This striking photograph was taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten of American dance pioneer Alvin Ailey Jr. in 1955. Born in Rogers, Texas in 1931, Ailey’s family joined the Great Migration in 1941, eventually settling in Los Angeles. There Ailey’s early affinity for the arts and brief flirtations with dance coalesced into a serious study in 1949 when classmate Carmen De Lavallade, herself to become a towering figure in the history of dance, invited him to the Lester Horton school, where she studied and performed. Though he still resisted committing fully to dance, noting the lack of opportunity for Black, male performers, he was mentored by Horton while he pursued other studies at various California schools including UCLA and San Francisco State University. While in San Francisco he met and formed a night club act with Marguerite Johnson, who would later be known to the world as Maya Angelou. By 1953 he had joined Horton’s dance company and, following Horton’s death later that year, assumed the responsibilities of artistic director and choreographer. Under his direction in 1954 the troupe performed in several shows including According to St. Francis — dedicated to Horton — Creation of the World and Morning Mourning, based on a piece by Tennessee Williams and featuring Carmen De Lavallade. The same year Ailey appeared in the Dorothy Dandridge film, Carmen Jones, dancing opposite De Lavallade before the pair, by then a known duo in Los Angeles, would appear on Broadway in the Truman Capote-authored musical House of Flowers. For the next several years Ailey would appear in numerous productions, including Harry Belafonte’s Sing, Man, Sing and Jamaica, a 1957 Broadway musical starring Lena Horne. In 1958, Ailey cemented his impact on American dance history with the establishment of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and again in 1969 with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, later called the Ailey School in 1999. In the decades that passed from the founding of the theater until his passing in 1989 at the age of 58, Alvin Ailey choreographed more than 100 pieces for his dancers, in addition to becoming a pivotal figure in the lives and careers of countless dancers and a pillar of the American and global dance community. He was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor, in 1989 and posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama in 2014. Today, the Alvin Ailey School remains one of the most prestigious dance academies in America. This archival museum quality print is presented on 100% acid free, 5.57 oz, smooth matte fine art paper. Printed sustainably to order in the UK, it is a perfect choice for making a beautiful statement in any room of your home.
