Alvin Ailey - Timeline

Alvin Ailey - Timeline

1. Alvin Ailey got inspiration to create Revelations from his “blood memories” of his childhood in Texas. Since it was first shown in 1960, the piece has moved audiences across the globe and more people have seen Revelations than any other modern piece of dance work with over 23 million people watching it.

2. In January of 1960, Revelations was premiered at the Kaufman Concert Hall by Alvin Ailey and his dance company. At the end of the first performance there was total silence, closely followed by a standing ovation.

   • 1962
     • 1962 was the year that Revelations was performed on television for the first time in the Lamp Under My Feet special on CBS. In this year also Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre was chosen to take Revelations to Asia and Australia as a part of American President John F. Kennedy’s “President’s Special International Program for Cultural Presentations.”
       • 1965
         • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre welcomed Judith Jamison, a well known dancer/choreographer who featured in Revelations for a further fifteen years.
           • 1968
             • Alvin Ailey’s company performed for President Johnson at the White House. Revelations is also performed at the opening ceremony for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
               • 1969
                 • A Boston public television station, WGBH, sponsored a week of performances by the Alvin Ailey company and videotaped Revelations with Alvin Ailey himself giving an a filmed narration before the dance.
                   • 1975
                     • “Revelations attained its most extravagant proportions during the mid- 1970s when Ailey staged the dance to includea complement of nineteen dancers.” -from Thomas DeFrantz’s 2004 book Dancing Revelations.
                       • 1977
                         • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre performed a part from Revelations inaugural concert for President Jimmy Carter at the Kennedy Center.
                           • 1985
                             • Since the normalization of Sino- American relations, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre was the first modern dance company to go on a US government-sponsored tour of China.
                               • 1988
                                 • Alvin Ailey receives The Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime contribution to American culture through the performing arts.
                                   • 1993
                                     • In NYC’s Central Park, over 30,000 spectators gathered to see a live performance of Ailey’s work, including Revelations.
                                       • 1996
                                         • Revelations was performed at the Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta.
                                           • 1998
                                             • This was the 40th anniversary of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. V2 Records releases a two CD box set, with the music of Revelations.
                                               • 2003
                                                 • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs at the White House State Dinner honoring President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya.
                                                   • 2004
                                                     • The postal service in the U.S. made a first class postage stamp honoring Alvin Ailey as part of the American Choreographers stamp series. The stamp was an image of from the opening sequence of Revelations.
                                                       • 2007
                                                         • Revelations is named as one of “the most popular modern dance pieces of all time” by Dance Magazine.
                                                           • 2008
                                                             • Alvin Ailey 50th anniversary.
                                                               • 2009
                                                                 • Recently after Barack Obama was elected president, he opted to spend his first night out since president with his family at the Kennedy Center watching Revelations. After the piece was performed, Obama and his wife and daughters congratulated the dancers backstage.
   • 1960

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