Last Saturday, I saw a stunning Alvin Ailey evening of pieces like "Streams," "The Evolution Of A Secured Feminine," and "Urban Folk Dance." The night ended with "Minus 16," a jagged, exciting ensemble piece, performed in business suits and hats, with choreography by Ohad Naharin.
If you haven't seen a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in a while, you might forget just how accomplished the company's dancers are. You know they can do anything, but the cisible evidence can leave you reeling.
The members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater aren't interchangeable, but some rise to the top faster than others. The elegant Jacqueline Green is everywhere this season, dancing lead roles in Kyle Abraham's "Another Night" and Jiri Kylian's "Petite Mort" as well as - and even she can hardly believe this - carrying the umbrella in the "Wade in the Water" section of Alvin Ailey's 1960 masterpiece "Revelations."
Dancing is great fun and something we love to do. We were so happy to find out that we were going to the New York City Center to watch a rehearsal of "Grace," performed by the Alvin Ailey dancers. Afterward, we were able to talk with two of the brilliant dancers, Jacqueline Green and Yannick Lebrun.
A shaman casts a spell in "From Before," the legendary dance by choroegapher Garth Fagan, which Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has revived this season at NY City Center.
A Saturday matinee at Ailey is a marvelous mix of kids and adults in holiday finery and some of the best dancers on the planet going all out to give their guests a good time.
Renee Robinson gave the farewell performance every dancer would love to give at City Center Theater on Sunday evening. After more than 30 years of professional dancing, she was still a compelling image of style, moving with verve and elan at the heart of two of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's classic works.
A program entitled :Celebrating Renee Robinson" at New York City Center Theater on Sunday evening feted the dancer, who is retiring from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Jiri Kylian's "Petite Mort" is predictably a dance of duets. It takes two, as they say in another sexual euphemism, to tango. But before the six couples here reach their stylized climaxes, their entwined limbs alternately thrusting and splaying, the audience sees the men alone, moving in tandem with sinuous fencing foils: foreplay with props.