The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (AAADT) kicks off its five-week New York City Center engagement this holiday season with a program that will razzle-dazzle audiences with a series of exciting premieres and thrilling new productions from now through December 31. The passionate performances and technical brilliance of the Ailey dancers make this season, and indeed every Ailey season, a gift that keeps on giving.
The holiday season program features premiers of several exciting works by talented choreographers that are neatly wrapped presents for the soul. Among them is one by former Ailey dancer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, whose dreamlike duet, “Me, Myself, and You,” is a sensuous swirl of movement that seduces the eye and captures the heart as it conjures memories of love and passion for a woman caught in the classic should-I-stay-or-should-I-go dilemma.
Amy Hall Garner’s “Century” is a deeply personal piece inspired by her grandfather and set to the soulful sounds of Ray Charles, Count Basie, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and more. Alonzo King’s “Following the Subtle Current Upstream” also shares the City Center stage as the Ailey dancers throw themselves into an audacious, non-stop package of abstract movement steeped in meaning that mirrors life’s boisterous waves.
Adding to the repertory mix that makes this season special are Hans van Manen’s dynamic “Solo”; Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts’ “Ode,” with its meditation on the beauty and fragility of life in a time of growing gun violence, set to Don Pullen’s “(Sweet) Malcolm (Part 1 Memories and Gunshots)”; and the new production of Ronald K. Brown’s “Dancing Spirit,” which pays tribute to Ailey Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison’s elegance, dignity, and generosity.
Capping it all off is Ailey & Jazz, which features live music performances with jazz rising stars on December 15, 16, and 17, as well as performances that soothe the soul and lift the spirit: Ailey’s masterpiece “Revelations,” with live music on December 1–3.
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One of the outstanding features of this season is the tribute being paid to Jamison, who has been the embodiment of the acclaimed Ailey Spirit throughout a decades-long career, first as a critically acclaimed soloist and then as choreographer for both the AAADT and, briefly her own company, before Ailey asked her to succeed him as artistic director, and now, artistic director emerita. In a 1972 Dance magazine article, Ailey expressed his love for Jamison, calling her “an extraordinarily gifted dancer…with marvelous taste.”
Critics shared the fascination, describing her as “not only the most celebrated interpreter of Ailey’s work” but also “an artist of great magnetism and honesty, who can illuminate any dance she performs.” This season, the company honors Jamison with a stirring performance of “Cry” the virtuoso work Ailey created about Jamison to pay tribute to “Black women everywhere, especially our mothers.” Jamison’s tour de force performance, a portrait of dignity, defiance, and triumphant perseverance, will be recalled this season by dancer Khalia Campbell, who performs “Cry” as part of a tribute to Jamison.
Describing the experience of being in the studio as Jamison shared thoughts about the Ailey work, Campbell said, “It was like we were being coached by Ailey himself.” Jamison, she said, emphasized the storytelling aspect of the dance while stressing the need to focus on where the movement comes from while communicating its meaning. Movements are not mere exercises but expressions of emotions, she said. Arms don’t just reach, they reach for something. “There’s a different feel and a different appearance when you pay attention to these details shared by Ms. Jamison,” Khalia said. “The dancer, the movement and the music become one.”
Masazumi Chaya, whose career with Ailey began in the early 1970s and spans decades as first dancer, rehearsal director, and associate artistic director, recalled his favorite Jamison performances of the Ailey solo “Cry.” Chaya praised Jamison’s musicality, sharing stories that reflect a moving generosity when she occasionally offered a note or two that he said enhanced his own dynamic attack of movement and its embodiment of the music. “She’s so musical,” Chaya said.
Meanwhile, Jamison has turned her attention to the upcoming tribute being paid to her and some of the other pioneering women of the Ailey family. There is the inimitable Carmen de Lavallade, whose artistic life has been intertwined with Ailey’s since the two high school classmates were part of the Lester Horton Dance Theater in the 1950s. There is Sylvia Waters, founding artistic director of the Ailey II company, and the late Denise Jefferson, a pedagogical pioneer who made the Ailey school an internationally renowned training ground for future dancers, as well as a place where everyday folks can experience the joy of movement.
In terms of the tribute of her own artistry and the tribute she’ll receive this season, Jamison said that reaching a certain milestone in numbers is “about how you’re feeling about yourself in your body…What really makes me feel happy about where I am now is knowing that everything that I participated in has been passed along and I can just sit in the audience, and know that everything is in good hands,” she said.
“That’s why I’ve been working so hard: to make sure that everything is sustained. What brings me joy is knowing that Robert Battle, Matthew Rushing, Clifton Daniels, Ronnie Favors, and others capture Alvin’s intention and are carrying that incredible light of his from one generation to another. That is what it’s all about. We understood Alvin’s importance and the legacy of the fact that this African American man made this extraordinary accomplishment.
“When you continue somebody’s legacy—the legacy of a real genius—and you see that it continues, you automatically feel all that love. Basically, this—the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre—is a family that maintains a connection and an understanding that Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is in flight and it’s ever upward.”
If you don’t believe that there is something phenomenal about this company, founded in 1958, recognized by a U.S. Congressional resolution as a vital American “Cultural Ambassador to the World,” whose artists have performed for an estimated 25 million people in 71 countries on six continents, and celebrating the human spirit through the African American cultural experience and American modern dance tradition, see for yourself.
For more info, visit www.alvinailey.org.