected
his work.
4. What impact can society play on the
work of an artist?
Write down your thoughts on the back of Page 11
5. • Ailey moves to Los Angeles
• After World War II
• USA- 50’s and 60’s
• Preconception of Black Dancers
• Ailey’s Reaction
6. 1950s and1960s
• Political and Social upheaval -Civil
Rights movement
• Martin Luther King and Ailey
• Difficulty breaking into the modern
dance scene in New York
• Decision to call his company AAADT
7. Was there any evidence of elitism in
the dance scene in America in the
1940’s-1960’s?
9. Prior to Ailey in Dance Context
• African American spirituals and traditional
music were already being used in modern
dance e.g. Katherine Durham
• Most white choreographers focused their
work on the oppression of Slaves
