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Article: The Higher Ground: The Genius of Alvin Ailey
- Article from:
- Los Angeles Sentinel
- Article date:
- January 27, 1999
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Los Angeles Sentinel
01-27-1999
The Higher Ground: The Genius of Alvin Ailey
He was a trailblazer of American dance, a performer/choreographer/ teacher with roots in the sun and dirt of the South." Raised in rural poverty in Rogers, Texas, he turned to dance as a teenager in Los Angeles and, while he never looked back, neither did he ever forget what he called the "blood memories" of those early years.
"My roots are in the blues," Alvin Ailey maintained throughout his life. "In the street people whose lives are full of beauty and misery and pain and hope."
Equally important to the sensitive youngster were the white frame gospel churches that resonated through his childhood with roaring, ...