The 2024-2025 Season celebrates the Life and Legacy of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison who passed November 2024. Jamison was an international star with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, first as a dancer, then the company’s artistic director 21 years.
Solo 1997- new production 2023
Choreography – Hans Van Manen
Staged by Clifton Brown and Rachel Beaujean
Music – John Sebastian Bach
Vernard J. Gilmore (Photo: Paul Kolnik)
A formidable solo of slow, graceful, controlled movement and core strength. Arabesque floats up and stays. The dancer folds in on himself, then bends backward seemingly propelled by muscular arms. Air is pressed away. Hands rise open, ready. Sculpture come to life.
A Song for You 1972 (an excerpt from Love Songs)
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Music and Lyrics by Leon Russell sung by Donny Hathaway
Christopher Taylor (Photo Paul Kolnik) Renaldo Maurice (Photo Paul Kolnik) Patrick Coker (Photo: Daniel Azoulay)
Three grinning, playful dancers cut the air as if freed after winter. Spins are clean, sometimes spiraled to floor work. Humorous moments flick by- a shrug, a flat footed step, an eyebrow raised, point-and-bow to the next dancer as if to declare “top that!” Little steps propel. ‘Backward leaps, front kicks; a slap of knees. Arms windmill. Intermittent sashay. The friends showboat one another, flexing; exhilarated.
Revelations 1960
Choreography – Alvin Ailey
Music – Traditional
Evocative Décor and Costumes – Ves Harper
Chorale Le Chateau (Splendid!)
The Company (Photo: Paul Kolnik)
Any Alvin Ailey program that includes this marvelous, iconic piece should be prized. Think of it as attending a Vladimir Horowitz concert, a Beatles or Janice Joplin performance (up close), Placido Domingo in his prime…Last time I saw it Judith Jamison danced. The Amazon prima was a force of nature. Ailey knew well what he had. Tonight’s succession of spirituals – vibrantly performed live – buoys African American history; faith, pride, and cultural power.
Photo: Dario Calmese
Ailey created Revelations on the cusp of The Civil Rights movement. The piece, inspired by his spiritual experience in rural Texas, was a game changer. Today it’s a history lesson, reminder, and prod. Three sections, struggle, salvation, and celebration epitomize community, enlightenment, and freedom. Authoritative choreography also leaves room for humor as competitive ladies fan themselves like hummingbirds and keep their husbands in check. It’s dazzling.
Century 2023
Choreography – Amy Hall Garner
Music – artists including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Ray Charles singing “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
In front of a metallic curtain, dancers execute steps in jazz, swing, and freestyle fashion. This piece takes a while to hook one. So much of the music arrives formless, there’s little pulse to which dancers can adhere. Balletic moves against a torrent of music feel dissonant. Not until real graspable rhythm arrives do the dancers seem at home.
Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro (Photo: Paul Kolnik)
The piece is a tribute to Garner’s grandfather who turned 100 December 2023. Split lift carries, chaînés, (a series of rapid turns performed on both feet) and shimmies keep it hyper vivacious. Precision technique is impressive, but I don’t get an overall feel for what’s happening.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is skilled and joyful.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Bennett Rink, Executive Director
Matthew Rushing, Interim Artistic Director
City Center
131 West 55th Street
Through January 5, 2025
Top: Revelations (Photo Credit: Paul Kolnik)
