His revelation
S. Florida-raised ballet director Robert Battle brings production home for five performances
SoFla-raised ballet director behind “Awakening” realizes a dream.
As a teenager in Liberty City, Robert Battle browsed ballet books wondering if he could fit into that white-dominated world by becoming the first “black Baryshnikov.”
Today, Battle is the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He’s only the third person to hold the position.
“I always had an image of myself sort of being some kind of leader, but I never could have imagined that this could happen,” he says. “It’s a dream come true, but a dream that I didn’t even know I had.”
Battle returns to Miami this week to lead the dance company through five performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. On the first night, Thursday, the company will perform “Awakening,” Battle’s first world premiere since he became artistic director in 2011.
The performances will feature distinct choreographies but will share a closing act, “Revelations,” Alvin Ailey’s 1960 piece about African-Americans finding strength in their faith to fight racism during the civil rights movement.
Battle says seeing a performance of “Revelations” as a teenager was a turning point. Battle decided to become a dancer after watching Ailey’s dancers “in all shades of brown” tell a story with which hewas so familiar.
“‘Revelations’ really was connecting all the dots for me,” he recalls. “I grew up in the church. I grewup hearing about the struggles of African-Americans in this country. I saw people who looked likeme, who had the same skin tone, sawthem doing this magnificent and graceful, and elegant and beautiful, and energetic stuff onstage, and Iwanted to be like that.”
Entering theworld of dance at a relatively late age was not Battle’s biggest obstacle: Hewas born bowlegged and wore braces for years to straighten his legs. “The risk was that I could have a lot of trouble walking, if at all,” he says.
As a preteen, Battle took martial arts lessons to defend himself from classmates who bullied him for playing the piano and singing. He practiced martial arts until he saw “Revelations.”
“I think when the curtain went up on ‘Revelations,’ there was light, there itwas, there was that infinite true,” Battle says. “So even when the curtain went down, Iwas still left with that inspiration and joy.”
“Awakening,” Battle says, represents the effect Ailey’s piece had on him.
While in Miami, Battle will teach dance workshops to students at his former high school, Miami North-western Senior High School, and teach some of his “Awakening” choreography to students from New World School of the Arts. On Monday, hewas scheduled to read fromthe biographical children’s book “My Story, My Dance” at the Café at Books and Books at the Arsht Center. The book was written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome.
“I’ve never abandoned that young, bowlegged, curious child who sawthe company so many years ago,” Battle says. “I make sure that I bring that child with me and remember that young self, that curiosity, that imagination. Because that’s what grounds me, and that’s what keeps me humble and generous, because I never forget where I come from. I never forget Liberty City.”
Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater will perform Thursday-Sunday at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., in Miami. Tickets cost $25-$120. Call 305-949-6722 or go to ArshtCenter.org.