The air was filled with anticipation last Saturday afternoon as the near-capacity audience filed into the Academy of Music for the first of three weekend performances by the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Atlanta tonight. The Company is celebrating "Revelations at 50"...Which some consider one of the most popular ballet of all time.
Few dance companies carry the worldwide name recognition of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. And even fewer dance works boast the influential artistic legacy of Ailey's Revelations, which the New York TImes hailed as "modern dance's unquestionable greatest hit."
Judith Jamison is leaving the post of artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with a smile and laughter. On Sunday night the company ended its annual season at City Center with a tribute to her that lasted over three hours.
Imagine an evening at Alvin Ailey without "Revelations." It's pretty rare - ask director Judith Jamison about the complaints she gets when that signature work isn't on the bill. But Sunday night, the troupe showed some other works - a few revivals and some they've not danced before - all with that trademark Ailey punch.
A seemingly bemused Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) uttered a sonorously drawn out "No!" to Harry Belafonte in a 1978 television conversation with the singer, who asked the choreographer, "When you were making 'Revelations,' did you know you'd be doing it forever?" At that point, Mr. Ailey's wildly popular dance suite set to spirituals and gospel music was already 18 years old.
In honor of Alvin Ailey's 50th anniversary of "Revelations," fresh recreations of the works do justice to their original incarnations.
After seeing "Celebrating 'Revelations' at 50," the film tribute by Judy Kinberg that precedes the piece this season at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Roslyn Sulcas wrote: "It's notable how rough hewn - and powerful - the dancing looks in the historical footage of Ailey and others performing in that work."
Watching "Celebrating 'Revelations' at 50," the film tribute by Judy Kinberg that precedes the piece during the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's current season, it's notable how rough hewn - and powerful - the dancing looks in the historical footage of Ailey and others performing in that work.
"Rocks my sould in the bosom of Abraham!" Sweet Honey in the Rock throws the words up like a tidal wave from the City Center pit, while from a corner of the stage, the voice of Ella Mitchell - which has been heard (both live and recorded) during Alvin Ailey's 1960 Revelations for 37 years - soars above the other singers.