Since he was a young boy in Navasota, Texas, Alvin Ailey loved to stomp his feed and clap his hands to the music of the True Vine Baptist choir. Later, he learned how to dance. He spent some time with the best teachers of the era and eventually started his own modern dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

This is the story of Alvin Ailey's life--a life that left its imprint as much on the history of the American people as on the history of modern dance.

Don't miss the other Great Black Performers biographies:
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra