It took 25 years for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre to come back to Montreal, but only a few minutes to get the public transported far, far away last Thursday.
It was the first of three performances by the world-acclaimed New York-based company at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place-des-Arts. They were presenting two of their touchstone pieces: “The River” and “Revelations,” created by the deceased Alvin Ailey himself, as well as the 2005 “Reminiscin’,” choreographed by artistic director and former company star Judith Jamison.
From the moment he created the company in 1958, Alvin Ailey took pride in honouring African-American culture by creating choreographies that incorporate elements of all types of dance traditions such as ballet, jazz, modern dance and cabaret for his multi-ethnic dancers. While “The River” was the result of a collaboration with jazz figure Duke Ellington, who composed its music, “Revelations” became a fundamental piece for African-American dance, displaying black people’s relation to religion in their struggle against oppression. It’s hard to imagine what it was like for a Texas-born black artist to present such a creation in 1960, but seeing it performed 45 years later in front of a mostly well-off white audience makes one realize how Ailey’s work is timeless.
Going beyond the barriers of ethnicity, the show delivered an impression of joy, faith and intense communion. The link between the dancers seemed almost physical as they evolved as a whole; shivers ran down my back as the dancers, in line, held each other’s hands and actually became “The River,” not even trying to imitate it. Core members of the direction team, such as Judith Jamison and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya danced for Ailey for years before carrying on his work. Some dancers have been there for up to 25 years and others graduated from the Ailey School.
It’s a delight to see the dancers evolve on stage. Their bodies are curved and athletic, their gestures are nervous and passionate. Dancing in “Revelations”, they bring one of the best companies in the world to a popular level and remove all the elitism usually associated with modern dance.
The popularity that the company benefits from allowed it to extend its activities. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, which was already sheltering the Ailey School, now administrates another company, Ailey II, as well as the Ailey Extension, which offers dance courses to the public. It gathered enough donations to build in the heart of Manhattan the largest facility dedicated to dance in the United States, from which it operates since 2004. The Ailey name is now synonym of financial prosperity, something rarely seen in the world of dance.
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