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ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: NEW YORK CITY WINTER SEASON 2017

Linda Celeste Sims in Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section . Photo by Paul Kolnik.

The exquisite Linda Celeste Sims will perform in a new production of Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section in annual Ailey winter season at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 29 – December 31, $25-$200
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

“When I think about why people should come to see the company right now, this is a moment in time where it is important to take a stand, and sometimes taking a stand means taking a seat to see something that represents the best of humanity,” Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director Robert Battle says in a video about the troupe’s upcoming season at City Center. “When Alvin Ailey says that dance comes from the people, and should always be delivered back to the people . . . he wanted this company to be a mirror to society so that people could ultimately see how beautiful they are.” The season kicks off November 29 with a special opening-night “Modern American Songbook” gala program consisting of George Faison’s Suite Otis, two parts of Judith Jamison’s Love Stories, the Ray Charles section of Camille A. Brown’s The Groove to Nobody’s Business, the central duet in David Parsons’s Shining Star, and Revelations with live music. This year’s world premieres are Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s Victoria and longtime Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts’s Members Don’t Get Weary, with company premieres of Battle’s Mass and Johan Inger’s Walking Mad, while there are new productions of Talley Beatty’s Stack-Up, Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Shelter. Other highlights include Battle’s Ella and In/Side, Billy Wilson’s The Winter in Lisbon, Ailey’s Night Creature, Mauro Bigonzetti’s Deep, Ulysses Dove’s Episodes, Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners, and Ailey dancer Hope Boykin’s r-Evolution, Dream. On December 17 at 7:30, “Celebrating the Men of Ailey” features Clifton Brown, Vernard Gilmore, Yannick Lebrun, Glenn Allen Sims, and Roberts performing works by Ailey, Battle, and Gilmore. In addition, the Saturday family matinees will be followed by Q&As with Ailey dancers. The season comes to a close with a New Year’s Eve party boasting a one-night-only, to-be-announced program that concludes with Revelations.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: NEW YORK CITY WINTER SEASON 2015

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Robert Battle’s NO LONGER SILENT (photo by Paul Kolnik)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
December 2 – January 3, $25-$150
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

For many people, the coming of Thanksgiving signals that Christmas is not too far off. For others, like us, it means that Alvin Ailey’s annual season at City Center is right around the corner. From December 2 to January 3, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will be at the West Fifty-Sixth Street institution, continuing to spread its wings under the inspired leadership of artistic director Robert Battle. This season is highlighted by four world premieres: Ronald K. Brown’s Open Door, set to music by Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra; Rennie Harris’s Exodus; Kyle Abraham’s Untitled America: First Movement, the start of a trilogy that examines the prison system; and Battle’s own Awakening, his first new work with AAADT since taking the reins from Judith Jamison. Jamison’s A Case for You, an excerpt from her longer piece, Reminiscin’, gets a new production, set to Diana Krall’s version of the Joni Mitchell song. There will also be new productions of Ailey’s Blues Suite, Love Songs, and Cry and Talley Beatty’s Toccata, an excerpt from Come and Get the Beauty of It Hot. The company will be premiering two works, Battle’s No Longer Silent, with a score by Nazi-banned Jewish composer Erwin Schulhoff, and Paul Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera, set to tango music by Astor Piazzolla.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Linda Celeste Sims in Alvin Ailey’s CRY (photo by Nan Melville)

On December 15, 20 (matinee), and 29, “Ailey Visionaries” presents works exclusively by past and present AAADT artistic directors Ailey, Jamison, and Battle. Revelations will be performed with live music on December 2, 4, and 5, while live music will also accompany Blues Suite on December 16, 19 (matinee), 20 (evening), and 31. Five programs will consist of only new works, on December 17, 19 (evening), 22, and 26 (evening) and January 2 (evening). And true Ailey fanatics can catch five programs of pieces by the legendary dancer and choreographer, on December 8, 13 (matinee), 16, 19 (matinee), and 20 (evening). As always, Saturday matinees will be followed by Q&As with members of the company. As a bonus, Ronald K. Brown will teach a master class on November 30, Donna Wood will lead a Blues Suite class on December 6, and Hope Boykin will teach a Beyond the Stage Master Class on December 14. And Jamison’s fiftieth anniversary of joining AAADT will be celebrated on New Year’s Eve, featuring the return of Clifton Brown, who will dance A Case of You. In addition to those special events, the season includes such returning favorites as David Parsons’s Caught, Brown’s Four Corners and Grace, Aszure Barton’s Lift, and Hans van Manen’s Polish Pieces, among others. So yes, you have your work cut out for you to choose just the right performance, but you can’t go wrong with any of them. Or you can do what we would like to do and just move in to City Center for the month.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER NY CITY CENTER SEASON

Robert Moses’s THE PLEASURE OF THE LESSON will makes its Ailey company premiere at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
December 3 – January 4, $25-$150
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has something extra special to celebrate this year, as the company prepares for its annual holiday season at City Center. Their founder, Alvin Ailey, who started the troupe in 1958 and passed away in 1989, will be posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 24, to be accepted by current AAADT artistic director Robert Battle. In addition, longtime chairman of the board Joan H. Weill is retiring, going out with a bang, as more than $40 million has been raised in her honor so far for in the Campaign for Ailey’s Future. The season begins December 3 with an opening-night gala featuring Battle’s Unfold, with live music by Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, the company premiere of Hofesh Schechter’s Uprising, and the Ailey classic Revelations, also with live music. Making its world premieres over the course of the month are Matthew Rushing’s Odetta, a tribute to the singer-songwriter and activist, and Robert Moses’s The Pleasure of the Lesson, while the other company premieres are Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain (Pas de Deux), Asadata Dafora’s Awassa Astrige / Ostrich, and Jacqulyn Buglisi’s Suspended Women.

Matthew Rushing’s ODETTA honors the singer-songwriter and activist on the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act (photo by Steve Wilson)

Continuing through January 4, the season also includes new productions of Ulysses Dove’s Bad Blood and Hans van Manen’s Polish Pieces; the always popular “Ailey/Ellington” program, consisting of Night Creature, Pas de Duke, The River, and Revelations; Saturday afternoon family matinees followed by Q&As with the dancers; and “Celebrating the Women of Ailey,” a presentation on December 16 honoring the fabulous Linda Celeste Sims, Hope Boykin, and the rest of the Ailey women with Cry, Night Creature, an excerpt from Vespers, and Revelations. Among the returning favorites are David Parsons’s blinding Caught, Ronald K. Brown’s elegant Four Corners and Grace, Ohad Naharin’s rapturous Minus 16, Battle’s dizzying Takademe, and Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters (Part 1). And for New Year’s Eve, Revelations will be performed by past and present members of the company.

AILEY AT LINCOLN CENTER 2014

New production of Hans van Manen’s POLISH PIECES (seen here performed by Antonio Douthit-Boyd and Akua Noni Parker) is part of Ailey’s second consecutive Lincoln Center season (photo by Andrew Eccles)

David H. Koch Theater
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
June 12-16, $25 – $135
212-496-0600
www.alvinailey.org
www.davidhkochtheater.com

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is already an end-of-year tradition, moving into City Center every December. The celebrated company is now reinvigorating the start of summer with its second consecutive June season at Lincoln Center, this time paying tribute to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of the company founder and namesake at the age of fifty-eight. From June 11 to 22, AAADT will present thirteen works in four different programs at the David H. Koch Theater, with a special free bonus on opening night, when former company members Nasha Thomas-Schmitt and Renee Robinson teach how to dance the “I’ve Been ’Buked,” “Wade in the Water,” and “Rocka My Soul” sections of Revelations at 5:30 on Josie Robertson Plaza. Program A (June 12, 14, 18, 22) features Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, the world premiere of Robert Moses’s The Pleasure of the Lesson, the San Francisco-based choreographer and composer’s first piece for Ailey, and Revelations. Program B (June 13, 15, 21) consists of Ronald K. Brown’s gorgeous Grace, the company premiere of Asadata Dafora’s 1932 Awassa Astrige/Ostrich, a solo piece set to African music by Carl Riley, Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters (Part 1), and Ohad Naharin’s glorious Minus 16. Program C (June 14, 15, 20) honors the collaboration between Ailey and Duke Ellington with the classic Night Creature and Pas de Duke, associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya’s 2013 restaging of The River, and Revelations. Program D (June 17, 21, 22) comprises Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton’s contagious and energetic Lift, new productions of David Parsons’s signature strobe-heavy solo Caught, set to music by Robert Fripp, and Hans van Manen’s Polish Pieces, with music by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, and Revelations. The family matinees on June 14 and 21 will be followed by a Q&A with members of the company.

PARSONS DANCE

The world premiere of former Parsons dancer Kate Skarpetowska’s BLACK FLOWERS is part of winter season at the Joyce (photo by Jill Orschel)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
January 15-27, $10-$59
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.parsonsdance.org

Parsons Dance returns to the Joyce this week for its annual winter season, running January 15-27, during which the New York–based company will present new works in addition to selections from its repertory. The program is highlighted by the world premiere of Black Flowers by guest choreographer and former Parsons dancer Kate Skarpetowska as well as the new Dawn to Dusk, a multimedia piece that is part of Wolf Trap’s Face of America: Spirit of South Florida series. For Black Flowers, Skarpetowska, who contributed A Stray’s Lullaby to last year’s program, goes back to her native Poland, using the music of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin in depicting sacred trios of women in the midst of mourning rituals. Created during a specially commissioned trip to the Sunshine State, Dawn to Dusk features music by Andrew Bird and Tiempo Libre, photographs by Clyde Butcher, and video by Blue Land Media, transporting audiences to the natural environments of Big Cypress National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and Everglades National Park. Also on the bill are Wolfgang, an elegant ballet for three male-female duos set to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the 2007 ensemble piece In the End, set to such Dave Matthews Band songs as “When the World Ends,” “Satellite,” and “Out of My Hands”; and 1982 company favorite Caught, in which a solo dancer moves to the music of Robert Fripp while seemingly being trapped in midair by stroboscopic lights. There will also be a special family matinee on January 26 at 2:00 that consisting of Dawn to Dusk, Wolfgang, and In the End. The current troupe who will perform at the Joyce includes Abby Silva Gavezzoli, Eric Bourne, Steven Vaughn, Melissa Ullom, Christina Ilisije, Jason Macdonald, Ian Spring, Elena D’Amario, Lauren Garson, and apprentice Leeann Ramsey.

MASCULINE/FEMININE: REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER ROLES IN FIGURE SKATING

David Parsons’s TWIST will be part of free program at the Rink at Rockefeller Center on Wednesday afternoon

City Skate Concert Series
The Rink at Rockefeller Center
Fifth Ave. between 49th & 50th Sts.
Wednesday, February 29, free, 1:00
212-929-5811
www.icetheatre.org
www.therinkatrockcenter.com

The Ice Theatre of New York’s free City Skate Concert Series continues February 29 at 1:00 with “Masculine/Feminine,” a program of works that examine gender roles in figure skating. One of the highlights is “Masculine/Feminine,” a restaging of David Parsons’s 2003 duet “Twist,” choreographed by Parsons specifically for ITNY, which has been integrating contemporary dance, music, and art into its repertoire since 1984; it will be performed by Eve Chalom and Jonathon Hunt. Also on the bill will be “Inner Eye” by Jim May of the Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble in addition to pieces by Douglas Webster of ITNY and Young Artist Showcase winner Tommy Steenberg. And as a bonus, free hot chocolate will be served. ITNY will be back at the rink on March 14 with “Energy Flow” and April 4 with “Angel Part I.” They will also present the seventeenth New Works & Young Artists series at Riverbank State Park on Thursday mornings at 10:30 in March and at the World Ice Arena in Flushing on Tuesday, March 27.

PARSONS DANCE

The Parsons season at the Joyce includes the world premiere of ROUND MY WORLD (photo by Krista Bonura)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Through January 22, $10-$59
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.parsonsdance.org

David Parsons and Parsons Dance enter their second week at the Joyce, performing two programs through January 22. Program A consists of the world premiere of the Joyce commission A Stray’s Lullaby by guest choreographer Kate Skarpetowska (with music by Kenji Bunch), a duet from Step into My Dream, the world premiere of Parsons’s Round My World, featuring a digital score by Zoe Keating, and the repertory pieces Caught and Swing Shift, while program B includes Envelope, Hand Dance, the excerpt from Step into My Dream, Slow Dance, and the stroboscopic Caught and Swing Shift. Continuing its mission to “deliver positive, affirming and life-enriching experiences to audiences worldwide” that it began in 1985, Parsons Dance will also be holding a Summer Intensive Workshop from May 29 to June 16 and the David Parsons Master Choreography Workshop from June 18 to 22 at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center.