| . | 12/22/2009
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
By: Joel Benjamin
Mathew Rushing in Dancing Spirit photo by Paul Kolnik
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presented a program of three new ballets during its current New York City Center season. Although we’re all almost addicted to seeing Ailey programs that end with Alvin Ailey’s masterwork, “Revelations,” this program was an exciting and satisfying success on almost all levels. The choreography of the three works, “Dancing Spirit” by Ronald K. Brown, “Among Us” by company Artistic Director, Judith Jamison and the highly anticipated “Uptown” by beloved company member Matthew Rushing was diverse and consistently interesting and the dancing was showy, yet subtle in both technique and acting.
Ronald K. Brown's Dancing Spirit. Photo by Paul Kolnik
Ronald K. Brown, who focuses on combining modern and African dance forms into a distinctive hybrid, choreographed “Dancing Spirit” to music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead and War. “Dancing Spirit” was structured as a series of little journeys across the stage space. The dancers repeated certain phrases and then added onto these little movements themes making longer and longer streams of choreography. It opened with a long series of solos to cool jazz music moving on a diagonal. The dancers walked, softly kicked and waved their arms and proceeded to more and more complex movement combinations, leading to a finale that reveled in throbbing samba pulsations. Dressed in Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya’s lovely, loose white costumes, streaked with blue, the nine dancers created the feel of a little village dancing in front of a huge moon and a starry sky created by lighting designer Clifton Taylor. Ronald K. Brown’s use of repetition and flows of movement across the stage demonstrated his straightforward approach to constructing dances.
Hope Boykin & Kervin J Boyd in Judith Jamison's Among Us PhotobyPaulKolnik
Judith Jamison, on the other hand, created one complicated dramatic/comic situation after another in “Among Us (Private Spaces: Public Places)” a work to a marvelously eclectic score by ELEW set in an art gallery populated by original paintings by the choreographer, herself. Hosted by the brilliant company stalwart, Clifton Brown as a genial genie, we were led through the galleries seeing how various groups of art lovers reacted to the paintings. In “Soft Edges,” two couples, Hope Boykin & Kirven James Boyd (the older pair) and Rosalyn Deshauteurs & Vernard J. Gilmore (the younger) appear to renew their love. The former, older, formally dressed, were more staid, though no less passionate than the other, more athletic duo. Jamar Roberts, this year’s poster boy, played an uptight man in a most peculiar suit who was reluctantly caught up in a little mob of movement in “Precedent (President)” and Linda Celeste Sims was a lovely sprite in a pink dress flitting about an awed Glenn Allen Sims in “Brights.” Aisha Mitchell in a sassy bare midriff outfit strutted in “Uptown Down” leading the cast to a rousing finale. Throughout “Among Us” Mr. Brown moved amongst the other character with his usual weighty grace and charisma, leading all them dressed in his body-hugging pale blue costume topped with a funny feather. The costumes by Paul Tazewell were all variations on street clothes and the lighting/scenic design by Al Crawford created a witty art gallery, complete with potted plants. Ms. Jamison’s triumph here is creating characters mainly through her steps. She made clear all the tiny changes in mood. She even portrayed the friendly bantering of street kids having a ball watching the art lovers pass by. This is by far her best work to date.
Marcus Willis, Abdur-Rahmin Jackson, Antonio Douthit, Kevin Brown, Kervin Boyd
Photo by Paul Kolnik
“Uptown” is Matthew Rushing’s first major work for the Ailey company. Despite having been given an elaborate production and benefiting from much-publicized research, “Uptown” unfortunately still came across as a large-scale lecture-demonstration. Structured in nine sections that run chronologically through Black American history, “Uptown” was led by Abdur-Rahim Jackson as Victor who proved a colorful and energetic host to the proceedings. Slavery raised its ugly head in “No More Auction Block” sung by the great Paul Robeson. After hearing W.E.B. Dubois speak about the founding of the NAACP in 1910, Victor guided us into the Harlem Renaissance where we were treated to a comically danced “Rent Party” and a charming interpretation of Archibald J. Motley’s humorous painting “The Jazz Singers.” We visited the three great Black Divas: Florence Mills (Olivia Bowman Jackson), Josephine Baker (Akua Parker) and Ethel Waters (Aisha Mitchell) who’s appearances were so brief and superficial it seemed to be merely an excuse to show off the brilliant costumes designed by Mr. Rushing, himself. And, despite what has been represented as historical accuracy, both the “Shuffle Along” and “Cotton Club” sections were clichéd and didn’t add anything to the far superior material available in the rest of the AAADT repertoire, including Ailey’s “Blues Suite” and, of course, his great “Revelations” both of which have emotional depth as well as entertainment value. Even throwing in bluesy choreography to readings of the works of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston did little to bring the level up. Mr. Rushing was clearly caught between the need to create a hit that would stay in the repertory and a compulsion to be historically plausible and informative. Ironically, had the work been an evening-length opus, with time to develop both the history and the choreography, the AAADT might have had a brilliant touring work, but as “Uptown” now stands it’s neither great theater nor great history. All the dancers were enthusiastic and technically excellent, but Mr. Jackson outdid them all with his suave manner and brilliant dancing. He also wore his formal tails with great aplomb.
No matter what minor--or major--criticisms one might have of any of the works that the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents one never leaves less than thrilled with the sheer exuberance and professionalism of the Company.
New York City Center
151 West 55th St.
New York, NY
December 2nd, 2009 – January 3rd, 2010
Tickets: CityTix at 212-581-1212 or www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org
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