In 1958 Ailey established a dance company, aiming to create a space for artists shunned by the white troupes that dominated the dance scene at the time, six years before the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation. His intent, Ailey said, was to open a window where a door had been shut. Thirteen years after his death, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has developed into one of the most popular dance companies in the world. It has performed “Revelations,” now its signature piece, in more than 70 countries. The work closes each of the programs the company is performing on its current European tour, which began last month in London and continues to Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain through August.
“Revelations” was the cornerstone of Ailey’s success and will endure along with a small elite of experimental choreography created in New York. But the tour repertory is weighted in favor of some exciting new works, commissioned by artistic director Judith Jamison. Though Ailey classics like “Cry” and “Blues Suite” are missing, the quality of this recently added repertoire, which includes “Grace,” a mesmerizing 1999 commission from choreographer Ron Brown, should silence skeptics who wondered throughout the 1990s whether the company would find enough fresh talent to survive. Other critics warned that technical virtuosity was being emphasized to the detriment of the company’s tradition of strong, individual expression. The Ailey dancers’ mastery of classical techniques has visibly improved, but not at the expense of one of the delights of the Ailey approach: the distinct, quirky gestures in ensemble movements like “Rock-a My Soul.” It’s seen in new commissions as well. In “Grace” one dancer may lift her arm exactly, classically, parallel with the floor; another next to her may sweep it up and back defiantly as each interprets differently the dance’s inner journey. Under Jamison’s determined guidance, the current group–whose members range from 20-year veteran Renee Robinson to three recruits who joined last year–has remained faithful to the essence of Ailey’s vision, bringing its own style and revitalizing spirit to Ailey classics while working with inventive new choreographers like Brown and Alonzo King to broaden its range. While in auditions she looks for sheer excellence across an unusually wide range of styles–from classical to jazz–Jamison also seeks dancers with that something extra, which she describes as a particular willingness to delve inside themselves, explore their personal struggles and triumphs and lay them bare on stage.
Ailey died of AIDS in 1989, after battling cocaine addiction and a constant, terrifying insecurity about the quality of his work. Encores and multiple curtain calls at most performances led some to dismiss his legacy as populist. A more appropriate description is dazzlingly, almost unfailingly popular. There is no beautiful, distancing abstraction in Ailey’s art. It is powerfully grounded and earthy, and when it soars it is only after an intense inner struggle has been resolved. “If dancers say to me, ‘I eat, breathe, sleep, dance,’ I don’t hire them because I don’t think they have anything very important to say to an audience about living and life,” Jamison explained. “Dance should show you how you’re connected to the universe. We’re aiming to show an audience exactly who they are. That’s what we put on stage.” And the audiences who return time and again know that when Ailey gave these dancers a platform, he unleashed an extraordinary new force in modern ballet and cracked a window on the soul.
