Getting the Ailey spirit

To honor beloved Judith Jamison on the occasion of her 20th anniversary at the helm of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ronald K. Brown choreographed a new work named for Jamison's 1993 autobiography, Dancing Spirit. While this evocative nontet has won a New York Times critic's stamp of approval for gently nudging Ailey's dancers past their patented smooth virtuosity, it scarcely departs from Brown's own comfort zone.

In terms of its delicious music mix, hybrid movement technique, staging, idealistic tone and spiritual reverence, Dancing Spirit is recognizably part of the Ronald K. Brown family of dances. It probably just looks more uniformly classy on Ailey than it might on Evidence, Brown's scrappier group.

And, yes, Dancing Spirit looks especially grand on Ailey, with the grandest of all performances coming from Matthew Rushing and Yannick Lebrun. They work Brown's movement through their bodies with openness and vivacity (Rushing), minute, agile precision (Lebrun), attentiveness and understanding (both gentlemen). They make you glad to be there. And what they most clearly tell me about Jamison is how focused and serious she is--like Brown--about attending to the work at hand.
 
I got unexpectedly emotional watching the all-too-familiar swirl and twirl of Memoria--Alvin Ailey's 1979 tribute to the late Joyce Trisler, his colleague and friend. (Haven't I seen this piece, like Revelations, a gazillion times?) But, this time, it brought a warm flush to my cheeks and tears to my eyes--perhaps, in no small measure, because of Constance Stamatiou's sensitive performance. She's lovely. Truth be told, though, it was probably Ailey's vision of the future--the exuberant chorus of young dance students swarming the stage in the work's celebratory conclusion--that did me in. In a difficult time, it feels good to reconnect with that sense of optimism and dedication.

New York City Center season (through January 3) schedule and ticketing