People that I admire

Alvin Ailey:
Alvin Ailey was the founder/ director and choreographer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the first all black dance company in America. Ailey himself had a number of teachers but the one that had most influence on him was Lester Horton, Ailey became a member if Horton’s company and when Horton died the Artistic director of his company. Alvin Ailey had a notable career as a dancer before creating the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre starring in a number of off Broadway productions including ‘The Carefree Tree’ and ‘Sing man Sing’ as well as Broadway productions including ‘Jamaica’ but it was when he formed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre that he became noticed within the dance world. Ailey created a new dance technique and a huge number of dance works including ‘Blues Suite’, ‘Revelations’, ‘For Bird... With Love’ and ‘Witness’ some of which were more loved by the critics than others. His company became one of the most popular contemporary dance companies in the world and Ailey did not only create a company but a school in order to train dancers in his technique and in other techniques within a multitude of genres.

I admire Alvin Ailey as a choreographer, dancer, teacher and for the courage that he showed while providing black dancers a chance to be professionals at a time when there was little opportunity for minority groups. I believe that Alvin Ailey was an exceptional man with a number of achievements for which he is to be admired for. He was a man that created his own dance technique using that and other dance techniques in his self devised choreographic work that is powerful, elegant and full of meaning. Watching his choreography you can see that he demanded athleticism, perfect technique and most evidently emotion form his dancers as most of his choreography was inspired by Ailey’s own past often referred to as his “Blood memories”(Author not known, ‘Alvin Ailey- Founder’[Online]. New York. Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Inc. Available from http://www.alvinailey.org/page.php?p=art_d&v=55&sec=aaadt [Accessed 07.10.09]) in a number of publications . He made groundbreaking changes within the American dance industry by having providing black dancers with professional work, he created a structured learning environment for his dancers and opened a school to train dancers (which would later become ‘The Ailey School’ one of the most prestigious dance schools in the world). Every time I watch ‘Revelations’ it takes my breath away.
www.alvinailey.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emeASlSa2E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1rSClaHWAM

Dame Ninette de Valois:
Ninette de Valois was the founder of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet Schools. She herself was a dancer who was determined on learning as much about technique as possible as she took classes covering French, Russian and Italian styles of ballet. De Valois vision was to provide stability for British dancers in the form of a company and to give her dancers present and future solid training in technique by opening a school. She managed to make Ballet accessible for all, touring Britain and eventually the world, The Royal Ballet was the first British company to dance on a New York stage. De Valois herself danced with the company and also choreographed a number of new ballets as well as re-creating the classics however she also enlisted the help of Frederick Ashton and others. She was the director of the Royal Ballet company until 1963 Where she taught, directed and decided on the future the company should take. After retiring as director of the company de Valois focused her energy on the school teaching classes passing on her knowledge to the ballet dancers of the future.

I admire de Valois for her vision, her knowledge, her teaching and what she did for British ballet, she created a ballet empire two companies and two full time ballet schools is an enormous accomplishment. De Valois tried to gain as much knowledge as possible about technique in order to make her a better dancer and a better teacher something that I am striving to do myself and have incredible admiration for her drive to this. De Valois created a school which has given the world some of the most talented ballet dancers including Margot Fonteyn, her quality as a teacher is immeasurable providing students with the tools of technique and performance. Her dedication to her work and dream was incessant and I can only admire the amount of work that de Valois put in to creating The Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet School, The Birmingham Royal Ballet (previously Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet and Elmhurst Ballet School. I can only remain in awe of de Valois’s achievements and as a teacher can aspire to achieve even a fraction of what de Valois achieved.

http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/index.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-6mdsfoMs
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154126/Dame-Ninette-de-Valois

Robin Antin:
Robin Antin was the creator of the original Pussycat Dolls Dance Troupe and the Pop group that entitled by the same name, and more recently the girl group ‘Girlicious’. Robin Antin was originally a dancer with a number of credits to her name but in the 1990’s her and a couple of friends started a dance troupe taking inspiration from the burlesque style of dance. The group grew in numbers and popularity with a number of Celebrities wanting to perform with the ‘Dolls’ and from this success Antin decided to make an all singing and dancing girl group with lots of sex appeal. Robin took an old style of choreography that originated in the seedy underground clubs of Berlin and created a new sexy, flirtatious and funky style of choreography and brought it to the forefront of musical entertainment. Robin Antin is a strong woman, a talented choreographer/ director and a business woman and it is these qualities that I admire about her. I first encountered Robin Antin whilst watching the E! True Hollywood Story on the Pussycat Dolls and then on the television programme ‘Pussycat Dolls: Search for the next Doll’ where she talked about empowering women and that confidence, strength and sexiness was the essence of what the Pussycat Dolls were about. Upon reflection I felt that this is what I felt when dancing in the style of dance that Robin created, confident and sexy and I admire her for giving the world choreography that can make a woman feel that way and founding a Pop group whose music has the same effect. Her business sense is incredible now having two successful pop/ R&B girl groups, The Pussycat Dolls Lounge on Sunset Strip and 2 successful TV shows under her belt. When seeing her dance and watching choreography that she has created it inspires me to dance and it is this evocation of inspiration that makes me admire Robin Antin.

http://www.pcdlounge.com/history/
http://www.pcdmusic.com http://www.myspace.com/girlicious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K25EcSliPc