Alvin Ailey - 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Kennedy Center

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This week I saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company perform at the Kennedy Center. I don't think I had seem them since college, probably because it's more modern dance as opposed to ballet. But I needed to exchange one of my tickets because of a calendar conflict, so I thought I'd see this show.

Robert Battle, the company's artistic director, gave some remarks before the performance, which I thought was really nice. He gave some background information, and he also told jokes, so he was quite entertaining. He mentioned that the company was part of the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971, and that the company's first two artistic directors won Kennedy Center honors, so he's waiting for his as the third director! He also said that there is a new documentary called Ailey about the choreographer and dancer who created this namesake company. He told us a little bit about each piece as well, which I thought was good preparation for the performance.

Blues Suite

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This first piece was created in 1958, so it's been around for a while! I love blues music, and I liked that the piece started and ended with the sounds of a train moving and a bell tolling, like marking the arrival and departure of the locomotive. I also liked the costumes, particularly the women dressed like flappers. But I wasn't particularly impressed by the choreography. A lot of it is pretty simple; I think your average set of back-up dancers at a concert could do it. I also didn't like that much of it is men grabbing women and the women swatting them away. This certainly is not with the current times, and it was almost hard to watch. #MeToo, anyone? I did find that this piece told a story, though, and almost felt more like a silent play. Maybe that's why they described themselves as "dance theater" as opposed to simply a "dance company"? I understand that most dances tell a story (they aren't there just to look pretty), but the pantomiming in this piece made me feel like I was really watching a story unfold. 

I wasn't able to find many videos for this piece, but the full soundtrack for the Blues Suite is on YouTube. So if there was no video of the dance, I have at least included a video of the song so you can hear the music.

Good Morning Blues

I Cried

Mean Ol' Frisco

House of the Rising Sun

Backwater Blues: This pas de deux was playful, with the "couple" (performed by Belén Indhira Pereyra and Jeroboam Bozeman) rough housing and flirting with each other, but was it dance? Again, this was one of the parts that felt more like theater than a dance performance. BUT I did like watching it, and I was impressed by his strength and the way the two worked together. I was having fun while watching it, and the rest of the crowd was, too. 

In the Evening

Yancey Special

Sham

Love Stories

This is what I mean when I say "zombies." Image found here.

Battle described this second piece as showing the past, present, and future of the company: starting in all these tiny studios, then getting its permanent home in New York City, and then where the company is going. We only saw an excerpt, which was the last, "future" part, actually created by Battle himself. The music at first sounds kind of sci-fi, so that makes sense for the futuristic part; all the dancers were wearing matching jumpsuits, which I also think aligns with most images of our space-age future. But eventually both the music and the dancing made me think of the intro to Austin Powers:

Again, I was not into some of the choreography. A lot of it just isn't "aesthetically pleasing." The dancers first come onto the stage crouched and shuffling their feet, and later they are stomping, punching at the air, and even marching around with their mouths open like zombies (see image above); the dancers would also frequently turn with their arms at 90 degrees (this was throughout the performance, not just this one part), which doesn't lend itself to grace. 

However, it was joyful to watch, and the woman next to me said, "That was fun!" And that's what dance should be, right? Watch the video below and judge for yourself:

Cry

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"Cry" was the next main piece of the show, and Battle said that Ailey had created this for his mother and for black women in general. This year marks the 50th anniversary of this dance, and the timing for this particular performance was good, since we are celebrating Black History Month.

The dancer (Constance Stamatiou) first came on stage, and while she looked eerie, the cool jazz music kept it from feeling weird. But there was a strange dichotomy between the sad dance and the upbeat music! From the choreography, you can tell that this woman is in pain, is tired, and is struggling; she is also a hot-blooded woman and sexy at times, too. I could completely see the message this dance was sending. This is a very athletic dance, and the performer showed a lot of stamina to be dancing on her own like that for so long! The piece did incorporate some of my least favorite parts of modern dance, like using a large piece of fabric as a prop and crawling on the crowd. I can certainly say I was entertained, but did I like it? I wasn't amazed or in awe, but I still appreciated the work into creating this piece of art. And she received a bouquet of roses afterwards, just like a prima ballerina!

While this is one piece, it is performed in three separate parts:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Revelations

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Battle described this piece as, "confronting the fragility of mortality and democracy," and said that Revelations is "challenging us to look forward," quoting the Maya Angelou poem, On the Pulse of Morning:

        The horizon leans forward,

        offering you space to place new steps of change.

Clearly this is a religious piece tied to the Book of Revelation. Because this is part of the New Testament, I am not familiar with it. But the music clearly has a gospel sound, and a lot of the choreography seemed to portray the joy that people have for God. If you have a time, here is an entire video of this piece (just over 30 minutes):

If you don't want to watch the whole thing or don't have time, here's a breakdown of some of the separate parts: 

We start with this part called, "I Been 'Buked" :

The dresses reminded me of the one in the previous part, "Cry." 

I couldn't find a video of the next dance part, but I did find the music for the song, "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel," which you can listen to here:

I think my favorite was the pas de deux called, "Fix me Jesus," performed by Sarah Daley-Perdomo and Jermaine Terry. Here's a video with different dancers:

"Wade in the Water" came next, during which the choreography was very flowy to match the waves:

The water piece was followed by "I Wanna Be Ready," performed by one man (I saw Clifton Brown, although this video shows Amos Machanic):

"Sinner Man" came next:

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The piece closes out with the powerful, "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham," which the company pretty much performed twice (once as the show, and again after their first curtain call). The crowd was clapping along: I felt like I was at church! While I didn't like some of the choreography (Dancing on stools? Makes me think of chair yoga for old people!), I very much appreciate the joy that the dancers expressed. Not only did it look like they were having so much fun, but I do think some of them were moved by the religious message, just like you would be in a house of worship. Below is a video of the piece:

Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on modern dance. I normally have the attitude of, "I know what's going to happen because it's modern dance." But don't I know what to expect from ballet, too?  While I usually don't like modern dance and much prefer ballet, throughout the show I kept thinking, "Am I having fun? Am I entertained?" And the answer was yes. What else can you ask for from supporting the arts? Even if not every part was to my taste, I can still appreciate all of the work that goes into this, and the feeling and love that is poured into creating a show like this one. I would certainly see this company again in the future!