Sundance review: 'Ailey' is a lively documentary that chronicles the life of Alvin Ailey, and shows the art that's keeping his legacy alive

‘Ailey’

★★★1/2

Appearing in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Can be streamed through the festival digital portal on Monday, February 1. Running time: 95 minutes.

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In the PBS-produced documentary “Ailey,” director Jamila Wignot melds biography, history, social commentary and performance into a rich accounting of the life of dance pioneer Alvin Ailey.

His life is a remarkable one. Born in Texas in 1931, in the height of the Great Depression, to a single mother, Ailey endured the poverty of the South, before he and his mother moved to Los Angeles in 1943, during World War II. There, he first discovered dance, seeing the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. He also saw the legendary dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, and realized for the first time that a Black person could become a great dancer.

Moving to New York in 1954, Ailey’s founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1958. Many of his works were inspired by aspects of Black life he witnessed — including “Blues Suite” (1958), based on honky-tonk bars he frequented, and Ailey’s signature work, “Revelations” (1960), which uses the imagery and music of Black churches. The troupe toured constantly, breaking down barriers for having a multi-ethnic corps of dancers, and becoming global ambassadors.

Wignot interviews a host of Ailey’s former dancers, choreographers and colleagues, and relies on a wealth of archival interviews with Ailey — essentially allowing the man himself to narrate his story.

Not only did Wignot get access to the company’s archives, she also brings her camera into its rehearsal space, following the troupe in the act of creation. What’s being created is a 60-minute piece to Ailey, being developed by choreographer Rennie Harris, to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary.

These rehearsal scenes serve as the backbone for Wignot’s telling of Ailey’s remarkable story — and are a reminder that Ailey’s work, like that of any artist worth discussing, is living a full life after the artist is gone.