Whatever you may say about Robert Battle's new "Awakening," you can be sure that it resembles little else in the repertoire of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which opened its annual Berkeley residency Tuesday, March 29, at UC's Zellerbach Hall. That is the first dance Battle has made for the company since he became artistic director five years ago may have something to do with it.
Now approaching its 60th anniversary, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has, since the death of its founder, in 1989, been a troupe of fine dancers in search of choreography. New York City Ballet continues to perform the considerable body of work that George Balanchine left behind; Ailey's company, now helmed by Robert Battle, has not been as fortunate.
Can you remember an inspirational experience that changed your life? Robert Battle certainly can.
With an adrenaline-fueled rush, Robert Battle's "Awakening" ushers in a new era for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. But while it feels like a departure for both Battle as choreographer and for the company, in truth "Awakening" in many ways continues Alvin Ailey's vision.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is premiering "Untitled America: First Movement," a performance that explores the impact that prison has on people. Choreographer Kyle Abraham observed the body language of former prisoners, and translated those movements into dance.
What do dance and social justice have in common? "No Longer Silent," a new piece from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, provides one answer.
The famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is on tour, and they will be stopping at the Fox Theatre next week for an extended stay. From Feb. 10 to 14, the company will perform a collection of pieces and end each show with "Revelations," a celebrated piece by Alvin Ailey.
"It's pretty clear that there's a love affair between audiences and 'Revelations'," choreographer Alvin Ailey wrote in his autobiography, speaking of the work that would become the signature of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He was not overstating the case.
The rise of the Nazis meant the demise of Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, whose jazz-inspired, avant-garde classical compositions were blacklisted as the work of a Jew. Under German occupation in Prague starting in 1939, Schulhoff desperately tried to escape to the United States, then to the Soviet Union, but he was arrested in 1941 and died the next year at the Wulzburg concentration camp in Bavaria.
"Art is universal; art connects people." Those sentiments may seem trite -- maybe even cliche to the point of losing meaning. But sometimes a notion or phrase becomes trite because it is true.