Brown gives "Evidence" at The Joyce

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence looks better than ever. For his season at The Joyce Theater (now through Sunday), Brown has carefully selected a retrospective of works that represent him, his unique aesthetic and his current lineup of dancers with clarity and power.

Program A, which I attended last evening, includes two confident works from 2005--the Order My Steps ensemble and the rapturous solo Ife/My Heart, with guest artist Matthew Rushing absolutely on fire--as well as the 1998 Incidents and the world premiere of Torch. Program B, which I will miss, focuses on Walking Out The Dark from 2001 and Upside Down from 1998.

This most satisfying season offers evidence of this artist's diligent and joyful exploration of texture and time in music, brushing past the strict outer lines of movement to uncover more of what's possible to the dancing body, doing so from a place of mindfulness of the travels of African peoples throughout our history. Brown's through-line, his sustenance--and the fuel for his dancers--comes from the history of Black people uplifted by their connection to a spiritual source and to one another. His dancers help me see this as an experience of being filled to bursting with energies and identities. We carry so many stories and ancestors within our bodies, hence, so many impulses clamoring to be remembered, honored, expressed. The individual body must fragment, loosen, release, become its own orchestra. Yet, at times, Brown's troupe falls into smooth, disciplined harmony. I have always loved the way Brown chooses and reveals the diverse, rich music of the Black diaspora--from spirituals to Marley to house--and, for that, I view him as my teacher.

Torch, a tribute to Beth Young--Brown's friend and student, lost to cancer--opens with a cluster of dancers, wearing costumes of a fabric and color reminiscent of hospital scrubs, elevating then engulfing and concealing Annique S. Roberts while Otis Donovan Herring dances alone. But this obvious setup gives way to jaunty celebration of a relationship and a life, set to South African house music. Roberts, Herring and the entire company shine, and it is fun and moving to see Brown participate in the dancing as well.

See Ronald K. Brown/Evidence at The Joyce Theater through Sunday night. For a complete schedule and ticket information, click here.

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), Manhattan
(directions)

My review of Philadanco at The Joyce Theater

Here's my review of Philadelphia's great dance troupe, Philadanco, just posted on DanceMagazine.com: Click here.

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

Bigonzetti and Ailey go for it

Damn. Let's go for it. Why not?

That's Baroque. And that's Festa Barocco—a sexy hunk of Handel-powered fabulousness choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The entire thirty-one-member AAADT.

Not enough? Bigonzetti has put exquisite Hope Boykin in the lead as a Puckish character who introduces and weaves throughout the dance, stirring up love and mediating trouble. She has never looked or danced better.

In the ensemble segments, every square inch of stage space bursts with life and color in a festa of well-honed bodies, steely technique and passionate expressivity. Men and women wear the same sweeping, swirling satin skirts, designed by Marc Happel, each costume a sliver of a generously-enhanced rainbow, heightened and sculpted by Carlo Cerri's lighting. Bigonzetti cites the dramatic Caravaggio as a major influence on Festa Barocco's look and staging, and his choreography employs yet wisely redirects familiar Ailey strengths in unexpected ways, newly challenging and revitalizing these master performers.

Besides Boykin's shooting star, keep your eyes peeled for exceptional duets (Gwynenn Taylor Jones and Clifton Brown; Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims) and a brisk, incandescent solo (Matthew Rushing). And when the company is assembled onstage...wow!

Ailey is golden

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at City Center through January 4

Ailey bloggers

Dancer Matthew Rushing and choreographer Camille A. Brown have begun blogs about their personal experiences working with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Access these blogs by becoming an Ailey e-club member (free) at the site.