The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary.

Founded in 1968 by Alvin Ailey (1931–1989), an African-American choreographer, the theater company has been entertaining audiences around the world with it’s imaginative programming and modern dance masterpieces.

In a performance in March at the Boch Center Wang Theater in Boston, the company presented “In/Side,” a modern dance choreographed to “Wild Is the Wind,” music by Dimitri Tiomkin and lyrics by Ned Washington from the 1958 film of the same name.

From a review of the program:

Next came an eight-minute solo piece, “In/Side” a 2008 work by the company’s artistic director, Robert Battle, to a Nina Simone recording of the “Wild is the Wind.”

Artistic Director Robert Battle (https://www.alvinailey.org/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/robert-battle)

Singing and accompanying herself on piano, Simone injects aching lyricism into the ballad by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin. Her passionate yearning was echoed in the dance solo, performed with eloquence by Jeroboam Bozeman, barefoot and attired only in a slim brief. Lighting by Burke Wilmore showed the astonishing convolutions of his body as he crawled, sprang, leapt and whirled like a leaf in the wind.

“Alvin Ailey still enthralling after 50 years,” Bay State Banner, March 29, 2018

From Facebook:

A previous performance of “In/Side” can be viewed on YouTube.

Tiomkin was married to choreographer Albertina Rasch and began his career as a composer writing for her dance company. We are preparing a feature article on this aspect of Tiomkin’s career that will shed new light on his earliest musical compositions.

Wild Is the Wind, U.S. half sheet poster