Tag Archives: dancing spirit

RONALD K. BROWN, EVIDENCE: DEN OF DREAMS / DANCING SPIRIT

Ronald K. Brown returns to the stage in a special duet in upcoming Joyce season (photo © Julieta Cervantes)

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
February 6-11, $10-$46
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.evidencedance.com

It’s always a thrill to see Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, a Dance Company, bring its electrifying work to the Joyce, or anywhere, for that matter. Founded by Brown in 1985, the Brooklyn-based troupe dazzles audiences with its unique and inspired integration of traditional African dance with contemporary movement while emphasizing a strong sense of community and a social conscience. Evidence will be at the Joyce February 6-11, highlighted by the world premiere of Den of Dreams, a duet performed by Brown and Bessie winner Arcell Cabuag in celebration of Cabuag’s twentieth anniversary as associate artistic director, a job that includes teaching master classes and working with dance schools around the globe. Evidence will also present the company premiere of Dancing Spirit, a 2009 work Brown choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in honor of Judith Jamison’s twentieth anniversary as AAADT artistic director, featuring music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead, and War and melding Afro-Cuban and Brazilian styles. Also on the bill are 2002’s Come Ye, a call for peace set to the music of Nina Simone and Fela Kuti, and March, a duet, excerpted from 1995’s Lessons, set to a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., being performed as a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the reverend’s assassination. Opening night will also feature Upside Down, an excerpt from Brown’s 1998 Destiny, with music by Wunmi. The season is part of Carnegie Hall’s wide-ranging festival “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America” and will include a curtain chat following the February 7 show, a master class on February 9, and a family matinee on February 10. The dynamic company includes rehearsal director Annique Roberts, assistant rehearsal director Keon Thoulouis, Shayla Caldwell, Kevyn Ryan Butler, Courtney Paige, Demetrius Burns, and Janeill Cooper.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Matthew Rushing feels the spirit in Ronald K. Brown commission (Photo by Paul Kolnick)

Brooklyn Academy of Music
Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
June 10-20, $20-$85
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.alvinailey.org

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to BAM to close out the eclectic arts institution’s spring season with a pair of programs. “Ailey Spirit” features Ailey’s “Mary Lou’s Mass,” being performed for the first time in thirty-five years, as well as the classic “Revelations,” which is always a thrill to see, and Ronald K. Brown’s “Dancing Spirit,” the Brooklyn-based dancer and choreographer’s gorgeous tribute to Judith Jamison that premiered at City Center last December. “By Popular Demand” includes Robert Battle’s “In/Side,” “Revelations,” and Matthew Rushing’s “Uptown,” the longtime Ailey dancer’s rather mundane history of the Harlem Renaissance that also premiered last winter at City Center. The Saturday matinees on June 12 & 19 will be followed by an artist talk with the dancers.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: ALL NEW

Matthew Rushing feels the spirit in new Ronald K. Brown commission (Photo by Paul Kolnick)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through January 3
Tickets: $25-$175
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

On December 22, Alvin Ailey presented a trio of world premieres, beginning with Ronald K. Brown’s tribute to artistic director Judith Jamison, titled “Dancing Spirit,” as is her autobiography. The troupe, costumed simply in variations of blue and white, move to instrumental music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead, and War, often with each dancer performing slightly different routines; what could have been chaotic, though, is, in the hands of Brown – who runs the Brooklyn-based Evidence, A Dance Company – simply gorgeous, particularly when Matthew Rushing serves as the slow-motion leader of four of the men. Incorporating Afro-Cuban and Brazilian styles, Brown pulls off another coup; as charged as the piece is, no two dancers ever touch one another, not even during Rushing’s pas de deux with Renee Robinson or when all the dancers are onstage together. (“Dancing Spirit” is also scheduled for December 27, 29, and 30 and January 3.)

Linda Celeste Sims gets artistic in new Judith Jamison piece (Photo by Paul Kolnick)

For her twentieth anniversary, Jamison has choreographed “Among Us (Private Spaces: Public Places),” which she sets in an art museum that features paintings by Jamison herself. Clifton Brown serves as a Puck-like genie, encouraging visitors in everyday clothing (business suits, dresses, jeans) to suddenly start feeling the beat of ELEW’s (Eric Robert Lewis) original jazzy score. Hope Boykin and Kirven James Boyd hold a fun dance-off against Rosalyn Deshauteurs and Vernard J. Gilmore, the amazing Linda Celeste Sims (in a stunning pink dress) teams up in a beautiful duet with (real-life husband) Glen Allen Sims, and three construction workers (Brown, Rushing, and Gilmore) cause a little havoc on their lunch break. Although the piece can be maddeningly inconsistent, especially in its narrative, it also has some wonderful movement. (“Among Us”: December 29, January 1 and 3.)

The third world premiere comes from longtime Ailey dancer Rushing, an extraordinary performer whose “Uptown” is, unfortunately, rather ordinary at best and mostly unnecessary. Telling the story of the Harlem Renaissance in a series of set pieces introduced by Abdur-Rahim Jackson, the multimedia “Uptown” is clichéd, cramped, and obvious, playing out more like a student presentation than a professional work. However, several exciting moments include Glen Allen Sims’s dance to the words of W. E. B. DuBois and Anthony Burrell’s Langston Hughes. Most else is mundane, a pale echo of such Ailey classics as “Night Creature” and “Revelations.” (“Uptown”: December 26, 27, 29, 30, January 1.)