As Ms Jamison said today “We’re gonna end with Earth Wind and Fire today ‘cause WE been through the Earth, the Wind, and the Fire”
There
was a celebratory workshop today taught through the Ailey Extension by Artistic
Director Judith Jamison, where we really were taught some of the original Ailey
repertoire (those artists make it look so easy.
That stuff is WAY harder than it looks).
We
were also taught some of the history that came through the choreography – she told
us when she was learning “Cry”, the great Ailey solo for which she’s most
famous, that when she was first learning the choreography Dr. Pearl Primus
brought some of the steps BACK directly from the Masai … and then she told us
to remember there was always a PURPOSE to the dance and that we should know the
purpose; that it’s not just some bunch of pretty port de bras.
She
also wore me out – I thought I’d been training up from when the workshop was
first announced (ha) so I will stop typing and offer AMBER’S interpretation
along with some peoples’ thoughts on an overused national phrase, as well as
some of the music from class and some
musical accompaniment to Jeffrey Wright’s thoughts, because, as Amber says, “the
news is a crazy mess this week”
