The innovation and tradition established 42 years ago with the founding of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater live on triumphantly in the company’s current weekend engagement in the Auditorium Theatre.
The combination of cutting-edge choreography and classic works that Ailey nourished was vividly represented in the troupe’s opening night program, as were the ensemble traits of superb bodily conditioning and tightly knit discipline that have characterized the leadership of Judith Jamison, Ailey’s successor, in her 10 years as artistic director.
Throughout, there was incredible energy–hotter than hot, cooler than cool–in the popular entertainment that Ailey loved to bring to his audience,
“Grace,” a 1999 piece by rising choreographer Ronald K. Brown, explosively opened Wednesday night’s bill. (It will be repeated for Sunday’s matinee). This is a work that really gets the adrenaline flowing, putting its 12 barefoot members through the dance equivalent of a marathon run. Using rhythmic recorded music ranging from Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” to Roy Davis Jr.’s “Rock Shock,” and dressing the dancers in fiery red and white hot costumes that show off their bodies, Brown’s piece has the dancers pushing, wiggling, swooping, wagging, swaying, churning and leaping with electric elasticity in every muscle of their bodies. Tribal rites, Martha Graham modern dance and a bit of Ailey’s own fervent style are brought together in feverish propulsion.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s “C Sharp Street–B Flat Avenue,” also dating from last year, expends a similar megaforce of energy. Again in bare feet, the 16 dancers are dressed in stylized street clothes and take their cue of sass and spunk from a boogie beat and reggae rhythms. As with “Grace,” this is an ensemble piece, but it also has sensational solo work from the likes of Matthew Rushing, Linda-Denise Evans and Jeffrey Gerodias.
It’s estimated that “Revelations,” Ailey’s 1960 masterwork, which closed the program, has been performed more times than “Swan Lake.” No wonder. Its inspired use of hymns and gospel music is an early and most important example of molding African-American tradition into classic dance; its theatrically sculpted movements of prayerful meditation, intense yearning and jubilant celebration never fail to capture an audience’s heart.
This season, “Revelations” (to be repeated for the Friday night and Saturday and Sunday matinee programs) is receiving an especially brilliant performance. Linda Denise Evans, in exquisite stillness and in total balance, masterfully partnered by Edward Franklin, imbues the hushed beauty of “Fix Me, Jesus” with a blessing of perfection (the names as published have been corrected in this text). Gerodias, in the imploring solo of “I Wanna Be Ready,” proves himself a worthy successor to Dudley Williams, who danced the part with distinction for so many years.
And the final number of joyous strutting, which brings all 18 dancers together in an exultant prayer meeting, does indeed, as its song says, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”
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The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday in the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy. Call 312-902-1500.
