The past decade’s so-called “golden age of documentaries” has yielded memorable projects about all sorts of cultural icons, including musicians, filmmakers, and athletes. The world of dance, however, has been disappointingly underrepresented. Part of the reason might be general audiences’ ignorance of the art form itself. Plenty of casual viewers know who Tina Turner is, but how many could identify George Balanchine?
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All that is to say, a documentary such as “Ailey,” which spotlights the life and career of (you guessed it) legendary dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, is long overdue. Piecing together archival footage, interviews, performances, and taped conversations with the man himself, “Ailey” appears to be a compelling deep dive into a figure that broke social and artistic boundaries to transform the landscape of modern dance.
The film made a big enough splash at January’s Sundance Film Festival to land an offer from NEON, a boutique production company known for distributing prestigious crowd-pleasers like “Palm Springs” and “Parasite,” winner of 2019’s Academy Award for Best Picture. NEON also snatched up distribution rights for two other docs at Sundance: “Flee” (an animated project about the refugee experience) and “All Light, Everywhere” (about the use of police body cameras). Despite their disparate subject matter, all three seem to at least indirectly comment on the obstacles created by intolerance. Don’t be surprised if one or more appear on major awards ballots at the end of the season.
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“Ailey” was directed by Jamila Wignot, who helmed episodes of the PBS series “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” and “Finding Your Roots,” both hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Coincidentally, the same network recently aired their own documentary about an influential American choreographer. “Twyla Moves,” a new edition of PBS’ esteemed “American Masters” series, focuses on contemporary dance pioneer Twyla Tharp and premiered in March. “Ailey” hits theaters July 23.
