Whenever Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater comes to town, audiences are guaranteed a party onstage. But this is no wild, free-form jam with only entertainment in mind. The eclectic New York modern company, now in its 47th season, cross-pollinates pop culture with profound artistry.
Its Thursday opening at the Auditorium Theatre revealed a troupe of exquisitely disciplined and virtuosic dancers in touch with the late founder Ailey’s belief that movement can lead to a deeper appreciation of human possibility. The two Chicago premieres made it clear that pop artists are indeed artists and social dance forms can be legitimately expressed on the concert stage.
Artistic director Judith Jamison teamed up with celebrated choreographer Robert Battle and hip-hop innovator Rennie Harris to create “Love Stories,” a homage to the recent opening of the company’s new dance facility and to the pain and glory of performance. Set to music from “Stevie Wonder at the Close of a Century” and a compilation of Ailey’s voice, it opens with a meticulous, grounded Clifton Brown alone in a dance studio. Amid the trial and error of the rehearsal space, his body — as it spins on flexed feet or melts into muscular extensions — becomes a canvas for pure-movement art.
With high-powered contributions from Battle and Harris, “Love Stories” breaks dance-style barriers so that hip-hop, African, modern and ballet co-exist and feed each other. The piece includes breathtaking performances by Dwana Adiaha Smallwood and Abdur-Rahim Jackson — capable of sexy, pole-vaulting athleticism. “Love Stories” honors, with non-stop invention, the creative drive.
Another local premiere, David Parsons’ “Shining Star,” raises disco to non-cliched heights. Driven by the music of Earth, Wind & Fire, this club-set ensemble piece (enlivened by Howell Binkley’s blinding floodlights) joins sensuality with optical illusions, airborne antics and wry unison dancing.
There are moments, however, when posturing stands in for strong movement. But, as a whole, the piece’s elegance and vibrancy have lasting value.
Every concert ends with Ailey’s 1960 dance-opera, “Revelations,” and it invariably elicits a revival-meeting response from the audience. Rooted in spirituals, the three-part dance-religious experience contains within it an unparalleled sense of anguish, commitment, frivolity and hope.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell and Glenn Allen Sims stretch their bodies beyond what’s physically possible in the elegiac “Fix Me, Jesus” section. Amos J. Machanic Jr.’s taxing solo “I Wanna Be Ready” is followed by the most charged trio ever crafted for male dancers: “Sinner Man,” featuring the flawless Clifton Brown, untouched by gravity, and sturdy performances by Dion Wilson and Samuel Deshauteurs.
The Ailey engagement continues through Sunday with more works by Ailey, Ulysses Dove and the Chicago premiere of Donald Byrd’s “Burlesque.”
Performances at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy. Tickets: $26-$72. Call 312-902-1500.
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