Saturday Matinee

Episodes, Flowers, and Revelations

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater stormed into the Mondavi Center in Davis last week as a stop of their 50th anniversary tour. To me, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater signifies the quintessential American dance company, with a dance form that’s deeply rooted in American culture. The dancers are a marvel – a mixture of power and grace, strength and beauty, reminding everyone of how dance should never fully be about technique but be so much more than that. The lighting seemed specifically designed to highlight every muscle in the body, which added to their strength and power as you saw their graceful bodies in action. The programming was so serious and somber, but Revelations ended the evening on a high note, and it was a great introduction to this amazing company.

The evening opened with a abstract Episodes, choreographed by Ulysses Dove, which showcased the company’s powerful energy. It was a great introduction to the company’s passion and strength, as the piece was about opposites – strength and grace, surrender and aggression, anger and lust, showcased in a series of tumultuous relationships. A hug turns into a slap, an aggressive attack turns into a vulnerable backbend where the woman drapes herself over his strong supportive arms. There is lots of turning away and running back. It struck me how rare it is to find a title that fits the piece well; this piece was a series of episodes, snapshots of various drama-filled relationships. Linda Celeste Sims stood out with her fiery passionate stage presence, oddly more than in her solo in the subsequent piece, Flowers. The result is heavy, dramatic, slightly repetitive, and although it’s not completely original, it showcased the company very well.

The second piece was the new production of Alvin Ailey’s Flowers, inspired by the life of Janis Joplin and depicting her downward spiral in a life of fame, drugs, and paparazzi. Set to the music of Janis Joplin, Blind Faith and Pink Floyd, it was set in the colorful sixties with a strong plotline depicting the lead character’s downward spiral from fame to ruin. To me, this piece really brought to mind the limitations of a strongly plot-driven choreography – the story, in addition to the overpowering costumes, often limited the dancing to writhing on the floor or desperately reaching out to the other dancers onstage in order to propel the plot, without enough dancing. The only section which I thought depicted emotion well through the dancing was in the pas de deux between the drug dealer/boyfriend/Satan/death character (all characters that two of my friends and I came up with, no one was quite sure who he was meant to be) danced by Clifton Brown in a sharp modern black pants and button down with reflective aviator sunglasses, dancing with the passionate Linda Celeste Brown as the lead character. Their pas de deux fluctuated dangerously between the subtle and not-so-subtle struggle of power, desire, and control through movement in a conceptual but transparent way. The rest of the piece however, seemed to signify her downfall in cliche emotive movements that made the piece feel like it could have been shorter in order to make its point. The colorful costumes were often overwhelming, especially the cape in the dream sequence where most of the time it felt like she and the other dancers were adjusting it in order for no one to trip on it. It had some great elements of good choreography, but it wasn’t my favorite piece. The dancers were outstanding however, and Linda Celeste Brown was a great character actor and passionate dancer, although it was harder to see wrapped in those costumes.

The evening ended with the uplifting Revelations. It was everything I had heard it to be and more. Set to the music of traditional spirituals with choreography by Alvin Ailey, the dancers delved into the choreography with sparkling familiarity, as if they were born to dance in this piece. It reminded me of the enthusiastic confidence that the State Ballet of Georgia danced Possohkov’s Sagalobeli set to the traditional music of their homeland Georgia, where it felt like the dancers were home. The dancers were again, outstanding – Hope Boykin with warmth as the ringleader in “I Been ‘Buked”, Vernard Gilmore with fluid grace in “Wade in the Water”. But my favorite was Alicia Graf in the moving “Fix Me, Jesus”, danced with Jamar Roberts. With amazing stage presence, it wasn’t her famous mile long extensions or dramatic height or her balletic feet that grabbed my attention as much as the fact that she imbued every movement with a stunning musicality and a depth of sadness. In “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham”, Alicia Graf attacked the shoulder shrugs and the mad fanning with equal enthusiasm and ease as the balletic aspects of “Fix Me, Jesus”, as I happened to be sitting in the front row on her side of the stage. I really think she will be the next big thing, and would have loved to have seen her in showcased in a longer piece.

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In all, it was a wonderful evening that left me looking forward to what Alvin Ailey Dance Theater could do next. Although Episodes and Flowers were heavy and somber and dramatic, the pieces still showcased the company’s dramatic strength and passion. Their dancers dance with a breathtaking power and unrestrained passion that’s universal, with an appeal to dance lovers and dance newbies alike. This 50th anniversary tour also seems more poignant in the face of the news that its artistic director, Judith Jamison, is set to retire in the next few years. She has been essential to leading to where AADT is today, and it opens up the question to who will continue Alvin Ailey’s legacy after her departure. One can only hope that Alvin Ailey Dance Theater will continue the fresh, contemporary feel of its dancing and its amazing legacy.