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Stage

Fluid meaning

The beauty of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is in its blend of physical and emotional expression on one stage.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published March 26, 2006

It's not unusual for people to be deeply affected by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. But Amos Machanic Jr. said an Ailey performance in Miami changed the entire direction of his life.

Machanic was studying at Miami's New World School of the Arts in the early 1990s when the Ailey company came to town.

"At first I was in the theater department,'' Machanic said. "But it was actually when I saw the company, when they came to Miami, that made me get serious about dance.''

After he graduated from New World's high school in 1992, the Miami native was offered a scholarship at the Ailey School and later joined Ailey II, which essentially serves as an apprenticeship program for the main company.

In 1996, he became a full-fledged member of American Ailey Dance Theater and has been with the company ever since. He's an audience and critical favorite, for reasons well summed up by New York Times critic Jennifer Dunning, who called him "a charismatic artist who looks like a hunk from a Terry McMillan novel and dances like a genial prince.''

He'll be in the cast for two pieces on the program of the company's performance at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Wednesday. Florida will be well represented on the stage that evening. Briana Reed, who hails from St. Petersburg, has been a member of the Ailey company since 1998.

Machanic said switching from theater to dance wasn't as drastic a change as it might seem, especially since he ended up in the Ailey company, which is known for an elegant blend of the two disciplines.

"What's great about this company is right there in the name, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,'' Machanic said. "You really do have to pull on your theater background.''

It's also essential to the company's identity that the word "American'' is in its name, Machanic said.

"Mr. Ailey wanted to celebrate his African-American heritage, but he also wanted to celebrate modern dance,'' he said. "So part of what drew me to the company was being able to envision myself on that stage. But it's not just about African-Americans, it's about all Americans.''

One of the three pieces on the program at Ruth Eckerd Hall will be Revelations, the company's signature work choreographed by Ailey himself. (Ailey, who founded the company in 1958, died in 1989.)

Audiences around the world demand the exuberant gospel-flavored Revelations when the Ailey company comes to town, and the dancers never tire of delivering it.

"I always look forward to that piece,'' Machanic said. "What's great about it is that you really have to bring yourself into it. It's not just the steps, though the steps are amazing. There is always something new in my life that I am going to bring to that piece, so I will never, ever get tired of it.''

But because several members of the company (including artistic director Judith Jamison, associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya and rehearsal director Ronni Favors) helped Ailey himself build the company, they are careful to make sure the piece never strays from the original look, feel and intent, Machanic said.

Reminiscin' is a new Jamison piece set in an Edward Hopper-esque diner with music by several generations of American jazz divas, from Ella Fitzgerald to Diana Krall.

Love Stories has segments choreographed by Jamison, Rennie Harris and Robert Battle.

"Judith Jamison takes you back to when this company first began, Rennie Harris brings it into dance today, with hip-hop influences, and Robert Battle, to me, speaks to this company as it presses into the future,'' Machanic said. "So it's the past, present and future, not only of American dance but also of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.''

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 12:08:16]