Beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater stays safe on stage & screen

Dance · Film
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations, 2021 Opening Night Gala. Photo: Christopher Duggan On December 1, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned triumphantly to New York City Center – its home base in the city for 50 years – having foregone its 2020 season (and a great deal of touring) during ...

Alvin Ailey in 1984: I’ll pass on Black ‘My Fair Lady’

Dance
Alvin Ailey, the renowned dancer/choreographer and founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was interviewed in 1984 for a televised series called “Dance On” hosted by jazz-dance specialist Billie Mahoney. Ms. Mahoney started the series at the height of the “dance boom” on a New York City cable access channel in 1980. She interviewed dozens ...

‘Content’ is such an ugly word for the arts 11

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
Everyone is doing the best they can in a pandemic. But will the rush to provide online content serve dance well over time? Pictured: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in ‘Revelations’ photo credit Paul Kolnik In olden days, two months ago, we attended live performances — dance, theater, and music. Along with movie screenings, that ...

Oh Samuel Lee Roberts, you beautiful Alvin Ailey dancer

Dance
The pleasure of watching the splendid and just-gorgeous dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the company’s opening night performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion drove home how much time I have been spending looking at images of dancers on a computer. And how that is not the real deal. To get the full ...

Bill T.’s “D-Man in the Waters” revived by Ailey @ Segerstrom

Dance
On offer this weekend at Segerstrom Center for the Arts from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: a major reconstruction of Bill T. Jones’s AIDS-related dance work, “D-Man in the Waters.“ The controversial choreographer created “D-Man” in 1989 at the height of the auto-immune-disease pandemic that robbed our world of many lives nonsensically but hit the ...

Ailey-ites embrace their inner meshuggenah in “Minus 16” 1

Dance
I’ve seen Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s “Minus 16,” in its various bits and pieces, components and rehashes, on Batsheva Dance Company (his home base), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and most recently on a gang of Cal Arts dance students. But what a wild trip, tonight in Costa Mesa, watching Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater try ...

Ailey rep line-up for O.C. lacks work by female choreographer

Dance
On tap during the upcoming seven-performance roster of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Orange County: a juicy line-up of works by primarily American choreographers — we really like that and we include Ohad Naharin as an honorary American since his early career had a strong presence in New York. It’s spot-on that Robert Battle, ...

Jamison, Battle, and Ailey dancers feted by L.A. community

Dance
This line-up of good-looking people is an elite squadron — they’re dancers with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Nice and fun people, too. We had a chance to meet them at Thursday night’s packed and bustling party hosted by mega-couple Mattie McFadden-Lawson and Michael A. Lawson (here’s Michael hanging out with one of his good ...