Life Dances is a book of poetry which captures the world-famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre from 1970-1980. The Introduction starts where the critics first begin to call Alvin Ailey "a genius," just after his company returns from its triumphant tour of Russia, "the first American modern dance company to go behind the Iron Curtain." The fact that this is "a black company" makes its success even more significant. Robértu Ras Riley was close to Alvin Ailey and to his art. He was his friend, fellow artist, and fan. In this section of the book, he describes Ailey and his choreography as he struggles and creates against a background of national and international events of the l970s. The poems are about the Ailey dancers, mainly; their lives, their classes, their rehearsals, their talent, and their magnificent performances. There are poems about dance teachers, patrons, benefactors, and famous choreographers from other dance companies commissioned by Ailey to create works in his own company. Everybody who was associated with "the great Alvin" has been included: Leonard Bernstein, Harry Belafonte, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and others. There is even a poem about "Intermission." There are poems to "the times that we lived in as black people." In l970's America, African-Americans still held on steadfastly to the hope they had derived from the 1960s. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is where that hope lived, where it was taken into full account and made into art. At the end of the book, there is a Postlude to one of the company's most famous dancers, Ulysses Dove. There is also a surprise Encore!

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