#robert battle

[onchillvybz]

[binsofchaos]

A Knock At Midnight | MLK

In his final Sunday sermon Dr. King said: “We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” I continue to marvel at Dr. King. He experienced the worst of mankind’s behavior but never surrendered his belief in a better tomorrow.

  For millennia we Jews have been a people of hope and moral action. We have been charged to believe in and create the world we want to be living in. Each of us is to be a rodef shalom, an ardent pursuer of peace and wholeness. As we move forward through these very sensitive times, let us embrace this responsibility in our homes, in our great city, and in our extraordinary nation that we hold so dear.

With Shalom, Rabbi Mo Salth

And from Robert Battle | Alvin Ailey

As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, I think back to April 1968, when 37-year-old Alvin Ailey learned that the 39-year-old Dr. King had been assassinated. I think of what it must have felt like for Mr. Ailey to lose someone who was such a beacon for equality, humanity, and love—some of the same qualities that served as a foundation of his dance company.

That day, Mr. Ailey and his dancers were on tour, preparing to perform. Through tears, Mr. Ailey dedicated their performance to the civil rights leader. Personally shattered, a country in crisis, the Ailey dancers still danced. The parallel of our current state and the times in which Dr. King led a revolution and Mr. Ailey led a company is not lost on me. It actually is one of the north stars we as a company have been able to hold onto as we have navigated this past difficult year.

Today, we honor Dr. King’s legacy, one that is ever-present in America's continued struggles and its newly won gains. We thank him for showing all of us how to live a life with conviction, integrity and in service to others. We thank him for fighting for Black lives and the lives of the poor and marginalized. For its part, the Ailey organization will continue to work toward creating the type of world that Dr. King and Mr. Ailey believed was possible, a world of peace, creativity, and equality.

Robert Battle, Artistic Director

https://open.spotify.com/track/6NZOsfA4t5z7FIFbWrH3z0?si=F8WTWjKlTJCanUkJG4UiTQ

[choreographique]

Alvin Ailey: Takademe by Robert Battle

[cherkaouifossecole]

The Hunt (2010)

Robert Battle

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

[binsofchaos]

Alvin Ailey Interview: April 4, 1988

Q: Tell me about your politics A: My politics are very organic to me because it was where I come from. You know, I mean, I was born in Texas in nineteen hundred and six - well not exactly, 1931 - and I lived in Texas until I was 12, which is the middle of the depression. I mean Franklin Roosevelt had just become President, the WPA, and the CCC camps, and all that kind of thing. And I lived in the Brazos Valley there, where racism was rampant. I mean, you know, if you were Black, you. were nothing. I mean, not only sitting in the upper sections of the movie theatres but the schools,  the Klu Klux Klan came dashing through every now and then. There were all kinds of incidents against Black people. We had to live in a certain part of town - so some of that stayed with me always. And it still is. The idea that somebody should be segregated against because of their color.  You know, that kind of thing has never left me, and it's never left my work. I consider all of those dances to be political in some sense, you know? A little bit romantic, I mean Blues Suite is a reflection of that time - I mean, the anger, you know, the problems, but the romance, the fact that Black people get through, you know? That we have grown. That we as a Black people have made something fantastic in spite of, in spite of all these things that are put up against us, you know? So that permeates my work - the idea that we should be equal. That our beauty should be celebrated. And not the fact that we're different because we're darker... Robert Battle:  My heart is heavy but open, full, and hopeful still. We have seen those on the front lines insisting on a call to action. Speaking up and showing up to incite change and to bring forth solutions. These are not just Black faces that we see. These are faces of all nationalities, all religions, of all sexualities, of all backgrounds, making their testimony loud and clear: Injustice for one is truly injustice for all.  Still, we dance. This was supposed to be tonight's theme. But let it serve as tonight's credo: a name to the rally cry. I say "still" not in the sense of stillness or inaction, or the absence of. I say "still" in spite of, because of, for the purpose of, in honor of. Like. Ailey intended for the company, let tonight serve as a testament to the strength and perseverance of the human spirit. Let tonight show that despite all the trials and tribulations, we overcome. Let it serve as a dedication to all our brothers and sisters and their devastated loved ones amid this global health crisis. Let it serve as a heartfelt "thank you" to the first responders, law enforcement, public services, and essential workers that are in the front lines of planning, preparing, and responding to COVID-19. We support you. We weep for you. We speak for you. We dance in honor of you.

[alcar-ancalime]

[harlemworldmagazine]

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Announces Programming For Lincoln Center Season

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Announces Programming For Lincoln Center Season

Beloved as one of the world’s most popular dance companies, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for a seven-performance engagement at the David H. Koch Theater June 13 – 17, 2018. (more…)

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[elizabethkiem]

Untitled America, First Movement