Tag Archives: matthew rushing

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.

TWI-NY TALK: MATTHEW RUSHING

Matthew Rushing will be celebrated in special Alvin Ailey program at City Center on December 17

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Celebrating Matthew Rushing: Tuesday, December 17, 7:30
Season runs December 4 – January 5, $25-$135
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

Born and raised in the Inglewood section of Los Angeles, Matthew Rushing has now spent more than half his life with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He joined the company in 1992, when he was just seventeen, and he quickly became a featured dancer. In 2008, artistic director Judith Jamison asked Rushing to choreograph a piece as part of her twentieth anniversary celebration, and he created Uptown, about the Harlem Renaissance, as a tribute for her. In 2010, Jamison named Rushing rehearsal director, a job he continues under artistic director Robert Battle, who took over the reins in 2011. Rushing also performs regularly as a guest artist with the company. It is still a thrill to see him take the stage, his every movement filled with emotion and the intense joy of the dance. In an August 2012 Dance magazine article entitled “Why I Dance,” Rushing wrote, “I don’t dance out of obligation, I dance out of an overwhelming feeling of necessity. Dance is literally a form of life to me, and I can’t imagine functioning without it!”

On December 17, as part of AAADT’s annual season at City Center, Rushing will be honored with the special program “Celebrating Matthew Rushing,” which will include Rushing performing in Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, excerpts from Ailey’s Love Songs and Pas de Duke and Rennie Harris’s Home, and the classic Ailey finale, Revelations. A gentle, soft-spoken man, Rushing recently spoke with twi-ny, answering questions about his storied career with great care, as if choreographing every thoughtful, carefully composed sentence.

twi-ny: On December 17, AAADT will be honoring you at City Center with a special tribute. Are you more nervous, scared, or excited about the evening?

Matthew Rushing: I think I would be more excited. There will be a little bit of nerves, because I think there’s a responsibility. This evening will be different from any other performance, because the way I see it, in any other performance, the audience is coming to see the Ailey company, but I would say that because it’s an evening celebrating the years I’ve been with the company, [laughs] the majority of the company will be coming to see me. So I would kind of feel like throughout the whole evening, all eyes will be on me, or at least the majority of the eyes. So I guess I would feel a certain responsibility that I normally wouldn’t feel. But I would also feel excited because I would feel support. I know that as well as the audience coming to see me, hopefully they will be coming to support me, so how special will that be to have a theater full of audience members coming to actually support you and celebrate you. So at the same time it’ll be exciting.

twi-ny: You’ll also be performing that night in Grace and what is being called “Matthew Rushing Highlights”; how did you go about choosing which pieces and excerpts you will perform at the event?

Matthew Rushing: The associate artistic director, Masazumi Chaya, came up with the initial program and presented it to me and asked me if there was anything that I wanted to change. I think the first change was, originally we were going to do Four Corners by Ronald K. Brown, and I requested that we do Grace. Chaya knew that I wanted to do a work by Brown because he’s one of these choreographers who has had a huge impact on my dance career and also me as a person. Chaya knew that Ron would have to be a part of this program, but I requested Grace because Grace was the first time I was introduced to working with Ron, and I’ve just had an incredible history with that ballet — what it’s taught me, the experiences I’ve had actually performing it, and even watching it. So that had to be part of the program.

The other highlights are works that I feel have been pivotal in my career, like A Song for You, which was originally choreographed for Dudley Williams, and I had the privilege and opportunity to be coached by Dudley Williams in A Song for You, as well as Pas de Duke, which was a huge turning point in my career because I was challenged with this role that was originally created for Mikhail Baryshnikov, and it taught me how to rely upon my own strengths and not try to imitate or be anyone else but actually really realize who I am as a dancer, what gifts I have to offer, and really focus and concentrate on those to help me articulate and communicate and have impact on the audience. And as well as the piece’s being choreographed by Mr. Ailey, that has a lot to do with it as well. The other piece is Home, which was choreographed by Rennie Harris. One of the reasons why I wanted to do this piece was because I was honored that he created this role for me when he created the ballet, and there’s something about the hip-hop, house culture that’s also had a huge impact on my life, growing up in New York, and for all these elements to come together — me respecting Rennie Harris as a choreographer, respecting the art form of hip-hop, and being honored that he would create a role for me, all that went into including this work in the evening.

Of course, Revelations has to be a part of it, because Revelations, I always tell people, this piece is kind of like part of who I am. It’s not just a work that I perform at the end of an Ailey evening. It’s something that I have a very close connection to and that feeds me, that inspires me, that changes me from performance to performance, so it just had to be a part of the evening as well.

twi-ny: You’ve now been with AAADT for more than twenty years and are currently the rehearsal director and a guest artist. How has that transition been?

Matthew Rushing: The transition has been very difficult. I think I’ve told anybody that asked me that question, I’ve always said that it’s difficult. I have yet to get to the point where I can say, “Oh yeah, I’m very comfortable, I’m thoroughly enjoying it.” No, not right now. It’s still a challenge. It’s stretching me in so many ways as far as being compassionate, leadership skills — it’s forcing me to organize my time better, it’s stretching me as an artist because I don’t have as much time as I used to to focus on my work and my dance, and I have to still be responsible for my work as far as the roles that I dance, but I have less time because the other time is devoted to the dancers and rehearsing the dancers and taking care of the dancers and making sure that they have what they need to be artists.

So I feel like I’m switching my hat a lot, and also my energy, time, and focus is split, much more than it used to be, so I feel like I’m never in a comfortable place. I often feel like I’ve missed the mark that I’ve set for myself, but I try not to get frustrated; I try to kind of dust myself off and give it another try, but, like I said, I think I’m still finding myself in it. That would be the most honest answer, that I’m still trying to find myself in this rehearsal director slash guest artist role.

twi-ny: In August 2012 you wrote, “I dance out of an overwhelming feeling of necessity,” while also pointing out your age, as forty approaches. Are you anticipating any further changes?

Matthew Rushing: At this point, because of how things have developed, I’m at a point where I can’t make any assumptions. Things have happened in ways that I would never expect them to, so therefore I’m at a point where I’m just making myself open and available to whatever comes my way. I’m trying to make sure that I’m prepared for whatever comes my way by doing whatever work that’s given to me at the present moment, and I’m hoping that that work will help prepare me for the next step, but I have no idea . . . I do know it’s gonna be within this Ailey organization. This is my home. This is where I was birthed artistically. And I know this is where I want to end my dance career. So I just know I’m here at Ailey. Ailey is it for me. That’s my only definite. Everything else is just open, and I’m ready to receive whatever’s coming next.

Matthew Rushing will perform an excerpt from Alvin Ailey’s LOVE SONGS at program honoring his ongoing career with the company

twi-ny: You’ve choreographed Acceptance in Surrender and Uptown for AAADT and, more recently, Moan for Philadanco. Do you have any more pieces coming up either for Ailey or another company? Do you get a different kind of satisfaction out of choreographing a work than dancing?

Matthew Rushing: Choreography is another struggle of mine, that I don’t feel absolutely comfortable in, so again, it’s just another thing that stretches me and I feel helps me grow. One of the reasons why I like to choreograph is I like to be creative. I usually get ideas that are motivated by music or themes or ideas and I like the work of trying to make them happen. Sometimes it doesn’t come as easily as I would like, and that’s where I get frustrated. Often I feel like I can’t come up with enough steps to articulate the ideas that I have. I usually can come up with ideas easily, but the articulation and coming up with the movement and style is very difficult for me. So the choreography, I feel, is more of a struggle than dance. Dance is something that I have always felt comfortable in, and I think I always will, so there is a huge difference between choreography and dance, and I feel much more comfortable in dancing than I do choreography, but I feel that choreography is another voice that I’m developing, as far as me having an impact on people and being creative.

twi-ny: In September 2011, you were one of a large group of dance people who performed in Continuous Replay with Bill T. Jones at New York Live Arts. What was that experience like? Many of the performers, including Mr. Jones, went au naturel, but you kept your shorts on. Were you tempted to take it all off?

Matthew Rushing: The experience of dancing with Bill T. Jones was absolutely awesome. The man is a genius. He inspired me, he opened my eyes to new ways of choreography. He taught me how to think differently, without even talking to me directly. It was me being able to be around his work and his process and his dancers that totally changed me. I love being around people who can say things that you’ve never heard before or be able to articulate things that you feel cannot be expressed through words. But somehow this man, this genius of a man, knows how to do that. I love him dearly, and I’m so excited that he’s choreographing D-Man in the Waters in the company, because he recently came to rehearsal and did the exact same thing to the other dancers as far as inspiring them and speaking into their lives. So the experience was awesome.

Um, dancing in the nude? No, I wouldn’t go there. I wasn’t even tempted. And I was so happy that he was accommodating enough [laughs] to allow me not to go nude. Even though I work hard on looking the best I possibly can . . . Nude? In front of thousands of people? No, not me. That’s just not me. I’m so glad that I’ve never had to do it here at Ailey as well.

AILEY AT LINCOLN CENTER

Ronald K. Brown leads rehearsal for FOUR CORNERS, which makes its world premiere next week as AADT returns to Lincoln Center (photo by Claudia Schrier)

Ronald K. Brown leads rehearsal for FOUR CORNERS, which makes its world premiere next week as Alvin Ailey returns to Lincoln Center for the first time since 2000 (photo by Claudia Schreier)

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 always puts a jolt into the holiday season, taking up residence at City Center every December. This month, as an added bonus, they’ll be performing at Lincoln Center for the first time in thirteen years. Led by artistic director Robert Battle, AADT will be at the David H. Koch Theater from June 6 to 12, presenting seven pieces over the course of seven performances. The highlight is the world premiere of Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners, which was inspired by Carl Hancock Rux’s “Lamentations” and is set to music by Hancock Rux and others. The seven programs also feature Brown’s beautiful Grace as well as Garth Fagan’s From Before, Jiří Kylián’s inventive Petite Mort, Battle’s whirlwind solo work Takademe (performed by either Kirven James Boyd or Jamar Roberts), Ohad Naharin’s dazzling Minus 16, and the company’s signature Revelations. (For reviews of many of these works from the past two years, go here and here.) Battle has just added Ailey II’s Jeroboam Bozeman and Fana Tesfagiorgis and Battleworks veteran Elisa Clark to the troupe, while rehearsal director and guest artist Matthew Rushing will take the stage in both Brown pieces. Revelations, which closes six of the performances, will include either Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims or Alicia Graf Mack and Roberts teaming up for the “Fix Me” pas de deux, and the June 15 matinee will be followed by a Q&A with the dancers.

RONALD K. BROWN / EVIDENCE

INCIDENTS will be part of Evidence’s winter season at the Joyce (photo by Julia Cervantes)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
February 12-17, $10-$49
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.evidencedance.com

Brooklyn-based choreographer Ronald K. Brown refers to what his company does as “the ritual and journey of dance,” and they continue what has been an exciting and rewarding journey this week at the Joyce. Founded by Brown in 1985, Evidence, a Dance Company, which incorporates traditional West African rhythm and movement into its exploration of the African American experience, will be performing two programs February 12-17. The first is highlighted by the world premiere of Torch, which is dedicated to the life and memory of former Brown student Beth Young, who passed away in January 2012, along with 2005’s Order My Steps, set to the music of Terry Riley, Fred Hammond, and Bob Marley; 2005’s IFE/My Heart, with guest artist and Alvin Ailey veteran Matthew Rushing, who recently performed in Brown’s updated version of Grace for Ailey’s winter season at City Center; and excerpts from 1998’s Incidents, in which five women evoke slavery life, with music by the Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin, and Wunmi Olaiya. Program B includes 2001’s Walking Out the Dark, combining an original score by Philip Hamilton with text in addition to songs by Sweet Honey in the Rock, Francisco Mora, and M’Bemba Bangoura; and 1998’s Upside Down, an excerpt from Destiny, which examines community mourning, set to the title song by Fela Kuti and “Kun Fe Ko (The Uncertainty of Things)” by Oumou Sangare. There will be a Dance Chat following the February 13 show and a Joyce Pre-Show talk before the February 14 performance, led by Amy Kail. Following the Joyce presentation, Brown and Evidence will be back next month, performing the 1999 Philadanco commission Gatekeepers March 15-17 as part of the 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Festival series “Stripped/Dressed.”

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: ALL NEW

Rennie Harris’s specially commissioned “Home” examines the AIDS crisis in a positive way (photo by Paul Kolnik)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through January 1, $25-$150
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

In our exclusive twi-ny talk with Robert Battle last month, the new Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director discussed his plans for the future of the famed company, explaining, “If it’s one choreographer’s work, it’s harder to do that, but when you’re choosing works from many different choreographers in one season you get the sense of that yin and yang, that stretching forward of busting the whole thing wide open but yet keeping the traditional so that the company stays rooted.” Battle certainly busted things wide open on December 13, when he introduced an all-new program of works that provided a telling example of where he is heading. The evening began with a new production of Ailey’s 1970 piece, “Streams,” an elegant, balletic dance restaged by associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya with affection for Ailey’s original and Miloslav Kabelac’s percussion-and-xylophone-heavy score but lacking deep emotion. That was followed by Battle’s own short but wonderfully entertaining 1999 work, “Takademe,” in which Kirven James Boyd, wearing a ruffled red Missoni outfit, danced wildly to Naren Budhakar’s live vocal performance in what became a fun, scatlike speaking-in-tongues verbal and physical showdown. Thus, Battle kicked things off with the traditional, then announced his arrival, leading to the second half of the evening, the explosive pairing of Rennie Harris’s newly commissioned “Home” and the Ailey premiere of Ohad Naharin’s revelatory “Minus 16,” from 1999. In the former, fourteen dancers, including rehearsal director Matthew Rushing, all wearing street clothes, gathered together in a group before letting loose, moving to music by Dennis Ferrer and Raphael Xavier in a work inspired by actual responses to the “Fight HIV Your Way” initiative. A fanciful tribute to Ailey himself, who died of AIDS in 1989, “Home” is hopeful and uplifting, an excellent lead-in to the grand finale, one of the most cutting-edge works ever performed by AAADT.

Ohad Naharin’s “Minus 16” is a highlight of Alvin Ailey’s New York season at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)

With intermission not quite over, a solitary man stands near the front of the stage, dressed in Hasidic clothing, slowly beginning to move as the audience makes its way back inside the theater. It’s impossible not to initially think of the racial tensions that have long existed between African Americans and the Hasidic community in New York City, primarily in Crown Heights, but as he is joined by more dancers and the music turns from the John Buzon Trio’s “It Must Be True” to the traditional standard “Hava Nagila,” those thoughts disappear as Naharin’s unique Gaga movement language takes over. The central part of the piece is an exhilarating section in which eighteen dancers (the number eighteen represents the word “life” in Hebrew) are seated in a semicircle, performing on, under, on top of, or next to their chairs as they follow one another around one by one in order as verses are added on to the Passover children’s song “Echad Mi Yode’a.” It’s as if City Center has suddenly become home to a breathtaking, rather unique bar mitzvah celebration, a riotous party that soon involves inviting audience members, including yours truly, onto the stage to join in duets with members of the Ailey crew. (We have to thank the marvelous Belen Estrada for not making us look like a complete idiot up there.) Things eventually slow down but pick up yet again in Naharin’s sparkling piece, which also uses music by Vivaldi and the Beach Boys in addition to “Over the Rainbow” and “Hooray for Hollywood.” A virtuoso work that signals a major step for AAADT, “Minus 16” is dedicated to Naharin’s late wife, Mari Kajiwara, who was an Ailey dancer from 1970 to 1984 and Alvin Ailey’s rehearsal assistant. Battle made a major statement with this all-new program, one that promises a bright and exciting future under his leadership. (“Streams,” “Home,” and “Minus 16” will all be performed on December 21 at 8:00, along with Joyce Trisler’s “Journey.” “Home” is also scheduled for December 23, 28, 30, and 31, with “Minus 16” scheduled for December 25, 28, and 31, at varying times.)

TWI-NY TALK: BILL T. JONES

Kennedy Center honoree and two-time Tony winner Bill T. Jones begins his company’s inaugural New York Live Arts season this week

BODY AGAINST BODY
New York Live Arts
Bessie Schönberg Theater
219 West 19th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
September 16-24, $32-$40 ($15 on 9/20)
212-691-6500
www.newyorklivearts.org

Last December was a big month for two-time Tony-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening, Fela!). The Florida-born dance legend, who formed the highly influential Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, which he called “one of the highest moments in my life,” and he also teamed up with Dance Theater Workshop to create the artist-led New York Live Arts, which is dedicated to producing, presenting, and educating in its mission “to become a place for dance that is vital to the fabric of social and cultural life in New York, America, and beyond.”

This week Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance kicks off the inaugural New York Live Arts season with the exciting Body Against Body program: “Monkey Run Road” (1979), “Continuous Replay” (1977/1991), and “Valley Cottage: A Study” (1980) will be performed September 16, 18, 21, 23, and 25, with “Duet x 2” (1982), “Continuous Replay,” and “Blauvelt Mountain” (1980) scheduled for September 17, 20, 22, and 24. “Valley Cottage” and “Monkey Run Road” are being performed in New York for the first time since their premieres. “Continuous Replay” will also feature live music played by John Oswald or DJ Spooky as well as a rotating cast of guest performers, including Matthew Rushing from Alvin Ailey, Janet Eilber and Blakeley White-McGuire from Martha Graham, Arthur Aviles from Typical Theater, Elena Demyanenko from Trisha Brown, Jennifer Goggans from Merce Cunningham, Megan Sprenger from mvworks, and Richard Move from MoveOpolis! Jones will take part in a preshow talk with Marcia B. Siegel on September 21 and a postshow discussion with Janet Wong, DTW/NYLA artistic director Carla Peterson, and the nine-member Bill T. Jones company on September 23. The premiere gala takes place September 15. Amid this flurry of activity, Jones was able to squeeze in some time to answer a few questions from twi-ny.

twi-ny: Last December, when the merger between Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop was announced, you said, “We are doing something that supposedly can’t be done.” Now you are about to present your first season together. How did you, in fact, get it done?

Bill T. Jones: At the core of this merger was collaboration, and that’s exactly how this inaugural season came together. Carla Peterson spearheaded the curation process, and our talented staff and board of directors have worked tirelessly to bring ideas and resources to the table to make this institution a leader in the performing arts community and a home for movement-based artists. I am very excited about the artists on our season and am proud of the new programs we’re building.

New York Live Arts season kicks off with Bill T. Jones’s “Body Against Body” program

twi-ny: For your first series of performances at NYLA, you are revisiting some of your most iconic works, including the third iteration of “Continuous Replay.” Why did you choose these particular works for this inaugural season?

BTJ: Body Against Body is a program that the company premiered earlier this year (at the ICA/Boston) and we’re now touring it extensively in the upcoming season. It only seemed fitting that we would open the inaugural season of New York Live Arts with this program: It consists of some of the earliest pieces that Arnie Zane and I created together — two of which [“Valley Cottage” and “Blauvelt Mountain”] we premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in the early ’80s.

The newest reconstruction on the program, which will premiere at New York Live Arts, is “Valley Cottage: A Study.” This work has not been seen since Arnie and I first performed it in 1981. I think collectively these seminal works give audience members a glimpse of my roots as a choreographer while also acknowledging New Yorks Live Arts’ foundation, rooted in both my company’s and Dance Theater Workshop’s history and legacy. I like to think of it as a looking back to look forward.

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.