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Revelation in dance from Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Birmingham Hippodrome
*****
SO what can you say about Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater? If you have seen them then you know all you need
to know about them – they are just dazzling.
If you haven’t seen them and have the slightest
interest in dance then you really should add them to your bucket list.
They are widely regarded by those who know as
simply the best contemporary dance company in the world and I wouldn’t
argue with that.
Opening night at
Birmingham Hippodrome saw the range of their talents starting with
Open Door
which opens with the sort of sophisticated, laid back jazz piano you
hear in smoky clubs in the early hours in 1940’s films.
Choreographed by Ronald K Brown, we move on
through various beats and rythyms to the music of Arturo Farill and the
Afro-Latin Jazz orchestra with 10 dancers in pairs, trios, ensembles
slinking around the stage.
Good dancers make it all look so natural and so
easy, so much so you might even think you might even be able to try it
at home – and you may well be back on your feet again by Christmas if
you are stupid enough to try it.
The dances are smooth as silk, flowing and
physical with the body becoming fluid.
Next comes
Piazzolla Caldera
choreographed by Paul Taylor. If Argentina is to give the world nothing
else, it has played its part in culture with the tango and its
distinctive music, which infuses each dance with passion and sensuality.
The set is a dull red all under a forest of bare,
hanging, industrial lights. There is also some clever lighting from
Jennifer Tipton to throw huge shadows of two dancing drunks on to the
rear of the stage.
And that brings us to
Alvin Ailey’s signature dance,
Revelations, danced to a collection of
spirituals with anguish, hope and finally a glorious celebration with
the entire company in the rousing Rocka
My Soul in The Bosom of Abraham
If you are not tapping your feet long before the
end then check your pulse.
Their visits are events, the previous one was in
2010, so if you missed them this time look out for the next. You will
not be disappointed.
Roger Clarke
23-09-16
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