Was the audience too enthusiastic, do I know to much, or none of the above. Thursday’s performance of Revelations by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to my surprise, left me oddly unsettled. Revelations is as old as I am. Mr Ailey started the choreography in 1958, the year I was born. The ballet through gospel music is the history of African Americans in the US, described as a work that explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. It’s a performance, it’s a performance, they are applauding the absolute perfection in the performance and yet in a lone voice in the chorus of thoughts in my head sang out, slavery, grief and oppression is being cheered. The third act, Move Members Move, felt more spectacle, aren’t those negroes resilient. The applause, the cheers were deafening. I’d seen the piece before, but this time, in Boston, on the edge of Beacon Hill, was indeed spectacular and yet sinister.
In the early 1800’s Beacon Hill,was home to the largest African American population in the United States. While logically with the black heritage trail, the historic sites such as the African meeting house, Abiel Smith School built in 1834, specifically as a public school for black children along with memorials to black abolitionist through out the city it makes sense. Yet, it seems more like a secret history. One point of discussion, slavery in the US went on for 246 years until the 13th amendment. From a historical perspective, African Americans have spent 246 years enslaved and only 159 years free. At the time Mr Ailey created his ballet, that number was 93 years free. For me this juxtaposition of a panel discussion Wednesday night at the African Meeting House and the Alvin Ailey performance felt like a scene from a Jordan Peele horror film. The part where the protagonist sees happy, smiling, cheerful faces of people in a situation gone horribly wrong. I know, I have a vivd imagination.
That’s how I’ve been able to blog weekly since 2014; this is post 515. Ten years ago this week, I paid a fee to WordPress; the site went live in July, Balancing on Unstable Surfaces. Do not misinterpret the post tone; I can’t help but smile. Since the blog inception, I’m in my third city, my third home, retired, living my best life. Some things have changed and yet some things are constant. This week, consider your last decade, what’s changed, what’s constant and most important, what are you happy with.
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 