{{Short description|Choreographer, ballet company director}} {{for|the basketball player|Robert Battle (basketball)}} {{use mdy dates|date=April 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Robert Battle | image = P20230210AS-2211 (52734013627) (Robert Battle crop).jpg | caption = Battle in February 2023 | birth_date = {{birth-date and age|August 28, 1972}} | birth_place = Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. | education = Juilliard School (1994) | occupation = dancer, choreographer, artistic director | years_active = 1994–2023 }}
'''Robert Battle''' (born August 28, 1972) is a dancer, choreographer, and the former Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
==Early life and education== Robert Battle was born on August 28, 1972 in Jacksonville, Florida.<ref name=":0" /> Originally from the Liberty City community of Miami, Florida, Battle was raised by his great uncle Willie Horne and his cousin Dessie Horne in economically poor living conditions.<ref name=Kourlas> {{cite news | last = Kourlas | first = Gia | title = For New Ailey Leader, It's All in the Family | newspaper = New York Times | date = May 7, 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/arts/dance/09battle.html | access-date = January 12, 2012 }} </ref><ref name=Acocella> {{cite news | last = Acocella | first = Joan | title = New Move | newspaper = The New Yorker | date = December 19, 2011 | url = http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/dancing/2011/12/19/111219crda_dancing_acocella | access-date = April 12, 2012 }} </ref> He studied at the New World School of the Arts before graduating from the Juilliard School,<ref name=Kourlas/> where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1994.<ref> {{cite web | title = Alumni News | publisher = Juilliard School | date = March 2010 | url = http://www.juilliard.edu/alumni/news/news_decades/2009-2010/1003/index.php | access-date = April 12, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111111122007/http://juilliard.edu/alumni/news/news_decades/2009-2010/1003/index.php | archive-date = 2011-11-11 | quote = Robert Battle (BFA ’94) }} </ref> At Juilliard, former Paul Taylor dancer Carolyn Adams became his mentor.<ref name=":0">Bauer, Pat. "Robert Battle". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 24 Aug. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Battle . Accessed 25 May 2023.</ref>
==Career==
Upon graduation from Juilliard, he joined the Parsons Dance Company. In 1998, he began choreographing for the group.<ref name=":0" /> He founded his own Battleworks Dance Company in 2001.<ref name=Kourlas/> The Battleworks Dace Company debuted at the Global Assembly of the World Dance Alliance as the American Representative, and went on to perform at the American Dance Festival and Jacob's Pillow Dance. He began working with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1999, when he was commissioned to create a dance for the Ailey II troupe.<ref name=":0" />
Battle was named one of the Masters of African American Choreography by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005.<ref name="HM"> {{cite web |date=August 27, 2010 |title=Robert Battle Biography |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=2082&category=ArtMakers&occupation=&name=Robert%20Battle |access-date=January 12, 2012 |publisher=The History Makers}} </ref>
In 2015 Battle was named a Ford Foundation ''Art of Change'' Fellow.
===Alvin Ailey===
He began the directorship on July 1, 2011, and is its third director since the company's 1958 inception. When receiving the position Battle says, "I hope to be worthy of this tremendous responsibility that I've been given, and to honor it in the only way Alvin Ailey would have accepted: by keeping it now, alive and moving forward".<ref name=Huff> {{cite web | title = Robert Battle To Take Over Alvin Ailey Dance Company | publisher = Huffington Post | date = April 29, 2010 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/robert-battle-to-take-ove_n_557058.html | access-date = January 12, 2012 }} </ref> Although Battle was never formally part of the Ailey company prior to his appointment, making him the first artistic director with no direct connection to the company or to Ailey himself, he contributed a number of works to the company's repertoire, and had long been recognized as the anointed successor to Judith Jamison. As Jamison was in an interview she says, "that Battle's choreography has the ability to draw audiences into his work, and it reminds her of Alvin".<ref name=Wakin> {{cite news | last = Wakin | first = Daniel J. | title = Ailey Company Names New Director | newspaper = New York Times | date = April 28, 2010 | url = http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/ailey-company-names-new-director/ | access-date = January 12, 2012 }} </ref> He served several terms as artist-in-residence with Ailey.<ref name=LAT> {{cite news | title = Robert Battle talks of next steps for Ailey dance troupe | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | date = May 3, 2010 | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-03-la-et-ailey-director-20100503-story.html | access-date = January 12, 2012 }} </ref>
In 2015, Battle created his first work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, ''Awakening.''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kourlas |first=Gia |date=2015-11-25 |title=Robert Battle Finally Has His Steps in the Spotlight |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/arts/dance/robert-battle-finally-has-his-steps-in-the-spotlight.html |access-date=2023-05-26 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The same year saw the Alvin Ailey company premiere of his ''No Longer Silent.'' Of the piece, composed eight years prior for Juilliard, the ''New York Times'' wrote, “It’s arguably Mr. Battle’s strongest piece, and the most major one that he’s set on the Ailey troupe so far. Battle echoes the rhythmic complexity of the music in his ritualistic choreography that is reminiscent of the early works of Martha Graham and, in many moments, the theatricality of Paul Taylor, yet this dance retains its taut point of view to the end.”<reF>Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 'No Longer Silent', 2015 https://ailey.org/repertory/no-longer-silent</ref>
In November 2023, Battle announced his retirement as Artistic Director, for health reasons.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kourlas |first=Gia |date=November 28, 2023 |title=Robert Battle Had a Wide Vision of What Alvin Ailey Could Be |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/arts/dance/robert-battle-resign-alvin-ailey.html |access-date=January 5, 2023 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
===Post-Ailey work=== In November 2024, Battle accepted a position as a resident choreographer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, with duties commencing in 2025.<ref>{{cite web |title=DANCE NEWS: New In! Robert Battle is Now Resident Choreographer of the Paul Taylor Dance Company |url=https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/dance-news/view/DANCE-NEWS-Robert-Battle-Resident-Choreographer-Paul-Taylor-Dance-Company |website=The Dance Enthusiast |access-date=18 February 2025 |date=9 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Battle Appointed Resident Choreographer Of Paul Taylor Dance Company |url=https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/robert-battle-appointed-resident-choreographer-of-paul-taylor-dance-company/ |website=Harlem World Magazine |access-date=18 February 2025 |date=7 November 2024}}</ref>
==Works== {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} *1999- ''Takademe'' *2000- ''Promenade'' *2001- ''The Hunt'' *2003- ''Juba'' *2004- ''Feast'' *2004- ''Mass'' *2004- ''Strange Humors'' *2006- ''Final Sounds'' *2007- ''Bon Appétit!'' *2007- ''No Longer Silent'', using the musical ballet, ''Ogelala''<ref>Michael Jacobs, 'Atlanta Jewish Times,' January 27, 2016 "Dance Gives Life to Voice Hitler Silenced" https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/dance-gives-life-to-voice-hitler-silenced/</ref><reF>Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 'No Longer Silent', 2015 https://ailey.org/repertory/no-longer-silent</ref> *2007- ''Unfold'' *2008- ''Ella'' *2008- ''In/Side'' *2010- ''Three'' *2015- ''Awakening'' *2021- ''For Four'' {{col-end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/robert-battle/strange-humors/ Archival footage of Battleworks Dance Company performing Robert Battle's ''Strange Humors'' in 2003 at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle, Robert}} Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:People from Jacksonville, Florida Category:Artistic directors (music) Category:American choreographers Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater