ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER run dates: 4/8/2008 - 4/9/2008 Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City ______________________________________________________________________
The program for the current tour of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrates the venerable organization’s 50th anniversary, complete with a selection of works from the last three decades and a short film that outlines AAADT’s growth over the years. Most significantly, the program closes with the masterwork of Ailey himself, REVELATIONS.
The program begins with the film, "Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 50: A Golden Anniversary Celebration" (produced and directed by Amanda Rogers and Stephen Mann), which itself begins with Ailey himself speaking a few words. This dance legend’s career and legacy get a brief salute, and the film features AAADT artistic director (and dance legend in her own right) Judith Jamison. Before any live dancing has begun, this program moves and inspires the audience, presaging what is to come.
Jamison and co-choreographers Robert Battle and Rennie Harris created what is the first dance piece in this program, the beautiful LOVE STORIES. A dozen company members bring to life this lively contemporary work, which incorporates hip-hop and other street dancing styles into a blend of theatrical and technically perfect dancing that is a signature of Alvin Ailey dancers. Susan Hilferty’s colorful, casual costumes add much to the cohesive look of LOVE STORIES.
The program also includes SOLO, created by choreographer Hans van Manen and danced to music by Johann Sebastian Bach, and VESPERS, choreographed by Ulysses Dove. Both showcase the diversity of styles employed by AAADT and showcase the astounding talents of this company, but the real showpiece of this program is its final work.
Set to glorious recordings of African American spirituals, REVELATIONS was choreographed in 1960, and its imaginative – dare I say revelatory – steps are as powerful and inspiring as they are world-famous. A three-part work, REVELATIONS features big company numbers as well as pieces performed by two to four dancers and a solo. (Note: as an ensemble with mega-watt talent, these dancers rotate through several roles at a series of performances, so the show you see may feature different dancers in some of the pieces.)
In every single case, the 18-member touring company delivers fantastic work that is powerfully, even terrifically memorable. From the beginning of Pilgrim of Sorrow, the performers came on strong during the evocative "I Been ‘Buked," and a trio of dancers (Malik Le Nost, Hope Boykin and Tina Monica Williams at the performance I saw) also moved gloriously during "Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel. This first section closes with the mournful "Fix Me, Jesus," which features Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims in a stunningly heartfelt – and almost unbelievably gorgeous – performance.
Take Me To The Water is another impressive sequence, which includes the amazing "Wade in the Water," danced by Constance Stamatiou, Matthew Rushing and Renee Robinson, and the outstanding solo work of Clifton Brown on "I Wanna Be Ready."
Move, Members, Move includes a brief, strong dance by a trio of male dancers (Jamar Roberts, Antonio Douthit and Kirven J. Boyd), and closes with ensemble pieces that are all gracefully, movingly done. The final "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" is a rousing, perfectly-executed piece that speaks to the visceral experience of lively, collective worship, and its rich costuming (by Barbara Forbes) and warm lighting (by Nicola Cernovitch) are equally impressive.
This dance program is simply too good to miss, even if you have to drive to a show somewhere else over the next week and a half. In fact, this production by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is the perfect way for the organization to celebrate its first 50 years – and the surest way to guarantee that it will thrive for the next 50.
