'Edges of Ailey' at the Whitney

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Edges of Ailey" at the Whitney

Podcast: All Of It
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Adrienne Edwards, Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs, Whitney Museum
Episode Title: "Edges of Ailey at the Whitney"
Release Date: January 23, 2025

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Introduction to the Exhibition

In this episode of All Of It, Alison Stewart interviews Adrienne Edwards about the Whitney Museum's groundbreaking exhibition, "Edges of Ailey." This is the first major museum show dedicated to Alvin Ailey, the influential choreographer and founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. The exhibition opens the doors to dance in a novel way, showcasing Ailey's profound impact on culture through dance, music, and spirituality.

Exhibition Overview

Adrienne Edwards provides an in-depth look at the structure and content of the exhibition. "It sort of unfolds in two parts," she explains (01:37). The first part is a substantial 18,000-square-foot exhibition on the fifth floor, featuring letters, journals, audio-visual clips from Ailey's archives, and works from over 80 artists engaged in dialogue with Ailey’s creative vision. The second part comprises a live performance program in the museum’s theater on the third floor, running almost weekly until February 9th.

The exhibition is designed on three levels, including an "18 screen surround" that immerses visitors in Ailey's world from 1958 to 1989, the period of his life when he was most active. This multimedia approach allows attendees to experience iconic dances like "Revelations" and "Cry" within the context of Ailey's personal and professional life, showcased through archived notebooks and memorabilia.

Design Choices and Aesthetic

When discussing the exhibition’s visual aesthetic, Edwards highlights the deliberate choice of color and space. "We could have no white walls," she states (04:35). The vibrant red palette was chosen to reflect Ailey’s dynamic and spirited approach to dance, symbolizing both the performing arts venues with their red velvet curtains and the deep cultural and spiritual roots from Ailey's Texas upbringing. "Red just seemed to be the perfect color for this exhibition. So we took a risk and went with it," Edwards adds.

This bold design choice aims to create an exciting and dynamic experience, aligning with Ailey's vibrant performances and the emotional depth of his choreography.

Adrienne Edwards' Personal Connection to Alvin Ailey

Edwards shares her personal connection to Ailey, revealing that his company was her first art experience. "Ailey is the first art experience I ever had in my life," she confides (06:54). Her longstanding relationship with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre provided both inspiration and a challenge in curating the exhibition. Initially concerned that her closeness to Ailey might impede her objectivity, Edwards found solace and professional clarity through Ailey's personal notebooks, which offered deeper insight into his creative process.

Ailey's Creative Process and Journals

The journals and notebooks on display are a highlight of the exhibition, showcasing Ailey's improvisational and music-centric approach to choreography. Edwards describes, "He often started with music and then set the dances directly on dancers in the rehearsal process" (08:58). These notebooks reveal Ailey’s meticulous notes on everything from dance techniques to personal reflections and community engagements.

Ailey's approach is compared to jazz, emphasizing personal expression and individual inflections. This method is evident in how his choreography allowed each dancer to bring their unique presence to the performance, making the dances deeply personal and universally resonant.

Southern Roots in Ailey's Art

Ailey’s Southern heritage heavily influences his work, a point Edwards elaborates on by referencing an exhibition section titled "Southern Imaginary." This part explores the broader cultural influences of the American South, including connections to Haiti and Brazil, particularly Bahia. "Mr. Ailey's roots in the South are indexed in very specific ways," Edwards notes (11:36).

For instance, the use of white umbrellas in dances like "Revelations" symbolizes baptismal rituals common in rural Southern church traditions. Additionally, Ailey's interest in samba and devotional practices from Bahia reflects a hemispheric connection that broadens the scope of his Southern influences beyond the United States.

First Major Museum Exhibition: A Novel Achievement

Addressing why this is the first major museum exhibition dedicated to Ailey, Edwards explains the surprising lack of previous comprehensive showcases. "No art museum has done it... there have been small installations in libraries, but not in the context of art museums," she states (14:54).

This milestone highlights Ailey's unique position in the dance world, often overshadowed by figures like Balanchine or Cunningham who have had more extensive museum coverage. Edwards emphasizes the importance of recognizing Ailey's contribution to dance and culture comprehensively.

Balancing Identity and Artistry

Ailey's identity as a gay black man deeply intertwines with his artistic mission of freedom and liberation. Edwards discusses the complexities of presenting this aspect of his life, especially considering the historical context of the 1930s to 1960s. "It needed to be thought about and understood in relationship to the times in which it happened," she explains (16:08).

She draws parallels between Ailey and other contemporaries like Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin, whose works also reflect the struggles and triumphs of being black and queer in mid-20th century America. This nuanced portrayal ensures that Ailey’s personal experiences are authentically represented without imposing modern interpretations.

Live Performances and Community Engagement

The exhibition is not only a static display but also a living platform for dance. Edwards describes the integration of live performances and workshops by various Ailey-affiliated companies and programs. "It's like the Ailey Company is bringing its uptown operations to the museum downtown," she states (18:41).

These performances, which include contributions from Ailey 2 and the Ailey School programs, offer visitors an immersive experience where they can engage directly with Ailey's legacy. Free admission events, such as free Friday nights and every second Sunday, encourage broad community participation and accessibility.

Final Thoughts and Legacy

In her concluding remarks, Edwards hopes that attendees leave the exhibition inspired by Ailey’s insatiable curiosity and self-taught mastery. "I hope that they walk away with being compelled by his sheer curiosity," she shares (20:12). Ailey’s ability to synthesize diverse cultural influences and his collaborative spirit are underscored as key elements of his enduring legacy.

Conclusion

The "Edges of Ailey" exhibition at the Whitney Museum offers a comprehensive and immersive exploration of Alvin Ailey's life, artistry, and cultural impact. Through a blend of archival materials, contemporary artworks, and live performances, the exhibition celebrates Ailey's contributions to dance and his role in shaping cultural dialogue. Adrienne Edwards' passionate curation brings to light the depth and breadth of Ailey's influence, ensuring that his legacy continues to inspire future generations.

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Notable Quotes

• Adrienne Edwards (01:37): "It sort of unfolds in two parts. The first is the exhibition... And then we have a live performance program..."
• Adrienne Edwards (04:35): "We could have no white walls. For Mr. Ailey, it just didn't seem appropriate to the sparkle that he brought to his work..."
• Adrienne Edwards (06:54): "Ailey is the first art experience I ever had in my life."
• Adrienne Edwards (08:58): "He often started with music and then set the dances directly on dancers in the rehearsal process."
• Adrienne Edwards (11:36): "Mr. Ailey's roots in the South are indexed in very specific ways."
• Adrienne Edwards (14:54): "No art museum has done it... there have been small installations in libraries, but not in the context of art museums."
• Adrienne Edwards (16:08): "It needed to be thought about and understood in relationship to the times in which it happened."
• Adrienne Edwards (18:41): "It's like the Ailey Company is bringing its uptown operations to the museum downtown."
• Adrienne Edwards (20:12): "I hope that they walk away with being compelled by his sheer curiosity."

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Note: Timestamps are in MM:SS format as per the transcript provided.

Transcript

[David Fuerst]

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[Adrienne Edwards]

Listener Supported WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart. Last fall, the Whitney opened its doors to dance in a way it never has before. The museum organized an exhibition about Alvin Ailey, the influential choreographer and founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. It's Ailey's first major museum show. On view are letters, journals and audio visual clips from Ailey's archives, as well as work from over 80 artists that are in dialogue with Ailey's creative vision, a vision steeped in black spirituality, music and liberation. Adrienne Edwards is the senior curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs for the Whitney Museum, and she was the lead curator of this exhibition called Edges of Ailey, which is just on view for a few more weeks through February 9th. And when she joined us back in the fall, I started by asking her what we'll see if we check out the show.

[Adrienne Edwards]

It sort of unfolds in two parts. The first is the exhibition, which is on our fifth floor. It is about 18,000 square feet, so pretty substantial. And then we have a live performance program that will be happening in our theater on the third floor, and that happens on an almost weekly basis from now until February 9th in the galleries. It's, I think, probably an exhibition unlike any I've certainly seen before. It occurs on three levels. There is an 18 screen surround, which is how I describe it. The surround is made from this incredible repository of videos that are from the period during Mr. Ailey's lifetime. So let's just say from when he starts the company in 1958 and until 1989 when he passes away from AIDS related complications. So that was done with a duo, a great filmmaker duo, Josh Begley and Kyaloo, who went with me through the archive, the visual archive, and many, many deep, deep ways. And we composed this incredible video. So that's how Alien in Many Ways shows up in the in the exhibition. It envelops, it is almost as though he is embracing the entire space. And you see all of the key dances that we all know and love so Revelations and Cry, et cetera. There are so many in there. Masakela Langage Quintet and then we have in the space, the gift of Mr. Ailey's archive. So you can see what he thought, what he was working on, what he was reading, the things he was obsessed with. It's both a professional life and also a private life. And what is so compelling is the ways in which they sit right next to one another in these notebooks in particular. And those are in these sort of gym cases, these vitrines that are scattered throughout the floor. And then we have these Artworks. There are 82 artists, specifically, who are included in the show. And these works are positioned on almost like island structures, so it feels a little bit like an archipelago. And the earliest work is from 1851. And then there's a number of works that were made, especially on the occasion of the show.

[Alison Stewart]

I want to talk about the space a little bit more. When you walk off the elevator at this show, you enter this open space with red colors, music sounds from Ailey's archive. These bright screens you were talking about on the walls. How much did you consider that first reaction people would have at this show?

[Adrienne Edwards]

Well, I think I thought about it a lot. Exhibition design is not the easiest of things. And what was clear to me is that we could have no white walls. For Mr. Ailey, it just didn't seem appropriate to the sparkle that he brought to his work and his own sensibility. So that was. That felt very important. But it's also a deep acknowledgement that the exhibitions are staged, that we want people to arrive into a very exciting, dynamic experience. And performance allows this to happen, I think, in very compelling ways in a gallery context. So I think that that certainly was the ambition. The color red is notable because Mr. Ely described his work as being about blood memories, which is how he talked about the soulfulness, the ritual, the spiritualness of the Deep South. He was from Texas, born there in Rogers, Texas, in 1931. So that's something that he carried with him. And so I think red is also important because when we as viewers typically go see the company, we're seeing them in proscenium stages, right? Like, that's the place that we usually have come to know the work. And those places are typically red velvet curtains and red velvet seeds. So red also signals the performing arts venues in which the work is still circulates in such wonderful ways today. And then there are these little churches throughout the South. I'm from the south, so I know this personally. And they're often with red carpet and red pews. So red just seemed to be the perfect color for this exhibition. So we Took a risk and went with it.

[Alison Stewart]

We are speaking with Adrienne Edwards with the Whitney Museum about this new exhibition about Alvin Ailey. Edges of Ailey. Now, you got your PhD in Performance Studies from NYU and in the past have curated the Whitney's performance program. When did you first become aware of Alvin Ailey?

[Adrienne Edwards]

Gosh. I mean, Ailey is the first art experience I ever had in my life.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow.

[Adrienne Edwards]

Yeah. As a kid, I would go see the company, and I have made sojourns to see them almost every year of my life. So it's something that is very near and dear to me. And in fact, I had thought that perhaps maybe I was too close to Ailey to be able to have some perspective and do the show. But that was all dispelled when I got into those notebooks.

[Alison Stewart]

Those notebooks that you just thought, oh, my gosh, I've got to be part of making this happen. Getting these on display.

[Adrienne Edwards]

Yes, because it's very hard to do. I think one of the hardest exhibitions to make is an exhibition that is about an ephemeral form, a form that is fleeting, a form that we expect to see live bodies in front of us and can see them sweat and see their muscles contract. It's a very sensual experience. So it's a challenging thing to bring that kind of, you know, the sensuality of the body and of the music. And, you know, it's a highly sensorial realm in which to work. And so it's a real challenge to do that in an exhibition context.

[Alison Stewart]

How much of an influence was Alvin Ailey on you? And did you dance?

[Adrienne Edwards]

I did dance. I danced as a child. I started very young at about five, and I danced until I was in college. I don't think I was particularly good at it. So I moved on to art history.

[Alison Stewart]

We can study dance.

[Adrienne Edwards]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

We were talking about the journals and the ideas and his visions of choreography. What do these journals reveal about Alvin Ailey's creative process?

[Adrienne Edwards]

It's incredible. I mean, he. One of the things that was very noticeable is that you could tell if he was sitting in a dark room in rehearsal because. And writing in the journal, because his handwriting is much larger and looped and often on a diagonal. And they're all of these sort of thoughts. There's commentary about specific dancers. There's sketches of ideas about. Just almost thematic ideas about how. What he's thinking about and what he wants to do. And he often started with music. It's one of the things that was very noticeable about him. I mean, there are many Ways to choreograph. One way is you can create these notational systems. Another way, which was Mr. Ailey's way or his way, is a kind of hybrid of these two things. But I would say the way he did it mostly was far more improvisational. He liked to kind of start with music and then set the dances directly on dancers in the rehearsal process. Rehearsal was something that was really, really important to him. And so that's why, sort of seeing the notes he's making in rehearsal and his commentary, I mean, when he toured, he would write vast descriptions around the most mundane things that he did, what he had for breakfast, what happened late at night in the hotel, to real contemplation about what does it mean to be showing this work in Vietnam in 1962. So you can see him grappling with why are they receiving the company in such a positive way? Or there's not enough branding and posters in certain neighborhoods where he imagined that they should be. But we also observed through the archive that the company, during his lifetime, performed more in community centers and high school gymnasiums than they did in performing arts theaters. Now, that is incredible and might help us understand why it is that the company resonates with so many people across the world.

[Alison Stewart]

I want to read a quote that you include in the show. Alvin ailey was born 1931, as you mentioned, lived the first years of his life in rural Texas. And the quote here, it's in the exhibition, it reads, I'm Alvin Ailey. I'm a choreographer. I'm a black man whose roots are in the sun and the dirt of the South. Talk about that quote. And how did those Southern roots come out in his art?

[Adrienne Edwards]

I think it is indexed in very specific ways. Like, we found an archival video, for example, where you see a sort of procession to a baptism in water in a rural Southern location. Don't know specifically where it was. And the women are carrying these big white umbrellas. And then if we look at a dance like Revelations, we can see specifically this kind of indexing of the white umbrella and the procession as part of a baptismal ritual in these dances. The south also shows up in the kinds of music that he was interested in. I mean, if you think about the spirituals and you think about the blues, the both sacred and profane parts of music coming out of this time in particular, in which he grew up, is really important. It shows up, I think, in the break in the in between parts of the dances. So Ailey was a big believer that, you know, he said he didn't really have a methodology. Like, there was no technique necessarily. I would argue that his technique was in his selection of dancers and that he was looking for the ways that they individually would sort of show off, if you will. That is very much the same way that we understand how jazz music is played, how the blues are played, even the performance of gospel and spirituals. It's all about a kind of personal inflection in what you're bringing to the dances. So that's really incredible. So I think you see all of that in the video surround when we show these dances. But in the show, there's also this wonderful section called Southern Imaginary. And it looks at the American south, but it also looks at Haiti. It looks at Brazil, in particular, Bahia. Mr. Ailey, we found a trove of research materials that he had been doing around samba, around condom blay and the devotional practices and the ways in which he was really looking at those and also bringing those into the dances. Jeffrey Holder had choreographed Peace the Prodigal Prince, based on a painting by Hector Hippolyte called the Congo Queen, and in particular, also about Hector Hippolyte's life. And we have that painting in the show. So there are all these ways in which. And we have the research material I mentioned about Bahia in the show. So it shows this connective tissue that the American south is actually much broader than the southern United States. It's actually hemispheric.

[Alison Stewart]

We're speaking with curator Adrienne Edwards, talking about the new show Edges of Alien. We've been talking about how this is the first major museum exhibition devoted to him. We got a text from a listener who asks, this is the first exhibition on Alvin Ailey. What took so long?

[Adrienne Edwards]

Good question. In fact, when I first started researching, I almost thought to myself, oh, I. Someone must have already done this. And I kept looking and looking, and in fact, no art museum has done it. There have been small installations in libraries, but not in the context of art museums. And yet there's been a proliferation of dance exhibitions, mostly around Balanchine or Lincoln Kirstein in terms of the ballet school or, as I mentioned, Tricia Brown, who was part of the Judson Dance Theater. There've been a lot of shows about Yvonne Rayner and those adjacent to it, like Merce Cunningham, but none about Ailey until now.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, Ailey lived with the pressures of being a gay black man in America. At the same time, the exhibition points out that one of the pillars of his practice was freedom and liberation. How do you weigh those two ideas when Considering his work during this process.

[Adrienne Edwards]

I think it's complicated. I mean, one of the things I did as part of this research was to go back and read a trope of material that looked at what did it mean to be gay in the 1930s, 50s, 60s. And it was. It was interesting because there were other people of this time that I. That found that felt to me as very resonant to Ely's experience. You know, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Bayard Ruskin. I mean, it's like all of these figures had to contend with what it meant to be out or not out or out to selected few, and also what it meant to be successful and to have careers. And I think it's an incredibly complicated story. And much like Lorraine Hansberry, they left it to the archive like they're feeling about it. When you go through these notebooks, you. You know, I immediately thought, oh, closeted. To whom? Like, not. Not in the context of his own understanding of himself. They're wonderful meditations and reflections and character studies and poems and short stories that he wrote about his queerness and. And it's really lucky to be able to. To show it. But I knew I couldn't approach it with the mindset of what it. Of a sort of gay liberation sense that we have in 2024. It needed to be thought about and understood in relationship to the times in which it happened. And, of course, he was part of that first wave that we lost. And we lost so many queer elders. I mean, my generation, we have so few elders who survived that moment, particularly artists. And it's been wonderful to kind of highlight or allow the public to see what he thought about it in his own words.

[Alison Stewart]

Now, before we wrap up, I have to ask you a little bit more about the performances that are going to be coming. Not only is there this art to see, but throughout the show's run, there's going to be these live performances and workshops at the Whitney from a number of Ailey companies and programs. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

[Adrienne Edwards]

Yeah. The way I like to think about it is it's like the Ailey Company is bringing its uptown operations to the museum downtown. So we'll have the Ailey Company, we'll have Ailey 2, which is the more junior company, will have their school programs, and we'll have the classes that they teach to the public. All of that will be happening here, and as I mentioned, one week every month during the run of the show. So from now until February 9th, and then, in true Ailey style, we selected in the We Being the Dance Advisory Committee, including myself and a group of folks who have been with Ailey for a very long time, looked at a lot of different choreographers works and made a very difficult selection to get it to 11 choreographers and their collaborators. And those folks have been either commissioned or invited to present dances on the occasion of the show. And those are happening in the intervening weeks when the company is not here. And we have free Friday nights so folks could come and from 5 to 10 see the show for free. And every second Sunday we also have free admission.

[Alison Stewart]

Very cool. And in the one minute that we have left, Is there something about Ailey that you really hope attendees have a sense of when they leave the show?

[Adrienne Edwards]

I hope that they walk away with being compelled by his sheer curiosity. I mean, one of the things that blew me away is that he was largely self taught. Like there were no BFA or MFA programs in dance when he started. So he would go around and try to take classes where he could. And he studied of course with Lester Horton as a teenager and early in his 20s. But you know, he was such putting him in conversation with all of these other artists is exactly what he did in his notebooks. It's exactly the way that he thought. And we're thrilled to show all these choreographers and theater folks and musicians who have influenced him too.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Adrienne Edwards, Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs for the Whitney Museum. She's the lead curator of an exhibition at the Whitney called Edges of Ailey, which is on view for a few more weeks through February 9th.

[Adrienne Edwards]

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[Adrienne Edwards]

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