FRESH FLAIR
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater steps away from classics with two new impressive works
‘Revelations,” Alvin Ailey’s exultant 1960 tribute to the African-American spirit, ranks among the most celebrated masterpieces of modern dance alongside José Limón’s “The Moor’s Pavane” (1949) or Paul Taylor’s “Esplanade” (1975), and rightly so.
But there can be too much of a good thing, and it was refreshing Friday evening to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater step away from the classic (for at least one program) to present a wonderfully fresh line-up with two works that debuted in 2023 and two slightly older pieces that received new productions that same year. The cheers from the audience made clear that the presentation was a crowd-pleaser.
The program is one of three that the New York-based ensemble is presenting as part of a six-performance run at the Auditorium Theatre that will conclude Sunday afternoon with “Ailey Classics,” a program devoted entirely to works created by its founder and namesake.
In what has become an extraordinary and historic partnership, this visit is the company’s 55th engagement at the venerable Chicago venue. And as usual, it cut no corners, bringing a full complement of 34 dancers and the three commendably contrasting and ambitious line-ups.
The only big change this time around comes in the company’s leadership. Robert Battle, who served as its artistic director since 2011, resigned in November because of health concerns. Matthew Rushing, a company alumnus who became associate artistic director in 2020, is filling in on an interim basis.
Despite that shift at the top, the dancers were their usual model of consistency onstage, performing with all the brio, athleticism and virtuosic technique that has long been the norm with this enduring company.
The only small knock on Friday’s program was the puzzling order of the works. Typically, on a mixed-repertory lineup of this kind, companies open and close with big ensemble numbers, and, in “sandwich” fashion, present smaller pieces in the middle as kind of palate cleansers. In this case, the Ailey company began with the evening’s two short pieces, a duet and another for three dancers, bringing the first intermission in oddly quick fashion, and they both got a little lost in the memory by the night’s end.
It also didn’t help that the opener, “Me, Myself and You” (2023), is an intimate, contemplative work performed to a recorded rendition of Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” by vocalist Brandie Sutton. A hard sell when attendees are settling in their seats and not yet fully tuned in.
That said, it is a sensual twosome by choreographer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, who joined the Ailey company in 1984, became its first Filipina principal dancer and now teaches at the Ailey School. And it was beautifully and flowingly performed by Caroline T. Dartey and James Gilmer, with some lovely, intimate moments like his cradling her in his arms in a kind of loosely folded position and gently swinging her side to side.
Next up was “Solo” (1997), a lively, technically demanding classic by now 91-year-old Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen that has a slightly misleading title. The tightly crafted work, which perfectly fits the music by Johann Sebastian Bach, is actually for three dancers but they trade off doing thrusting, arms-driven solos and only come together as a trio momentarily at the end. The three dancers — Shawn Cusseaux, Yannick Lebrun and Chalvar Monteiro — were nothing short of superb, bringing ample doses of alacrity, dexterity, agility and zest to everything they did.
The weakest link in the evening’s line-up was arguably Alonzo King’s “Following the Subtle Current Upstream” (2000), a sometimes stark work for 10 dancers. It contains an array of contrasting looks and moods, elaborate cross-lighting effects and a sharply variegated soundtrack that never completely jell into a unified whole.
The evening was capped with the program’s second new work — New York choreographer’s Amy Hall Garner’s “Century” (2023) — a rousing, showy, high-stepping work for 10 dancers. It looks back to vaudeville and the Golden Age of Broadway musicals with the men in vests and slacks and the women in ruffled dresses.
Garner possesses a keen feel for jazz and show dancing, and she offers her own slightly updated take without diverging too far from the traditions, with an abundance of stylish shimmying and strutting and a little flirting to spice things up.
“Century” was an absolutely ideal closer for an absolutely winning evening.