It’s that time of year again. The time where some of the most powerful dancers in the world come and inspire us with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. Trust me, it’s worth the trek to campus. The Ailey company continues to thrive and cultivate incredible performers with large emotional and physical ranges allowing the company to present many different facets of the modern dance genre. (And like most dance companies, delving into many other genres as well.)
Ailey will be performing three programs over the course of April 1st through April 6th. Program A will be performed three times, while Program’s B and C will be performed only twice. While I personally would love to see all three, I wanted to give you some insight into each program so you could more easily decide which to attend if you can/would like to.
Program A: Performance Dates: 4/1, 4/4, 4/6
This program presents two Bay Area premieres from fantastic choreographers. Four Corners is a piece inspired by text from Carl Hancock Rux’s Lamentations and is a modern/West-African journey of grief and release.
LIFT– Choreographed by: Aszure Barton, Music by: Curtis Mac Donald
Four Corners– Choreographed by: Ronald K. Brown, Music by: Carl Hancock
Revelations– Choreographed by: Alvin Ailey, Music: Assorted Gospel
Program B: Performance Dates: 4/2, 4/5 (matinee)
This program features 2 beautiful Ailey pieces and one by Bill T. Jones, taking the company back to it’s roots. Night Creature and Pas de Duke are Ailey classics set to the jazz of Duke Ellington. The pas was originally created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Judith Jamison using the juxtaposition of his incredible ballet technique and her revolutionary modern technique to come together and push the boundaries of both artists.
Night Creature– Choreographed by: Alvin Ailey, Music by: Duke Ellington
Pas de Duke– Choreographed by: Alvin Ailey, Music by: Duke Ellington
D-Man in the Waters (Part I)– Choreographed by: Bill T. Jones, Music by: Felix Mendelssohn
Revelations– Choreographed by Alvin Ailey. Music: Assorted Gospel
Program C: Performance Dates: 4/3, 4/5 (evening)
Program C offers another Ailey/Ellington love fest and also an experimental and challenging fairly structured improvisational piece. The River is a full company piece in which Ailey explores the concepts of birth, life, and rebirth. Minus 16 uses a wide range of music, from traditional Israili to techno, to explore movement that challenges the dancers and breaks down old movement habits to create something new.
The River– Choreographed by: Alvin Ailey, Music by: Duke Ellington
Minus 16– Choreographed by: Ohad Naharin, Music: Various Artists
Revelations– Choreographed by: Alving Ailey, Music: Assorted Gospel
Now I recognize I left out one piece from each program. Revelations is Ailey’s signature piece and to those of us who love him, it is all of the things we love about Ailey. He uses various old gospel songs to illustrate the southern gospel mentality and it feels like he’s brought you into his African/Modern beautiful-ness church. There are so many reasons this piece is famous, but for me the main one is the soul that it awakens in all who watch it. It is an infectious piece that will make you laugh, cry, and ultimately want to move yourself. All three of these programs promise to be quite incredible, as the dancers of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater are ridiculously talented. But, it is the last piece that makes the evening and will blow your socks off.
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