![]() His dance Blues Suite (1958), set in and around a barrelhouse, depicts the desperation and joys of life on the edge of poverty in the South. The critically acclaimed first concerts in 19 marked the beginning of a new era of dance performance devoted to African American themes. The company began as a repertory company devoted to both modern dance classics and new works created by Ailey and other young artists. ![]() Performing success led him to found Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. Ailey moved to New York in 1954 to dance with Carmen DeLavallade in the Broadway production of House of Flowers. He immersed himself in study and developed a weighty, smoldering performance style that suited his athletic body. Shy from an itinerant Texas life, Ailey turned to dance when a high-school classmate introduced him to Lester Horton’s studio in 1949. Born on 5 January 1931 in Rogers, Texas, the only child of parents who separated when he was two, choreographer Alvin Ailey (b. 1931–d. 1989) moved to Los Angeles with his mother in 1942. ![]()
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