company focus

Remembering Alvin Ailey: Through the Eyes of Dana Hash-Campbell
Retold by Elizabeth McPherson, PhD
I entered the Ailey school as a scholarship student in 1986. It was very different then –-- smaller and more intimate. We were in the old Minskoff building. There were maybe 12 of us on scholarship. It was personal. Alvin knew everybody. He would stroll the halls and walk in, and sit and watch somebody’s class for a while, and then he’d get up and walk on. He would run up behind you and put his hands over your eyes, and say “Guess who?”
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'The Groove To Nobody's Business,' 'Portrait of Billie,' 'The Road of the Phoebe Snow,' 'The Winter In Lisbon'
by Thea Nerissa Barnes -- September 5, 2007, Sadler's Wells, London
With Ray Charles music as the score, Matthew Rushing’s solo introduces this work by emerging choreographer Camille A. Brown. It is a mix of Africanist hip hop-ish gyrations and polyrhythms with the dexterity of contemporary and ballet influences. The movement language amalgamates into wonderful crisp and quirky dynamics.
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'Revelations,' 'Night Creature,' 'Pas de Duke,' 'The River,''The Firebird,' 'The Golden Section'
by Ana Abad-Carles -- September 4 & 6, 2007, Sadler's Wells, London
It is always a pleasure to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and on this occasion, Sadler’s Wells has ensured that the group brings three different programmes and stays for two weeks. The audience’s response has been rapturous and, watching the company on opening night, there was little doubt as to the reason for that: The dancers seem to keep getting better and better every time they come. Bringing a whole evening of Ailey’s works made the dancers feel so at ease in their founder’s style that by the time they got to perform “Revelations” they seemed to have been born to dance that work.
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'Best of Alvin Ailey'
by David Mead -- September 21, 2007, Hippodrome Theatre, Birmingham
That a ‘Best of Ailey’ programme contains three works all over twenty years old probably says a great deal about what the company has, or rather has not, been doing in the meantime. Perhaps more surprisingly, two of the works were originally made for other companies, with only “Revelations”, the Ailey company’s signature work being made by the man himself.
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'Shining Star', 'Caught', 'Reminiscin'', 'Revelations'
by Ana Abad-Carles
The first piece of the evening was “Shining Star”, choreographed in 2004 by American choreographer David Parsons to the music of Earth, Wind & Fire.  It opened with a section choreographed for ten dancers.
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'Shining Star', 'Caught', 'Reminiscin'', 'Revelations'
by David Mead
The Ailey company has achieved what few other dance companies have managed. They have a distinct image, a brand if you like, and present a form of American modern dance that almost no one else comes close to.
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'Love Stories', 'Vespers', 'Solo', 'Revelations'
by Christine
London dance audiences love Alvin Ailey, and it has been a coup for Sadler’s Wells to present the company twice in recent memory. This programme took us on a journey with Ailey from the company’s groundbreaking work in the 1960s through to the company’s 21st century works.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre - mixed repertory
by Elizabeth McPherson -- November 28, 2007, City Center, New York City
Opening night of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s 2007 New York season at City Center was a joyous occasion. Audience members, ushers, and ticket takers all seemed caught up in the excitement of the evening.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre - Repertory Program
by Kate Snedeker -- September 30, 2005, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Though the Alvin Ailey company was founded nearly 50 years ago, Friday evening was the company's first ever performance in Edinburgh. Judging by the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response at the packed theatre, it was a trip long overdue.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre - Mixed Repertory
by Carmel Morgan -- March 23, 2007, Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, Memphis, Tennessee

Ailey II - 'Intimate Voices,' 'Divining,' 'The Hunt' 'Revelations': Crunchtime
by Mary Ellen Hunt
January 21, 2005 -- Stanford Lively Arts, Palo Alto
In my household, a single viewing of any of their dancers is likely spark far more abdominal crunches than any New Year’s resolution ever called for.
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