Alvin Ailey's Revelations and Sociology
Jerry Tarn
Professor Douglas Kierdorf
Social Science 102
April 18th, 2013
Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” and Sociology As the world begins to modernize, society develops into what sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies calls a “Gesellschaft” society. In a Gesellschaft society, people concentrate only on themselves and build relationships mostly based on the possible monetary gains. Because people are so focused on money, matters that do not possess any monetary value tend to be discarded as insignificant or unworthy. Subjects such as the arts are often seen as unnecessary, excess, and impractical. However, what people fail to realize, is that art is in fact an integral part of humanity. Art can provide deep insights into our society, revealing both its positive and negative aspects in the most genuine form. Dance−a physical expression of art−is one of the many methods people uses to portray the various characteristics of society. Alvin Ailey’s signature work: “Revelations”, produced in 1960, is a prime example that reflected and exposed the social changes that were occurring during that era. The 1960s was marked as a time of great change as it was the era when America began to transform into an increasingly modern society. There were significant improvements in science (and technology exemplified by the start of the space exploration), which greatly changed how people lived and viewed the world. However, the most important changes were probably societal ones, namely the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was categorized by African Americans expressing their dissatisfactions with the injustices that they had to endure in past century. Although African Americans were liberated from slavery after the Civil War, they still had to deal with the inequality of racial segregation. Under those laws, African Americans had to face disadvantages such as (but not limited to): lack of voting rights, inferior quality of facilities, and unequal treatment under law. In
Professor Douglas Kierdorf
Social Science 102
April 18th, 2013
Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” and Sociology As the world begins to modernize, society develops into what sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies calls a “Gesellschaft” society. In a Gesellschaft society, people concentrate only on themselves and build relationships mostly based on the possible monetary gains. Because people are so focused on money, matters that do not possess any monetary value tend to be discarded as insignificant or unworthy. Subjects such as the arts are often seen as unnecessary, excess, and impractical. However, what people fail to realize, is that art is in fact an integral part of humanity. Art can provide deep insights into our society, revealing both its positive and negative aspects in the most genuine form. Dance−a physical expression of art−is one of the many methods people uses to portray the various characteristics of society. Alvin Ailey’s signature work: “Revelations”, produced in 1960, is a prime example that reflected and exposed the social changes that were occurring during that era. The 1960s was marked as a time of great change as it was the era when America began to transform into an increasingly modern society. There were significant improvements in science (and technology exemplified by the start of the space exploration), which greatly changed how people lived and viewed the world. However, the most important changes were probably societal ones, namely the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was categorized by African Americans expressing their dissatisfactions with the injustices that they had to endure in past century. Although African Americans were liberated from slavery after the Civil War, they still had to deal with the inequality of racial segregation. Under those laws, African Americans had to face disadvantages such as (but not limited to): lack of voting rights, inferior quality of facilities, and unequal treatment under law. In
Cited: Dunning, Jennifer (1996). Alvin Ailey: A Life In Dance. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, INC. ISBN 0-201-62607-1. Mitchell, Jack. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel, 1993), 1-25 “Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-Ins”, Library of Congress [ 2 ]. Kowal, Rebekah J. How to Do Things with Dance : Performing Change in Postwar America (Middletown, CT; Wesleyan University Press, 2010), 1-6 [ 3 ] [ 4 ]. Mitchell, Jack. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel, 1993), 1-25 [ 5 ] [ 6 ]. Foulkes, Julia L. Modern bodies: Dance and American modernism from Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 179-184 [ 7 ]