Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA
All Ailey Program: Memoria; Excerpts from Night Creature, Streams, The Mooche, Opus McShann, A Song for You, For Bird--- With Love, Hidden Rites, Cry; Revelations
Program B: Serving Nia, Following the Subtle Current Upstream, Caravan
February 21, 22, 2002

There is no doubt that Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is one of the finest American companies around, not just surviving, but thriving in the twelve years since the passing of its founder in 1989. Of the three programs last week, one might have thought that one with a premiere by Ronald K. Brown, a piece by local favourite Alonzo King, and a fun-filled revival of Louis Falco's Caravan would have been the star, but it was the evening of old favorites choreographed by Alvin Ailey himself that lit a spark. To be honest, there were no losers in any of the programs, and the Bay Area audiences snapped up tickets to anything and everything -- most of the shows were sold out way before they started. The AAADT audience is more than interested and engaged, they explode with enthusiasm at the end of each show and a lot of it has to do with the programming wizardry of Artistic Director Judith Jamison. The all-Ailey program, for instance was never boring, studded with wonderful pieces that were just the right length, and built to a rousing finish. The second program, while well-performed and likeable, and though it had not nearly the same impact, showed the wide range of the company's abilities.

Last year's performance of Brown's Grace was so electrifying that it would have been hard for his new work, Serving Nia to top it. The cast I saw was composed entirely of men, and although they were fine performers, one couldn't help wondering how the extraordinary Renee Robinson would have looked along with some of the other powerful women of the company. Still the sleek jazzy style looked good on the men, with Amos J. Machanic and Kevin Boseman standing out. The relationships, spatially and emotionally, were only lightly sketched out though, so in the end the piece came across as mainly abstract with a touch of the tribal "ecstatic dance" form, in which participants dance a kind of hypnotic, repetitive meditation until they attain a trance-like higher level. It was dazzling to the eye, but somewhat unfulfilling.

AAADT also brought back Alonzo King's Following the Subtle Current Upstream, which they performed last season at Cal Performances. I had initially thought it would be interesting to see how the AAADT dancers would look in King's choreography. His own dancers at LINES Contemporary Ballet tend to work introspectively, barely acknowledging the audience's presence, and I wondered if it would be vastly different for the AAADT cast, who are such outward generous performers. I thought that perhaps King's choreography would make more of an impact than it normally does. It was fully ten minutes into the piece before I realized that I HAD seen it last year, and it had made about as much impact as it did this time. Following the Subtle Current Upstream opens with a trio of men, Vernard Gilmore, Juan-Antonio Rodriguez and Glen A. Sims, already moving sinuously as the curtain rises. They have so absorbed King's trademark style of looking within that they projected nothing out. The audience responds occasionally to a particularly flexible-looking step, and occasionally one of the dancers might slip and look out at us, as if they can't help themselves, but mainly one feels shut out from whatever they are experiencing onstage. Matthew Rushing, in his solo couldn't keep a fleeting expression of delight from crossing his face, and Dwana Adiaha Smallwood was too musical to be anything less than interpretive. She's not a lengthy dancer like the sort that populate LINES, but her quick "hits" into interesting shapes, followed by lovely rolls through the back made physical length seem superfluous.

To round out that program, AAADT offered Louis Falco's bright 1976 work, Caravan. Although it looks a touch dated now, it was nevertheless an entertaining and happy-go-lucky closer.

Memoria, a 1979 work to the music of Keith Jarrett, was the opening piece of the all-Ailey program, and arguably, the weakest. Although performed with a twenty-first century athleticism and speed, most of the dancers were oddly unemotional. Even so the power of performers like Asha Thomas and Anthony Burrell to hold the audience's focus and create an impression of strength was evident.

Two of the slinky movements from Night Creature, to Duke Ellington's music of the same title, followed, with Renee Robinson at full steam as the sexy bellwether that led the company. The heat built slowly, with a very serious and intense wedge of dancers, until Machanic snared Robinson in a pas de deux. Her sense of humour and sophistication finally got the evening fired up; all that was lacking were high heels. For their part, the Ailey men have developed a flexibility that is startling, to say the least. A trio in the second movement displayed effortless layouts with boneless articulation through their shoulders eliciting spontaneous shouts from the audience.

The second part of the program moved along quickly with cleverly chosen excerpts that showed the wide range of Ailey's choreographic talent and also built up the energy of the show. Among the highlights were Smallwood's solo as Marie Bryant in The Mooche. Her huge presence made the stage at Zellerbach Hall feel tiny, and the completeness of her movement was no less compelling. At one point, Smallwood seemed to throw her head back in pure exaltation at the pleasure of moving, encapsulating the uncalculated and thrilling style of her performance. Glen A. Sims and Boseman in "Doo Wah Doo", from Opus McShann, had a complete mastery of the carefully timed comedy of their vignette giving a hilarious, crowd-pleasing rendition. Matthew Rushing in "A Song for You" from Love Songs was more understated, but moving in his interpretation. There was more bravura fun in watching excerpts from For BirdÑWith Love, Ailey's tribute to Charlie Parker which captured the energy and zealous feeling of the 1940's jazz scene. Boseman as Dizzy Gillespie was wild and exuberant, but the others were no less lively. Still, it was Bahiyah Sayyed-Gaines who showed Ailey's choreography at its most effective in Cry. Devouring space, she embodied the powerful image of the Ailey dancer, ready to take on anything, in any style, with fervor, abandon and lavish movement.

The program closed, of course, with Revelations. They close so often with this 1960 signature piece, that beforehand, there's a faint feeling of "That again?" Afterhand, there's no such question. Part of the solidity of the work lies in the fact that no matter how many times they have done it before, the dancers always give one hundred fifty percent, and hold nothing back. No one ever looks tired, or bored, or anything less than wholly committed to the piece, and Revelations is beautifully put together. Samuel Deshauteurs was affecting in "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" and once again, Smallwood was liquid, yet forceful in "Wade in the Water." If the dancers always give one hundred fifty percent, she gives two hundred in every performance. In fact she led the company in the rousing finale "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" with AAADT veteran Dudley Williams, who was so enjoying himself that he was visibly singing along with the music, and the audience couldn't wait to cheer them on to the customary encore.

It was impossible not to love such open performers who are more about movement and energy than almost any other American dance company one can name. They'll have an heavy burden now though, because every time we see them, they're better and stronger, and you have to wonder, how will they top this next year?

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This review initially appeared on Criticaldance.com, February 27, 2002.

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