Alonzo King is a visionary choreographer who is altering the way we look at dance.Born in Georgia to civil rights activist parents, King found his own form of expression through the language of movement, and ultimately went on to found Alonzo King LINES Ballet, a San Francisco-based dance company.Tonight, he gives his Brief But Spectacular take on life and movement. It is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.I see everything as movement. I think movement and sound is everywhere.If you think of the Big Bang Theory, what came first, motion, vibration, sound? They're the same.My parents were civil rights leaders in Albany. My father was president of the Albany Movement. He was very close friends with Malcolm X. They traveled together.The impact that my parents had on me was watching people who actually lived what they preached. And that was intimidating and inspiring.As a kid, my father introduced me to yoga. That had a huge impact on me. It is also curious, the idea of the East-West merger.And in terms of civil rights, it was Martin Luther King and that relationship with Gandhi and nonviolence, and that power of love was much more powerful than enmity or violence.
