The modern concert-dance tradition.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Alvin Ailey created the dance solo Cry as a birthday gift for whom?
Judith Jamison first danced the solo, which Ailey dedicated to Black women, especially mothers.
Alvin Ailey's Night Creature uses music by which jazz composer?
The score joins a jazz band with a symphony orchestra, a musical blend that suits Ailey's mix of dance styles.
Which Alvin Ailey dance work includes "Wade in the Water" and "Rocka My Soul"?
Ailey drew on childhood memories of church services in Texas to shape the work's scenes of faith and joy.
Alvin Ailey is best known as a choreographer in which dance style?
Ailey's company tours internationally, presenting works by other choreographers alongside his own.
Which core action defines Martha Graham modern-dance technique?
Graham contraction and release begins in the pelvis with breath and is regarded as the first codified modern-dance technique.