Tag Archives: alvin ailey

TICKET ALERT: FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL 2016

fall for dance 2016

New York City Center
131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 10, 11:00 am
Festival runs September 26 – October 8, $15
212-581-1212
www.nycitycenter.org

One of the hottest tickets of the season is always the annual Fall for Dance Festival at City Center, ten days of performances by twenty-one companies from around the world, each show a mere fifteen bucks. This year’s lineup includes some of our faves, with performances by STREB Extreme Action, Grupo Corpo, and Alvin Ailey along with works choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Frederick Ashton, and Wayne McGregor and a dance lesson led by recently retired Ailey stalwart Renee Robinson. Most evenings will be preceded by free dance lessons by members of one of that night’s performing companies, open to all ticket holders; more advanced dancers can sign up for master classes ($15) with Cie Accrorap on October 1 at 12 noon and with Wendy Whelan on October 8 at noon. Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 10, at 11:00 am, so don’t waste any time if you want to see any of the below programs, because these events sell out ridiculously fast.

Monday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 27, 8:00
STREB Extreme Action, world premiere of Airslice, choreographed by Elizabeth Streb (preshow dance lessons September 26 at 6:45)
Dada Masilo/The Dance Factory, world premiere of Spring, choreographed by Dada Masilo
American Ballet Theatre, Monotones II, choreographed by Frederick Ashton
Farruquito, New York premiere of Mi Soledad (Solea), choreographed by Farruquito (preshow dance lessons September 27 at 6:45)

Wednesday, September 28 and Thursday, September 29, 8:00
Richard Alston Dance Company with Montclair State University Vocal Accord, New York premiere of Rejoice in the Lamb, choreographed by Richard Alston
Aszure Barton & Artists, Awáa, choreographed by Aszure Barton (preshow dance lessons September 28-29 at 6:45)
Wendy Whelan and Edward Watson, U.S. premiere of The Ballad of Mack and Ginny, choreographed by Arthur Pita
Grupo Corpo, New York premiere of Suíte Branca, choreographed by Cassi Abranches

Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1, 8:00
CCN de la Rochelle / Cie Accrorap, U.S. premiere of Opus 14, choreographed by Kader Attou
Ayodele Casel, While I Have the Floor, choreographed by Ayodele Casel
Hong Kong Ballet, U.S. premiere of Shape of Glow, choreographed by Jorma Elo
Bangarra Dance Theatre, U.S. premiere of Spirit, choreographed by Stephen Page & Djakapurra Munyarryun (preshow dance lessons September 30 at 6:45)

Wednesday, October 5 and Thursday, October 6, 8:00
Jessica Lang Dance, New York premiere of Tesseracts of Time, choreographed by Jessica Lang
Royal Ballet Flanders, U.S premiere of Fall, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cry, choreographed by Alvin Ailey (preshow dance lessons by Renee Robinson October 5 at 6:45)
Alina Cojocaru, Friedemann Vogel, choreographed by Johan Kobborg
The Sarasota Ballet, Marguerite and Armand, choreographed by Frederick Ashton

Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8, 8:00
Shantala Shivalingappa, Shiva Tarangam, choreographed by Shantala Shivalingappa
Nederlands Dans Theater, U.S. premiere of Woke up Blind, choreographed by Marco Goecke
Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo, world premiere, choreographed by Wayne McGregor
Cloud Gate 2, U.S. premiere of Beckoning, choreographed by Cheng Tsung-Lung (preshow dance lessons October 7 at 6:45)

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER AT CITY CENTER: ALL-NEW

Robert Battle’s AWAKENING is his first new work for Ailey since becoming AAADT artistic director

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through January 3, $25-$150
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

“All my life I’ve been fascinated by the precipice in all of us. When you come to it, you either choose to fall or you don’t,” Alvin Ailey once said. That theory is still alive and well at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater under the leadership of artistic director Robert Battle, who took over the reins from Ailey protégée Judith Jamison in July 2011. And it is particularly evident in the new works that Battle has brought into the company, four of which were on display December 17 as part of AAADT’s annual month-long season at City Center. The evening began with Piazzolla Caldera, the second piece by Paul Taylor to enter the Ailey repertoire, following Arden Court in 2011, Battle’s inaugural year. Created by Taylor in 1997 and restaged for Ailey by Richard Chen See, Piazzolla Caldera is a reinterpretation of the tango, set to music by Jerzy Peterburshky and Astor Piazzolla in four sections. On a dimly lit stage with fifteen lighting fixtures dangling from the ceiling at different heights (designed by Jennifer Tipton), the dazzling Linda Celeste Sims is fighting her loneliness as she moves through a dusky nightclub. Men pair up with women, women pair up with women, and men pair up with men — a pas de deux between Daniel Harder and Michael Francis McBride seems to defy the laws of gravity — but Sims can’t find her place, even getting involved in a hard-fought battle with Belen Pereyra over Yannick Lebrun. The brown costumes, with the men in pants and shirts, the women in knee-length dresses, stockings, and heels, are by Oscar-nominated, Tony-winning designer Santo Loquasto. Kyle Abraham, whose Another Night premiered with Ailey in 2012, is back with Untitled America: First Movement, the beginning of a trilogy about the effects of the prison system on families. Set to British soul singer Laura Mvula’s plaintive “Father, Father,” which contains the lyrics “Brother, brother, let me love you / Whisper all your deepest fears, you can trust me / And when it’s over we can begin / Finally to make amends, try to save us,” the stark, spare dance was beautifully performed by Jacqueline Green, Chalvar Monerior, and Danica Paulos, but at ten minutes, it was more of a teaser for what is to come than a self-contained work.

Ronald K. Brown offers up another Ailey treat with the world premiere of OPEN DOOR

Next up was Battle’s Awakening, his first new piece for Ailey since he became artistic director and one that Battle has noted was influenced by Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera. Set to composer John Mackey’s loud, heavily cinematic “Turning” and “The Attention of Souls,” Awakening is an eighteen-minute sci-fi epic with heavenly overtones that evoke, of all things, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. Wearing all-white costumes by Jon Taylor, twelve dancers come together and drift apart in chaotic fashion, both escaping from and searching for something, with the tall, always impressive Jamar Roberts trying to establish a unique identity away from the pack amid futuristic lighting by Al Crawford that includes a wall that slowly separates to reveal a mysterious glowing horizon. The evening concluded with Ronald K. Brown’s latest piece for Ailey, the sensational Open Door. As he has done with such previous works as Grace and Four Corners, Brown, the head of Brooklyn’s Evidence, a Dance Company, gets the most out of the Ailey dancers, who clearly love performing his West African-based choreography. Open Door is centered by a series of lovely duets by Celeste Sims and guest artist and Ailey rehearsal director Matthew Rushing that go from slow and aching to dynamic and rhythmic, set to four songs by Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. The colorful costumes by Keiko Voltaire, with the women in long, flowing skirts and the men in tank tops and pants, interact with Crawford’s ever-shifting smoky backdrop. Rushing, Celeste Sims, Roberts, Pereyra, Harder, Akua Noni Parker, Glenn Allen Sims, Rachael McLaren, Vernard J. Gilmore, and Hope Boykin swing their arms, swirl their bodies, leap, kick, and lie on the floor in an energetic and infectious celebration of movement. It was a thrilling conclusion to a wonderful evening of company and world premieres. The all-new program will also be presented on December 22 (with Rennie Harris’s Exodus in place of Piazzolla Caldera), December 26, and January 2; you can also catch Open Door on December 23 and Awakening on December 24.

LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS: A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF GEOFFREY HOLDER

The life of Geoffrey Holder will be celebrated at special free program at Lincoln Center

CARMEN & GEOFFREY (Linda Atkinson & Nick Doob, 2006)
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
144 West 65th St. between Amsterdam & Columbus Aves.
Saturday, August 1, free, 1:00
firstrunfeatures.com
lcoutofdoors.org

Carmen & Geoffrey is an endearing look at Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder’s lifelong love affair with dance — and each other. The New Orleans-born de Lavallade studied with Lester Horton and went to high school with Alvin Ailey, whom she brought to his first dance class. Best known as a pitchman for 7UP (the “uncola”) and playing the intriguing Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die, Trinidadian Holder was a larger-than-life gentle giant who was a dancer, choreographer, composer, costume designer, actor, stage director, writer, photographer, painter, and just about anything else he wanted to be. The two met when they both were cast in Truman Capote and Harold Arlen’s Broadway show House of Flowers in 1954, with Holder instantly falling in love with de Lavallade; they remained together until Holder’s death this past October at the age of eighty-four. Directors Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob combine amazing archival footage — of Eartha Kitt, Josephine Baker, Ulysses Dove, de Lavallade dancing with Ailey, and other splendid moments — with contemporary rehearsal scenes, dance performances, and interviews with such stalwarts as dance critic Jennifer Dunning, former Alvin Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, and choreographer Joe Layton (watch out for his eyebrows), along with family members and Gus Solomons jr, who still works with de Lavallade, and Dudley Williams, who just died last month. The film was made on an extremely low budget, and it shows, but it is filled with such glorious footage that you’ll get over that quickly. Carmen & Geoffrey, along with additional rare archival footage, is screening August 1 as part of the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors program “A Celebration of the Life of Geoffrey Holder” and will be preceded by the panel discussion “The Life and Work of Geoffrey Holder” with Doob and Atkinson, moderated by Leo Holder, Geoffrey and de Lavallade’s son. Fans should also check out the new exhibition “The Genius of Geoffrey Holder,” on view through August 29 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: ALL NEW 2013

AAADT’s Antonio Douthit-Boyd and Linda Celeste Sims perform in Wayne McGregor’s CHROMA (photo by Paul Kolnik)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through January 5, $25-$135
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

In its twenty-fifth season since the passing of its founder, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues to widen its repertoire by looking both to the past and the future. For its current season, which runs through January 5 at City Center, AADT is presenting the world premieres of Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners and Aszure Barton’s Lift, the company premieres of Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters (Part 1) and Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, and new productions of Alvin Ailey’s Pas de Duke and The River. On December 26, an all-new program began with a stirring, sexually charged version of British choreographer McGregor’s 2006 Chroma. Featuring a loud, aggressive score by Jody Talbot with orchestrations by the White Stripes’ Jack White, Chroma takes place on British minimalist John Pawson’s ever-more-surprising set, which changes colors courtesy of Lucy Carter’s lighting and offers an inventive backdrop that becomes much more than it first appears. Restaged by longtime Wayne McGregor | Random Dance member Antoine Vereecken, Chroma is a physically exertive twenty-nine-minute ballet performed by ten dancers who often get up close and very personal with one another, beginning with a bold pas de deux in which a woman suggestively sniffs up a man’s body before they attack each other. Interestingly, the men and women wear the same costume, a rectangular top held up by spaghetti straps, over a barely there bottom.

AAADT’s Linda Celeste Sims and Jamar Roberts get up close and personal in Aszure Barton’s LIFT (photo by Paul Kolnik)

Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton’s Ailey commission, Lift, is driven by Curtis Macdonald’s heavily percussive score, which leads the company through twenty-five energetic minutes, the men sweaty and bare-chested, the women elegant in Fritz Masten’s feathery skirts. The dancers often use their feet as rhythmic instruments in a piece that Barton built based on her interaction with the performers, and the joy they display onstage is contagious, especially during a lovely solo by rehearsal director and guest artist Matthew Rushing, who was honored with a special program on December 17. With this commission, third-year artistic director Robert Battle is once again exploring exciting new ventures for AAADT.

AAADT revisits Alvin Ailey’s THE RIVER at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)

The evening concluded with associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya’s restaging of Ailey’s 1970 ballet, The River, which Ailey choreographed for ABT in 1970 and added to the company repertoire ten years later. Set to the music of Duke Ellington, The River is divided into eight sections, exploring birth, life, and rebirth using water as a continuing metaphor as the dancers make their way beautifully through such parts as “Spring,” “Meander,” “Lake,” and “Falls,” highlighted by Megan Jakel and Daniel Harder’s pas de deux in “Giggling Rapids” and Hope Boykin’s solo in “Vortex” while showcasing several awe-inspiring men’s bodies throughout. For thirty-four wonderful minutes, The River melds classical and contemporary movement in Ailey’s trademark style, a fitting end to a terrific evening of dance. Chroma can be seen again on January 2, Lift on January 2 and 4, and The River on January 5.

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL OF THE DAY: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER AT CITY CENTER

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Antonio Douthit-Boyd and Linda Celeste Sims perform in a new production of Alvin Ailey’s THE RIVER (photo by Paul Kolnik)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
December 4 – January 5, $25-$135; 40% off select performances with code ALYFRI
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

Next week, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to City Center for its annual holiday season, its twenty-fifth since Alvin Ailey passed away on December 1, 1989. As a special one-day-only Black Friday special, tickets for select performances are being discounted up to forty percent by using the promo code ALYFRI, available online from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, by phone 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, and at the box office 12 noon to 8:00 (where there is no service charge). Running December 4 to January 5, the 2013-14 season, the third under artistic director Robert Battle, is chock-full of company classics and exciting new commissions. Back again are such recent additions as Rennie Harris’s Home, Ohad Naharin’s dazzling Minus 16, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, Kyle Abraham’s Another Night, Ronald K. Brown’s breathtaking Grace, Battle’s Strange Humors and In/Side, and Paul Taylor’s Arden Court. This year’s world premieres include Aszure Barton’s LIFT, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma (featuring music by Jack White), Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters (Part I), and Brown’s Four Corners, along with new productions of Ailey’s Pas De Duke and The River. Most performances conclude, of course, with the Ailey mainstay Revelations, several with live music.

TWI-NY TALK: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Rehearsal director and guest artist Matthew Rushing and members of the AAADT company are ready for annual month-long season at City Center (photo by Andrew Eccles)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 28 – December 30, $25-$135
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been captivating audiences for more than fifty years, amassing a repertoire of more than two hundred works from more than eighty choreographers since its founding by Alvin Ailey in 1958 at the 92nd St. Y. The inspirational company returns to City Center in Midtown for its annual season November 28 through December 30, comprising world premieres, new productions, company premieres, and Ailey Classics. Robert Battle is now in his second season as artistic director, having taken over in July 2011 from the legendary Judith Jamison, and he has put together another exciting series of shows. Last year’s all-new program contained Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, Battle’s Takademe, Rennie Harris’s Home, and Alvin Ailey’s Streams, and they are all back again. The new works for 2012 are Garth Fagan’s From Before, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, Kyle Abraham’s Another Night, Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, and Battle’s Strange Humors. The special programs include Revelations with live performance by Jessye Norman, Anika Noni Rose, and Brian Stokes Mitchell, Saturday afternoon family matinees followed by Q&A sessions, and a tribute to Renee Robinson, who is retiring after more than thirty years with the company. As AAADT prepared for opening night, we asked nine of the dancers which piece they were most looking forward to performing on the City Center stage. (Below photos by Andrew Eccles, Eduardo Patino, and Paul Kolnick; for a chance to win free tickets to the December 12 performance, go here.)

Marcus Jarrell Willis: I think I’m most excited to perform Grace by Ronald K. Brown this season. I’ve been watching the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on videos since I was a child, but I never had the chance to see the company in a live performance until just before moving from Houston to study at the Ailey School twelve years ago. Grace was first on the program and I fell in love. So now having the opportunity to be a part of it almost takes me full circle, and I’m thrilled.

Aisha Mitchell: I am really looking forward to premiering Kyle Abraham’s work, Another Night. The choreography is electric and set to music by Dizzy Gillespie. Also it’s the sole world premiere in our repertoire this season, so I’m ready to get onstage and share with our audiences something they have never seen before.

Kirven James Boyd: Our home season is my favorite time of the year because we’re able to perform all of our current repertory as well as a number of returning favorites. This season there are so many works that I’m looking forward to performing, but one of the most important roles for me this season would have to be A Song for You from the Ailey Classics program. This solo is an excerpt of a ballet called Love Songs, which was choreographed by Mr. Ailey in 1972. For the men in the company, being cast to perform this ballet holds the same weight as a woman being cast to perform Cry. For me, this is by far one of the biggest highlights of my career and I’m looking forward to discovering new layers of my artistry through this work.

Daniel Harder: The ballet I’m most looking forward to performing this season is Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort. I think the ballet is going to present a great challenge for me because it provides the perfect blend of ballet and modern vocabulary and allows me to tap into a quieter sensuality and power. Also, Kylián is an iconic choreographer, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to perform his work this season.

Antonio Douthit: I am so excited that Mr. Battle brought Grace back into the company’s repertory. Grace is one of the ballets I saw when I first joined the company nine years ago and was just in awe of what Ron Brown did with the movement and how he used the dancers in the space. I am happy to be taking on this ballet and growing from it.

Samuel Lee Roberts: I am looking forward to performing Robert Battle’s Strange Humors the most. Having been a founding member of Battleworks Dance Company, I performed the role for many years in the past. Coming back to it will be like seeing an old friend! I also look forward to performing with Mr. Boyd (a force of nature). I am sure that the Ailey audience will fall in love with this ballet.

Yannick Lebrun: I am most looking forward to performing Grace by Ronald K. Brown this season. The first time I saw the ballet six years ago as a student in the Ailey School, I immediately fell in love with it. After joining the company four years ago, I always hoped and wished that it would return to the repertory, so now that I have an opportunity to perform it, it’s almost like a dream come true, because I’m able to interpret a ballet that inspired me so much long ago and that has a deep meaning. I hope the audience is moved by my performance of the work just as I was so many years ago.

Michael Francis McBride: It is really difficult to pick just one work that I am most excited about performing this season because the repertory has an expanding diversity and every piece is so different. If I had to pick three, I would say that I am really excited to perform Robert Battle’s Strange Humors, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, and Ronald K. Brown’s Grace. These three made the list because they are new to this year’s repertory and they challenge me in new and exciting ways.

Sarah Daley: I’m most excited to perform Petite Mort. It’s an amazing ballet that captivated me the first time I saw it and I’m excited to bring it to our New York audience.

BAC FLICKS: CARMEN & GEOFFREY

The life of Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder is examined in low-budget documentary

CARMEN & GEOFFREY (Linda Atkinson & Nick Doob, 2006)
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday, April 24, $15, 7:00
866-811-4111
www.bacnyc.org
firstrunfeatures.com

Carmen & Geoffrey is an endearing look at Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder’s lifelong love affair with dance — and each other. The New Orleans-born de Lavallade studied with Lester Horton and went to high school with Alvin Ailey, whom she brought to his first dance class. Trinidadian Holder is a larger-than-life gentle giant who is a dancer, choreographer, composer, costume designer, actor director, writer, photographer, painter, and just about anything else he wants to be. The two met when they both were cast in Truman Capote and Harold Arlen’s Broadway show House of Flowers in 1954, with Holder instantly falling in love with de Lavallade; they’ve been together ever since. Directors Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob combine amazing archival footage — of Eartha Kitt, Josephine Baker, Ulysses Dove, de Lavallade dancing with Ailey, and other splendid moments — with contemporary rehearsal scenes, dance performances, and interviews with such stalwarts as dance critic Jennifer Dunning, former Alvin Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, and choreographer Joe Layton (watch out for his eyebrows), along with family members and Gus Solomons jr and Dudley Williams, who still work with de Lavallade. The film was made on an extremely low budget, and it shows, but it is filled with such glorious footage that you’ll get over that quickly. Carmen & Geoffrey is screening April 24 at 7:00 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, with a panel discussion to follow, as part of the “BAC Flicks” series, which continues May 30 with Matt Wolf’s 2008 documentary, Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell.