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LIFT* / D-Man in the Waters** / Revelations
Running time: approximately 1 hour and 55 minutes
Saturday, Mar 1 at 2PM
Saturday, Mar 1 at 8PM
Friday, Mar 7 at 7:30PM
Sunday, Mar 9 at 3PM
* Chicago Premiere
** Company Premiere
Lift - Choreography by Aszure Barton
The Making of Aszure Barton's LIFT from Alvin Ailey on Vimeo.
This propulsive world premiere by in-demand choreographer Aszure Barton accentuates the vitality and physical prowess of the Ailey company. Driven by the dancers’ passion, skill and collective power, the work was created over a 5-week developmental process with the entire Company. The percussive score, composed by Curtis Macdonald, is infused with the infectious energy and heart that she observed in her initial encounters with the Ailey dancers.
Barton’s exhilarating new work, her first commission for Ailey, celebrates and challenges the dancers with its markedly intricate rhythmic patterns and mercurial structure. A much sought-after dance maker whose choreography ranges from Baryshnikov to Broadway, Barton has a style that is “vulnerable and feisty, brightly adept yet peculiar, witty and impetuously wild” (Dancemagazine).
“LIFT embodies an atmosphere and energy created by our time spent together in collaboration. I feel very welcomed by the Ailey family and am honored to be working with such a wonderful group of artists. "
- Aszure Barton
D-Man in the Waters - Choreography by Bill T. Jones- Aszure Barton
Bill T. Jones' D-MAN IN THE WATERS (PART I) from Alvin Ailey on Vimeo.
In this exhilarating work by Kennedy Center Honoree, MacArthur Grant awardee and Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones (Fela!, Spring Awakening), rigorous formalism and musicality embody resilience and triumph over loss. The piece captures the infectious energy, innocence and will to survive of a beleaguered generation, and though it deals with sorrow, it maintains a defiantly celebratory tone.
Felix Mendelssohn’s soaring Octet for Strings propels the non-stop momentum, sending the dancers hurling across the stage in a whirlwind of leaps, rolls, and slides. Jones has said that the fact that Mendelssohn was just 16 years old when he composed the work resonated strongly with him. “This piece was created when we were dealing with a lot of death,” he said. “So creating this work was for us a way of dealing with grief, by finding the joy in the music this 16-year-old boy created.”
Jones’ tour-de-force was awarded a New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award and is praised for being one of the finest examples of the post-modern dance aesthetic. The New York Times called it “a stylish, impassioned outpouring of movement.”
“In a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy.”
– conceptual artist Jenny Holzer
Revelations – Choreography by Alvin Ailey– conceptual artist Jenny Holzer
Alvin Ailey's REVELATIONS from Alvin Ailey on Vimeo.
Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. More than just a popular dance work, it has become a cultural treasure, beloved by generations of fans.Seeing Revelations for the first time or the hundredth can be a transcendent experience, with audiences cheering, singing along and dancing in their seats from the opening notes of the plaintive “I Been ’Buked” to the rousing “Wade in the Water” and the triumphant finale, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”
Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the African-American cultural heritage —“sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” This enduring classic is a tribute to that tradition, born out of the choreographer’s “blood memories” of his childhood in rural Texas and the Baptist Church. But since its premiere in 1960, the ballet has been performed continuously around the globe, transcending barriers of faith and nationality, and appealing to universal emotions, making it the most widely-seen modern dance work in the world.
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