Ailey

Ailey

How can one tell the story of a man who, it seems, concealed so much about himself from the public and even many of his closest friends and colleagues? In her portrait of the dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, Jamila Wignot lets his work do most of the talking.

“Ailey,” a documentary that includes archival interviews, taped performances and reminiscences by former members of his company and other associates, carries us from the dance legend’s early years in Texas through his first encounter with ballet in Los Angeles; his initial steps onstage; and, finally, his last bow. It is an enlightening journey a hard look at what it takes to live an artistic life and a testament to the man whose studio still stands on West 61st Street in Manhattan, as does his renowned dance company.

Private by nature (and probably nurtured by the homophobia of his era), Ailey managed to communicate through dance. Often he was the only Black man creating in what was then (and remains) mostly white concert dance. But this film is not about that exclusion. Rather it trains its lens on his resilience what buoyed him to make classics as well as thorny pieces and on mental health struggles he faced while under pressure to succeed.

The movie traces back forerunners such as trailblazer Katherine Dunham or Horton technique’s emphasis on building up strengths through areas of apparent weakness but also where they intersected with Ailey (he trained there). After some time went by he started bringing together dancers into one group so they could start building out their own repertory: This led eventually to founding what became known worldwide as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

In Morgan Neville’s latest documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” even a figure as publicly open about his past as Anthony Bourdain seemed no less inscrutable; there are always stories they didn’t tell or secrets they stopped keeping.

What we have left is them at work, them with us. And so while this portrait of the choreographer demystifies him to an extent that keeps his mystique intact without dwelling in it “Ailey” also does justice to a historical figure by making him human. More celebration than tell-all, it’s an introduction to a man whose name now means American dance and whose steps live in countless teachers’ bodies, students’ feet and performers’ souls.

Watch Ailey For Free On Gomovies.