BWW Reviews: ALVIN AILEY, The Magic is Now at Lincoln Center

Alvin Ailey Dance American Dance Theater received a standing ovation from an appreciative audience for their Thursday evening, June 12th performance at Lincoln Center. The company will be performing for two weeks, a fifteen performance engagement, through June 22nd in the David H. Koch Theater. Metropolitan area audiences should take advantage of the rich opportunity to enjoy four distinctively different programs by this captivating company. Robert Battle, Artistic Director, expressed his pleasure to the audience that this year's Lincoln Center season has been extended for an additional week.

Thursday's show featured wonderful pieces that showcased the company's abundant talents. The Ailey dancers appeared to defy gravity as they performed seemingly impossible extensions, turns and intricate lifts with ease and perfection; signatures of this famous troupe.

The program opened with Chroma (2006), choreographed by the British choreographer and director Wayne McGregor with music by Jack White and Joby Talbot. The piece was an Ailey Company Premiere in 2013. The luminous set creates an entrance and exit space, a frame for the ten dancers' entrancing display with exceptional partnering.

The second piece was The Pleasure of the Lesson (2014), a World Premiere choreographed by Robert Moses with music by Moses and David Worm. This romantic, sensual piece features ten company members in a series of stunning combinations complimented by vibrant lighting effects. Created especially for this spring's engagement, this piece marks the first collaboration between Moses and the Company; a brilliant artistic relationship.

The final performance piece was Revelations (1960), an iconic modern dance classic, choreographed by Alvin Ailey with spiritual music in three parts, Pilgrim of Sorrow, Take Me to the Water and Move, Members Move. With ten musical selections and dances that included the full company, the audience was swept away. Revelations has moving portrayals of ceremony, ritual and celebration that include Fix Me Jesus, Wade in the Water, and Sinner Man. In the final number, Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham, the full company performed this joyous, rousing dance with characteristic excellence.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is an incredible collective. The dancers are wholly invested in their art, in sync with each other as they master their individual performances. The grace and athleticism that distinguishes Ailey technique is absolutely mesmerizing. Metropolitan area audiences should not miss an opportunity to enjoy their spring engagement at Lincoln Center. For ticketing and more information, visit the box office at David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza, call (212) 496-0600 or go online at www.AlvinAiley.org .

Photo Credit: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Wayne McGregor's Chroma. Photo by Paul Kolnik

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