Can anyone please tell me about Alvin Ailey?
Alvin Ailey, Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an African American modern dancer and choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He died of AIDS, at the age of 58. [1] Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Cooper, in Rogers, Texas. Alvin developed an early interest in dance. In 1943 he and his mother moved to Los Angeles. Initially, he took dance classes from choreographer Katherine Dunham, and later studied under Los Angeles, California dance teacher Lester Horton. While studying with Horton, Ailey pursued college courses in the Romance languages. At various times Ailey was enrolled at UCLA, Los Angeles City College, and the University of California at Berkeley. He studied authors like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Carson McCullers. Ailey was fascinated by Horton’s choreography, which consisted of theater pieces based on pictures by Paul Klee, poems by Garcia Lorca, music by Duke Ellington and Igor Stravinsky, and even Mexican themes. Wh
