The company's signature piece, performed as the finale at both of last week's shows, was Ailey's 1960 composition "Revelations." According to the program, the piece "has been seen by more people around the world than any [other] dance piece."
And more yet should see it, judging by the audience's enthusiastic reaction on Tuesday night.
Featuring a variety of dances set to traditional African-American music, the piece was inspired by Ailey's love of gospel and blues while growing up in Texas in the 1940s. The somber movements "Wade in the Water" and "Fix Me Jesus" were backed by earthy, golden sets, and the dancers performed beautifully symbolic lifts and arm gestures towards the sky.
A hand-clapping, foot-stomping rendition of the spiritual "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" ended "Revelations" with a celebration of the soulful tradition of gospel music. The company performed it twice -- after a standing ovation, female dancers in bright yellow dresses kept the audience on its feet clapping to the infectious gospel music, even the second time around.
The most unique part of the show was "Night Creatures," in which Ailey's choreography was set to jazz by legendary composer Duke Ellington. Their movements mirrored the jazz rhythms so well that the dancers seemed to become one with the music, their bodies merely the instruments through which the melodies flowed.
With the sparkle of the dancers' jazzy blue leotards and the swish of their skirts, the audience was transported back in time to a 1920s Chicago jazz club.
There were no elaborate sets -- only a black background sprinkled with a few stars. But then again, overdone complexity wasn't necessary. The choreography combined classical ballet techniques with saucy, bold modern dance to create a completely original and sophisticated blend.
The weakest part of the concert was the experimental piece "Treading," which seemed out of place in the greater framework of the concert as a whole. Two androgynous beings (who only after the performance could be distinguished as man and woman in nude leotards) rose like alien forms out of a primordial world on stage, demonstrating incredible feats of flexibility. It was amazing to watch the dancers perform almost inhuman undulations to the tribal beating of drums -- they contorted their limbs into outlandish positions that defy description. At one point the genderless pair of dancers resembled a parent and small child doing the "airplane."
Some of the positions were comical, and others seemed to make time slow.
The piece, "The Road of Phoebe Snow," marked a return to the moody, sultry beat of Ellington and showcased the company's trademark strong group choreography. Through danced and dramatic scenes portraying events that may or may not have happened on the tracks of the Lackawanna Railroad Line, the work depicted the train The Phoebe Snow as it passed through the midwestern United States. In "West Side Story"-esque movement, the women dueled the men until the final impressive moment when all of the women, decked out in colorful costumes, were lifted up into the air.
As a marvelously synchronized troupe, the dancers revealed extreme athletic prowess, their muscular bodies spinning and leaping on stage with remarkable grace and control. Many of the pieces presented the beauty of defying gender expectations through a medium as fluid as dance -- at one point a woman lifted a male dancer much larger than herself; all throughout, the men swayed their hips in ways that few women can.
The attitude and rhythm of the Alvin Ailey dancers were astounding, and even had senior citizens in the crowd jiving to the beat.
Let's just hope we don't have to wait another four decades for this company to return to rouse the quiet town of Hanover.
