AILEY II's Season To Include George Faison's MOVIN ON, Beginning 4/15
By: Reynard Loki Mar. 26, 2009
For over forty years George Faison has reigned as one of the dance and theatre world’s most respected director/choreographers.
This season, AILEY II, the young and gifted second company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will feature Mr. Faison’s highly acclaimed ballet “Movin' On.”
The AILEY II’s anticipated two week season premieres Wednesday, April 15th at The Ailey Citigroup Theater (405 West 55th Street).
The season will run through Sunday, April 26th.
For this internationally renowned ballet, Tony Award-winning choreographer and former member of AAADT George Faison uses the vocal stylings of the celebrated jazz artist Betty Carter to paint a picture of those who recognize their differences in attitudes and life, but “move on” in spite of it all.
The piece’s vibrantly strong energy colors each step of the groundbreaking choreography, elevating the ballet to its current position in the company’s repertoire.
Mr. Faison most recently restaged his classic work “Suite Otis” for the AAAADT’s 50th Anniversary season; to over-the-top critical raves.
In 2007, when the Company debuted its annual New York Season at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, they performed to sold-out audiences. Ailey II’s 2009 New York season comes on the heels of a successful 35-city North American tour and a sensationally successful 2008 spring season at The Joyce Theater as a part of the 1.2.3 Festival.
The playing schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Friday, April 17, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Friday, April 24, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 3:00 pm & 7:00 pm
The Ailey Citigroup Theater is located at: 405 West 55th Street
Tickets cost $45.
Long regarded by jazz insiders as perhaps the consummate jazz vocalist of the late 20th century,
Betty Carter represented all that was right with jazz singing. Her adventurous scat style and distinctive interpretations put her on par with the other great ladies of jazz - Ella Fitgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae. In addition to her singing, she also helped nurture and develop many young musicians who have gone on to develop stellar jazz careers. In 1991, she was granted an award by the NEA, and in 1997 she was invited to the White House to perform and receive a Presidential honor for her work. The death of Ms. Carter from pancreatic cancer on September 26, 1998, brought to a close a remarkable career spanning nearly fifty years.
Dr. George W. Faison won a Tony®, Drama Desk and Carbonell Award for “The Wiz”. He was nominated for another Tony® for “Porgy and Bess” at Radio City Music Hall and received an Emmy Nomination for “The Josephine Baker Story”, starring Lynn Whitfield. He has staged and directed concerts and videos for such greats as Ashford & Simpson; Natalie Cole; Earth, Wind & Fire; Roberta Flack; Aretha Franklin; Stephanie Mills; Dionne Warwick; Stevie Wonder; Betty Carter and Miles Davis, to name a few. He most recently directed a revival of “West Side Story” at the Lyric in Baltimore and choreographed the new musical “Tin Pan Alley Rag” at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre and choreographed, directed and wrote the book for the “If This Hat Could Talk” a musical that celebrates women’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Washington, DC, Faison appeared in and choreographed numerous high school productions. He studied at Howard University, but after attending a concert by the Ailey Company he began to study and perform with the American Light Opera Company, the Capitol Ballet and with Prof. Owen Dodson, also at Howard University, where he met his mentor, Louis Johnson, who invited him to come to New York City, where he soon joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He formed his own dance company, The George Faison Universal Dance Experience in 1971. Company members included Debbie Allen and Gary DeLoatch and his ballets “Suite Otis”, “Slaves” and “Tilt” have become dance classics. They are audience favorites and are still performed today. In 1989 he wrote, staged and co-produced the NBC TV tribute “Cosby Salutes Ailey”. He staged and co-wrote the recent PBS TV special “Cook, Dixon & Young”. Other film and TV projects included the “Cotton Club” movie, the ABC TV series “City Kids”, segments of the “Cosby” show, “Amen” and the “Oprah Winfrey” show in addition to some groundbreaking videos, “It’s Raining Men” for the Weather Girls, “Oasis” for Roberta Flack, “Boogie Wonderland” for Earth, Wind & Fire and “Sounds” for Betty Carter. He has directed and choreographed plays and musicals at numerous LORT Theaters and also directed several urban shows. He wrote or co-authored “Apollo It Was Just like Magic…”, “Sing, Mahalia, Sing!”, “Heaven And The Homeboy”, “Tilt”, “On Common Ground”, Harlem Hot and Sassy" and “Awakening”. He is the co-founder and artistic producing director at the Faison Firehouse Theater located in a former NYC Fire House in Central Harlem, where he will begin the inaugural season in May 2009 and where he developed one of the most successful performing arts based urban youth programs, “The Firehouse Respect Project”®, inspired by Prof. Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot’s book of the same title and fully endorsed by her. Known for his keen eye for brilliant new talent, George Faison gave first professional jobs to many well known performers, S. Epatha Merkerson; Jackee; Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad and Hinton Battle. He recently created a new ballet for Ailey II, "Movin' On" to Betty Carter's track of the same title. He considers UMASS Amherst his Alma Mater, as he received his first honorary D.F.A. there. He is an adjunct professor at UMASS, Amherst and has taught at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and the University of Michigan at Kalamazoo.
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