Culture

Ailey Director Jamila Wignot on Capturing the Black, Gay Modern Dance Icon’s Full Legacy


[Alvin Ailey artistic director] Robert Battle said to us, “It’s so weird that you’re coming to us now, because we are just in talks now with [choreographer] Rennie Harris for the 60th anniversary. It would be a piece that would be a one-hour ballet looking at the life and times of Alvin Ailey. So I was like, “Oh, okay. Well, now is your time [to make this film.]”

Ailey choreographed 80 ballets over the course of his life. How did you decide what stays in? What were the things you were disappointed you had to cut?

They were very tough decisions to make. You cry right from the beginning. You know that it’s impossible to fully represent his full life’s work. We were guided by the life that he led and, in some ways, the chronology. We knew we were going to do “Blues Suite,” because this it’s dance that shows he can create. Then there’s “Revelations,” which shows that he is, in fact, a master. Beyond that, “Masekela” felt very contemporary, in a way, and it’s a dance work that is considered his most political. [It’s] very devastating and inspired by the assassination of Fred Hampton. Then, “Memoria” was a dance work that he created in this incredibly vulnerable moment where he’s wrestling with his mortality[ and] a lover abandoning him, really.

I want to go into that. “Memoria” references Abdullah, Alvin Ailey’s lover from Paris. Mr. Ailey wasn’t very open necessarily about his sexuality, and it was a different time. What was it like to include these aspects of his identity in the film?

It was tricky, because he was totally open about it within the dance world and everybody that he danced with. He was not in the closet in that sense. But he did not invite them into his private life, as they all make clear. He kept his life very separate, which I think is a form of self-protection. He needed some boundary from being this company leader and a kind of father figure; it’s clear that [the dancers] also wanted to keep [it] that way [because he was a] father figure.

But to me, [touching on his sexuality] was essential; I mean, this is a part of his identity. I wanted the film to approach it in an intersectional way. And what I mean by that is that we don’t have a section of the film that’s like, “And this is the part about Ailey’s sexuality.”

I also was guided by the tapes that he did. We have these audio recordings he did in the last year of his life, as part of his work of creating an autobiography. He spoke about Chauncey, his earliest love, and he spoke about Abdullah, his last love that abandoned him. He does not speak about others, although he had lovers intermittently. I was guided by how he spoke about it himself. I wanted him to be able to speak to his own sexuality in the way that he did.

There is this interesting scene in the film where [choreographer] Bill T. Jones points out that sometimes, the success Black creators can be used as this justification for racial progress, when there is so much other work to do. How do you think Black artists or anyone who’s on the margins can avoid that trap?

I don’t know, because it really revolves around this notion of who your audience is. I certainly feel that in my time in documentary. [The] documentary [field] is exploding and it’s wonderful, but at the same time there’s sort of no market priorities regarding how we are telling stories and who we’re telling them for.

I see the possibilities of following in the footsteps of a Mr. Ailey. He’s similar to Toni Morrison, I think. They’re both people who said, “I’m not going to create work that’s about my community with the intention of [pandering to] the outside world. I’m going to create work that’s just rooted in my community. I’m going to [capture] what you see as a community on the margins and show that it is central to this country and even the globe.” I really think it’s beautiful to try to hold on to that. And to remember what your concerns are as an individual and as a member of the community that you are in and try to root yourself as much as possible. I’m heeding that advice as a maker myself!

This interview was edited for clarity and length.



READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.