Alvin Ailey Company this wekend in Miami

[cubanmiamiboy]

Browsing on something to do to celebrate tonight, I found this. I have no tickets, and I'm not quite the biggest fan of non-pointe shoes dancing, but I think it will be interesting to try out...I made up my mind and decided to give it a try after digging a bit in the Forums.

http://www.arshtcenter.org/tickets/calenda...ew.aspx?id=4873

[Helene]

You should see Revelations. It's an American classic.

[jonellew]

Yes, they we just in Austin. (My more complete thoughts are here: http://circumscribe.blogspot.com/2009/03/q...american.html.)

Not sure what the program is in Miami, but here it was something with Sweet Honey in the Rock, a 1971 pink blah to Otis Redding, and Revelations. It's best if you try to be a good history student and think of Revelations in the context of the 1960s, when it was created, but the first section and the "Fix Me, Jesus" sections still resonated for me. Good dancers, too.

[bart]

I hope you love it, cristian. The technique is different, but the emtional and physical opennessy and the shameless love of dancing aren't all that far from what I imagine you remember from Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

I liked and admired the company's video/promo clip Good to see Judith Jamison looking so GRAND.

The alternating clips of Revelations -- in slightly fuzzy black and white (danced in the early 60s, I assume) and in brilliant, sharply-defined color (as captured today) -- make a marvelous point. When it was first done, the civil rights movement had hardly begun. I didn't see it until the company moved to City Center, but I can still remember what it felt like being part of those joyously excited and very mixed-race audiences. (In New York City at least.) These were memories of the past that made people hope for great things in the future.

It's interesting that they are also doing one performance of Blues Suite, a work which also taps memories of black southern culture, but in a much less profound way, I always thought. (It's funny, though. Great show biz!)

Five performances in a town like Miami -- and a theater as large as the Ziff -- is a big deal. I hope they sell out every one of them.

Jonellew, here are the programs for the Miami run:

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

Thursday, April 16 @ 8 PM - Anniversary Highlights / Revelations

Friday, April 17 @ 8 PM - Festa Barocca* / Solo / Revelations

Saturday, April 18 @ 2PM - Blues Suite / Suite Otis / Revelations

Saturday, April 18 @ 8PM - Festa Barocca* / Solo / Revelations

Sunday, April 19 @ 2PM - Anniversary Highlights / Revelations

*South Florida premiere

[cubanmiamiboy]

What a great idea going to see AA!!!

I just came back, and I still feel the power and energy of the performance. The house was sold out, and the audience was very different from that I'm used to see at the Arsht Center. Lots of young people, cheering, whistling, clapping and even dancing along the performance. The program was preceeded by a documentary on the story and developement of the troupe, narrated by Miss Judith Jamison, which I enjoyed tremendously. They showed many vintage excerpts from some of the choreographies presented tonight.

I'm not quite familiar with the Company nor their works, but I DID notice a subtle classical language laying in some of them. At one point there was even a petite allegro showcase. I'm trying to find the program to see what was the work...

And then there was REVELATIONS. Beautiful, simply beautiful and powerful. The dancers were so into it, giving such joy and soul that by the end of it they had drowned the audience into the whole thing, and the entire house was a big feast.

bart, you were right. The works and projection of the Alvin Aley remainded me a lot of that of Conjunto Folklorico Nacional, the Afro-Cuban based dance company.

Five stars!!

[Sonora]

We attended the Sunday matinee. Completely sold out house, with people still clamoring for tickets. The first 10 minutes of the anniversary video were interesting and especially helpful to audience members unfamiliar with the Ailey story; however the second 10 minutes started to look alot like a PR presentation, and a friend wondered if they were going to conclude with a toll-free number.

Revelations has held up amazingly well over the years, and, predictably, brought the audience to its feet. It is moving on several levels, due in no small part to the beauty and resonance of its score. The first two thirds of the dancing were collections of snippets from a chronology of AA works - while I understood the objective, I found this arrangement unsatisfying, and the friends who were unfamiliar with AA were disappointed without really knowing why. I was surprised that even "Cry" was cut into a manageable piece; it seemed a bit unfair to present a few minutes of the whole.

I don't feel I can comment with any authority on the state of the company as it has been several years since I saw them perform; it was my impression that the dancers managed to illuminate the choreography by means of their particularly lush and powerful movement quality.