Early Inspiration
Ailey spent his formative years attending his Southern Baptist church and participating in the Baptist Young People’s Union. Experiences of life in the rural south would later inspire some of his most remarkable works, including Ailey’s first major ballet Blues Suite (1958), a study of anger, sadness, and humor that depicts life in the fields and saloons of the south, and the acclaimed masterpiece Revelations (1960).
Ailey spent his formative years attending his Southern Baptist church and participating in the Baptist Young People’s Union. Experiences of life in the rural south would later inspire some of his most remarkable works, including Ailey’s first major ballet <em>Blues Suite</em> (1958), a study of anger, sadness, and humor that depicts life in the fields and saloons of the south, and the acclaimed masterpiece <em>Revelations</em> (1960).