Tomorrow night's performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts will mark some important steps in the history of the famous company.
The experience may well prove revelatory for the audience, but that doesn't mean the 30 dancers expect to be received with contemplative, complimentary silence. “Feel free to make noise any time you want to,” advised Ailey's artistic director Judith Jamison. “Our audiences have always been spontaneous. You can feel free to do that at an Ailey performance. It's our prerogative for you.”
The dance company is currently undertaking a tour of 24 American cities celebrating 50 years of Alvin Ailey's masterpiece dance creation “Revelations,” which will be part of the performance program tomorrow. “It's a seminal piece,” Jamison said of the work that uses spirituals to explore what Ailey himself called the cultural heritage of the African-American — “sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.”
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater itself emerged more than 52 years ago from an exciting and now legendary performance at the 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers. One of its most famous performers over the years was the tall, striking Jamison. She became artistic director in 1989 after Ailey's untimely death at the age of 58.
Coming up is probably the dance company's most significant move since then. Jamison, who turns 68 today, is retiring at the end of next month. Her replacement will be choreographer Robert Battle.
However, during a telephone interview from Ailey's headquarters in Manhattan last week, this was a carefully staged piece of choreography that the straight-talking Jamison seemed to downplay personally, except to praise Battle (a new work by Battle, “The Hunt,” is also on the program for tomorrow's performance).
“He's going to do a fine job. He's a very talented man,” she said.
Her retirement has been in the works for some time, having been first announced in 2008. The appointment of Battle, 38, who although from outside the Ailey company had staged several works with them over the years, was announced last May. The two have been working together for several months. On July 1, Jamison becomes, according to the company, “artistic director emerita.”
“I'm not going anywhere,” Jamison said. “All I'm doing is handing over a title.”
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper of England in 2007, Jamison was asked “Who or what have you sacrificed for your art?” Her response was, “I haven't had a family, but I don't think of that as a sacrifice; my dancers are my family. And I'm fortunate enough to have spent my entire career doing what I love. Not many people can say that.”
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