Wade in the Water Blog

The clip from Alvin Ailey's Dance Troupe "Wade in the Water" was an excellent example and performance of the elements of Black dance. In the dance, the dancers all danced to the rhythm of the song and the meaning. I really liked it when the blue sheets around the dancers made them look like they were really wading in water, along with their fluid body movements. I think the "aesthetic of cool" was present here, where the dancers all made it looks so easy and natural, that it seemed in a sense sort of cool. I also noticed a lot of the dancers played off of each other and would dance as if one. I thought this also was reminent of the characteristics of Black dance. I noticed that there was a lot of percussive elements in the dance, like the background music at points and how the dancers danced according to how the music sounded. The dancers did a good job of communicating the message that the song was trying to give through dance. It really gave the song more life to see it being acted out. The clip was very interesting and entertaining to watch because it really showed many of the things we talk about in class through the actual dance.