The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater nurtures its success by mixing innovative pieces with favorite standards, keeping the palette diverse.
By ROBERT HICKS
Published February 12, 2004
[Publicity photo]
The Alvin Ailey group has been performing for 45 years, a rarity in modern dance.
Fresh from opening its 45th anniversary season in New York, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is basking in its financial and artistic success.
While nearly everyone else in the arts is bemoaning the decline of corporate, state and federal funding, the Ailey organization is enjoying a $15-million budget. Financial services giant Morgan Stanley has provided $2-million for the company's 22-city U.S. tour, and next fall, the company's $66-million, eight-story building, including two theaters and 12 rehearsal studios, will open in New York City.
Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison could not be happier. She will bring her company of 31 dancers, including St. Petersburg native Briana Reed, to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota on Friday and to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"It's unique that we are 45 years old. That's totally unusual for a modern dance company, particularly one that is African-American," said Jamison from her hotel suite in Atlanta. "That we're on our 45th U.S. and world tour is quite a feat."
True to Ailey's spirit, Jamison continues to present a balanced program of company favorites with pieces choreographed by Ailey and his peers Donald McKayle and Billy Wilson, old and new dances choreographed by veterans Elisa Monte and Alonzo King, and new works choreographed by newcomers such as Dwight Rhoden and Robert Battle.
"I accumulate a palette that is so diverse. It's like a roller coaster ride when you come to an Ailey performance. It's a colorful journey," she said.
Friday's program will include Wilson's The Winter in Lisbon (1992), Monte's Treading (1979), Battle's Juba (2003) and Ailey's signature piece, Revelations (1960). Tuesday will offer Wilson again, plus King's Heart Song (2003) and McKayle's Rainbow Round My Shoulder (1959/1972). Wednesday will present Rhoden's Bounty Verses (2003), Juba and Revelations.
Jamison always has her eyes open for new talent. "There's a structure that we have that has a certain freedom about discovering talent," she said. "I go to different concerts, and I get piles of videotapes. I discover new talent by word of mouth and by auditions of totally talented people. I see lighting designers, choreographers, dancers, I hear music all over this country and all over the world." (See Tuesday's Floridian for a report on a St. Petersburg student's experience in the local auditions.)
Battle, 31, fits the bill. A Juilliard graduate, he is one of the busiest young choreographers in modern dance, with commissions from Dallas Dance Theater and Hubbard Street 2, among others. As a former member of the Parsons Dance Company, he has an eye for works that are spontaneous, intense, brooding and eclectic. He established his own company, Battleworks, in 2002 before choreographing Juba for Ailey.
"This young man is so talented," Jamison said. "He's just starting to be seen and be heard. To add him to my repertory gives him a venue where he will be seen and heard even more."
His piece's title is short for "jubilation," and its use of hand clapping, vigorous foot stomping and thigh slapping derives from a West African dance. The repetitious steps build in energy to create a metaphor for black rebellion, survival and celebration, Battle says.
Another new discovery is young Ailey alumnus Dwight Rhoden, who has been influenced by music as diverse as hip-hop, grunge and Bach, and by modern ballet, modern dance technician Lester Horton and Ailey, Jamison said.
"Dwight, to me, is very much a reflection of his own generation. It's like putting movement on fast-forward. You know how this generation sees everything in clips, very fast clips. It's almost like you can't register it, it's going so quickly in front of your eyes," she said.
No Ailey experience is complete without the company's signature piece, Revelations.
"It is the genius of Alvin Ailey," Jamison said. "It's an American treasure. It's about Negro spirituals and it's about our history and where we're coming from. It also says something about Alvin's genius as a visionary, because he said we can celebrate our past, but there's something about the modern dance tradition in this country and something about discovering new talent . . . and the freedom of spirit and the American way of doing things."
PREVIEW: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 8 p.m. Friday, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, $45-$55; toll-free 1-800-826-9303. Also 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater, $30-$39; (727) 791-7400.
