This has been a year of big transitions for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: the naming of Judith Jamison's successor, Robert Battle, the death of Ailey School director Denise Jefferson and longtime company dancer Matthew Rushing being appointed rehearsal director this past June.
Yannick Lebrun chosen by AAADT dancer Jamar Roberts, a 2007 "25 to Watch." I remeber him being this little, scrawny kid in The Ailey School - I mean, just like a pencil. He also did Ailey II, and I saw him perform 'Takademe' by Robert Battle. It was so astonishing because he has this really big facility and really wide range of movement in his limbs and extensions.
At 1:45 P.M. at Bea Fuller Rogers Middle School in New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood, high-pitched laughter, chatter, and screams reverberate through the hallways. But inside a small dance studio on the second floor, the atmosphere is different. Two dozen seventh-graders stand silently in a wedge formation, an inverted triangle with one student at the point.
Imagine an evening at Alvin Ailey without "Revelations." It's pretty rare - ask director Judith Jamison about the complaints she gets when that signature work isn't on the bill. But Sunday night, the troupe showed some other works - a few revivals and some they've not danced before - all with that trademark Ailey punch.
A seemingly bemused Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) uttered a sonorously drawn out "No!" to Harry Belafonte in a 1978 television conversation with the singer, who asked the choreographer, "When you were making 'Revelations,' did you know you'd be doing it forever?" At that point, Mr. Ailey's wildly popular dance suite set to spirituals and gospel music was already 18 years old.
In honor of Alvin Ailey's 50th anniversary of "Revelations," fresh recreations of the works do justice to their original incarnations.
After seeing "Celebrating 'Revelations' at 50," the film tribute by Judy Kinberg that precedes the piece this season at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Roslyn Sulcas wrote: "It's notable how rough hewn - and powerful - the dancing looks in the historical footage of Ailey and others performing in that work."
Watching "Celebrating 'Revelations' at 50," the film tribute by Judy Kinberg that precedes the piece during the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's current season, it's notable how rough hewn - and powerful - the dancing looks in the historical footage of Ailey and others performing in that work.
"Rocks my sould in the bosom of Abraham!" Sweet Honey in the Rock throws the words up like a tidal wave from the City Center pit, while from a corner of the stage, the voice of Ella Mitchell - which has been heard (both live and recorded) during Alvin Ailey's 1960 Revelations for 37 years - soars above the other singers.
For Judith Jamison, there are no transitions. From star dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to directing the company and now handing the reins to someone else, it's all seamless.