Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is Coming to NJPAC

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will complete its coast-to-coast North American tour at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Friday-Sunday, May 6-8, 2022. Ailey's extraordinary dancers will move audiences in a program celebrating Artistic Director Robert Battle's 10th anniversary, along with a diverse repertory of premieres, timeless favorites, and Ailey's must-see American masterpiece Revelations. This marks the 23rd time Ailey graces the NJPAC stage; the last performance was in 2019 due to the 2020-21 pandemic shutdown. (Please scroll down for the complete schedule and program.)

"Alvin Ailey's vision opened the door for generations of artists to use dance to inspire, unite, and enlighten," stated Artistic Director Robert Battle. "Despite the twists and turns on the road we have all traveled together, it is exciting to be returning to our Newark home while finding new ways to share artistry that renews our spirit of courage, hope, and joy. I am deeply humbled to have led this seminal Company for a decade, joined by incomparable dancers and choreographers on a journey of discovery that extends from the powerful works of our founder to the important voices of today-an ongoing dance dialogue that shines a light on the strength and resilience of our common humanity around the world."

The NJPAC homecoming engagement opens on Friday, May 6th at 8:00 p.m. with a Battle 10th Anniversary program celebrating Artistic Director Robert Battle's visionary leadership over the past 10 years that has moved the Company forward in exciting ways into a seventh decade. Robert Battle's featured works are the New Jersey premiere of For Four, which captures the pent-up energy of a world cooped up during the pandemic set to a Wynton Marsalis jazz score written in 4/4 time, along with a new production of Robert Battle's sensuous, swirling duet Unfold, evoking the tenderness and ecstasy in Gustave Charpentier's aria "Depuis Le Jour" sung by the incomparable Leontyne Price. Signature works will be performed like Ella, In/Side, Love Stories finale, Mass, and Takademe. Battle 10th Anniversary program repeats on the Sunday, May 8th at 3:00 p.m. matinee on Mother's Day.

The program on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 p.m. features two New Jersey Premieres - Aszure Barton's BUSK and Ailey Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts' Holding Space,

translated from film to the stage this season. Holding Space examines the ways in which we can collectively accommodate one another to better traverse this new and unprecedented terrain. In BUSK, internationally renowned choreographer Aszure Barton invites us to enjoy the fragility, tenderness, and resilience that exist within the human experience. Set to a spirited score, BUSK has been described as watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche.

The uplifting finale of all performances is Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations, created in 1960, which has inspired generations through its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring spirituals. Since its debut in 1960, Revelations has been seen by more people than any other modern dance work and has moved audiences through its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring music, evoking timeless themes of determination, hope, and transcendence. Springing from Ailey's childhood memories of growing up in the south and attending services at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Texas, Revelations pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of the African- American and explores the emotional spectrum of the human condition.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater @ NJPAC

Schedule:

Fri 5/6 @ 8:00 p.m.

Battle 10th Anniversary: Mass, In/Side, Ella / For Four, Unfold, Takademe, Love Stories finale / Revelations

Sat 5/7 @ 8:00 p.m.
New Jersey Premieres: Holding Space / BUSK / Revelations

Sun 5/8 @ 3:00 p.m.

Battle 10th Anniversary: Mass, In/Side, Ella / For Four, Unfold, Takademe, Love Stories finale / Revelations

New Jersey Premieres:

• For Four (2021) - Take four amazing Ailey dancers and add in Wynton Marsalis' delicious jazz score - written in 4/4 time - and you'll understand why Robert Battle cheekily titled this exuberant short work For Four. Capturing the pent-up energy of a world cooped up during the pandemic, Battle expresses the drive to perform and the electricity of dancers coming together to create.

• Holding Space (2021) - Against a backdrop of civil unrest and our relentless threat upon the natural world, Ailey Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts examines the ways in which we are taking care. Holding Space asks: in what ways can we collectively accommodate one another to better traverse this new and unprecedented terrain? The work itself functions as a container, a sacred space created to give shape to, and hold, the complex emotions of this moment. At its core, it is about healing and the quest for sustainable pathways towards wholeness.

• Busk (2009) - Internationally renowned choreographer Aszure Barton invites us to enjoy the fragility, tenderness, and resilience that exist within the human experience. Set to a spirited score, BUSK has been described as watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche. Under Barton's direction, every facet of the dancers' bodies and minds are engaged, and the complex layering of movement reveals the inherent wisdom of the body.

  New Productions:

• Unfold (2007, 2021 New Production) - Artistic Director Robert Battle's sensuous, swirling duet evokes the tenderness and ecstasy in Gustave Charpentier's aria "Depuis Le Jour" sung by the incomparable Leontyne Price. With its fluid grace, this gem exemplifies Battle's skill for nuanced gestures and vivid imagery.

Repertory Favorites:

• Ella (2008 / Ailey Company Premiere 2016) - Created as a solo, this high-energy comical dance by Robert Battle was reinvented as a duet for Ailey's December 2016 Opening Night Gala benefit, "An Evening of Ailey and Jazz" in celebration of Ella Fitzgerald's 2017 birth centennial. Using her live concert recording of "Airmail Special," Ella matches the iconic singer's virtuosic scatting with lightning-fast, articulated movement in an irresistible tour-de- force that leaves audiences (and the dancers) breathless.

• In/Side (2008 / Ailey Company Premiere 2009) - The vivid emotions of Nina Simone's "Wild is the Wind" play out in Robert Battle's gripping solo. The bold, unrestrained style that has become his signature is evinced in this visceral cry of pure physicality. The piece, originally commissioned by Dance New Amsterdam, was created as part of its annual series "In the Company of Men," a celebration of the spirit of male dancers in New York in light of the AIDS epidemic.

• Love Stories finale (2004) - Love Stories was Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison's dynamic collaboration with hip-hop pioneer Rennie Harris and Robert Battle. Inspired by the African concept of "Sankofa," which teaches that "we don't know where we are going unless we know where we have been," this extraordinary ballet celebrates the heritage of African- American dance and the rich legacy of Alvin Ailey. In the ballet's joyful third section, which is presented as a standalone piece this season, Robert Battle portrays a luminous future built on the lessons and legacy of the past, with a forceful push forward.

• Mass (2004 / Ailey Company Premiere 2017) - originally commissioned for The Julliard School, Mass features a score by John Mackey, who has collaborated on multiple occasions with Mr. Battle. - including his 2015 world premiere Awakening. The work features 16 dancers showcasing Robert Battle's signature ritualistic choreography.

• Takademe (1999 / Ailey Company Premiere 2012) - Robert Battle's bravura work mixes humor and high-flying movement in a savvy deconstruction of Indian Kathak dance rhythms. Clear shapes and propulsive jumps mimic the vocalized syllables of Sheila Chandra's syncopated score. For Battle, the work represents his modest beginnings as a dance-maker and reminds him of how far he's come. He created Takademe while still a dancer with the Parsons Dance Company, in a living room in Queens, New York.

  Ailey Classic:

• Revelations (1960) - American classic acclaimed as a musta??see for all, Alvin Ailey's signature masterpiece is a tribute to his heritage and genius. Choreographed when he was only 29 years old, Revelations is an intimate reflection that explores the emotional spectrum of the human condition, from the deepest of grief to the holiest joy. Using African-American religious spirituals, this suite is a classic tribute to the resolve and determination of a people. Revelations has been seen by more people around the world than any other work of modern dance.

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