Thursday, March 19, 1998
Ailey through the ages
DANCE: Judith Jamison secures the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater’s place in history
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
A few scraps of metal – perhaps the remnants of a broken pen
cartridge – lie on the table of the Daily Bruin’s otherwise bare
conference room. They wait there for a custodian’s encompassing
sweep.
But instead they get Judith Jamison, artistic director of the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and sharp-eyed scout for all
things bearing creative potential. Immediately, she begins
arranging the gold-hued twigs into patterns, her slender dancer’s
hands saying as much as her bright eyes and mile-a-minute
speech.
"It looks like pieces of metal, doesn’t it? Look at that!"
Jamison marvels. "What does he call it? The something theory. In
‘Jurassic Park,’ Jeff Goldblum … The chaos theory!"
It’s hard to say just how well the turtle-necked mathematician’s
musings apply to the artistic world. On one hand, it takes a lot of
luck to keep a dance company afloat for 40 years. Perhaps even a
little chaos, if one traces the Ailey Company’s sporadic if
determined beginnings, performing off and on in various New York
City YMCA’s.
But the modern dance troupe also boasts a firm commitment to
populist dance and relentless curiosity. As the 30-some dancers
travel the world, stopping at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for
four performances beginning Thursday, little escapes Jamison’s
grasp. She inquires about silly snapshots on Bruin employees’
desks, and when the company made an unprecedented visit to South
Africa, she made sure her dancers worked a few Zulu dance lessons
into their busy tour schedules.
"Because," Jamison says, "dancers are always voracious about new
things, about perfecting what is old and grasping at what is new
and trying to put it on yourself, rub it into the skin."
Appropriately, the company’s 40th anniversary celebration is a
sampling of just what Ailey and his legacy have perfected over the
years. The six pieces Jamison chose represent the company’s
eclectic tastes and continual nod to cultural history.
Half the works are Ailey’s own creations: 1971’s "Cry," 1974’s
"Night Creature" and, of course, "Revelations," the signature 1960
ballet of African American musical discovery that revealed the
company as a powerful voice in contemporary dance. Decades later, a
third generation of dancers is making the moves their own.
"There’s this constant turnover about relating it in your mind
to your life," Jamison says of the choreography. "’Revelations’
defines that because ‘Revelations’ is about our humanity, not how
many turns you’re going to do, how high you’re going to jump."
Backing this up are the three other pieces: a new production of
Talley Beatty’s "The Stack-Up" (an anti-drug ballet with a disco
backdrop), Ulysses Dove’s "Bad Blood" (an athletically sexual
exploration of relationships) and the Los Angeles company premiere
of George Faison’s "Slaves."
Faison’s ballet depicts African villages being raided and their
inhabitants stowed in the holds of slave ships on their way to a
grave new world.
"People keep saying, ‘Oh, ‘Amistad,’" Jamison notes with a bit
of frustration. "I’m not on the phone with (‘Amistad’ producer and
renown choreographer) Debbie Allen. But in reviews of the piece,
it’s said that this is the balletic version of it."
"Slaves" may be the Ailey Company piece easiest to link to the
portion of their mission statement that promises to preserve "the
uniqueness of black cultural expression." In part, the company
began because, in the ’50s, concert dance was virtually closed to
African American performers. Though many took roles on Broadway or
in clubs, Ailey, with six dancers and a square of floor space,
grand jeteed through closed doors.
Yet the company’s works also spotlight, among other things, a
Polish choreographer, the music of Peter Gabriel and an ethnic
patchwork of dancers.
"That’s what’s beautiful about my company," Jamison says.
"You’re not going to deny that somebody up there is white or Asian
or whatever, but I’m hoping you get taken by the dance … color is
uninteresting. My tradition is very interesting, but my tradition
includes everything, so it says African American. So here I am at
UCLA and, God knows, if this doesn’t have as many different people
from all over the world."
The Ailey dancers have made their way around the world and into
history books.
"We’ve been to Japan, to Israel, and I see people in the
audience gasp, their eyes water, they grab their hands or bow their
heads or just clap madly," says Ailey dancer Karine
Plantadit-Bageot.
And while the company prides itself on being ambassadors of
American culture, their status as a concert dance troupe is still a
handicap to fame, at least when compared with the household-name
clique that includes mostly film and pop stars. Jamison drums in
the impact of seeing live recitals but doesn’t shun mass media the
way many more attention-laden artists are wont to do.
"The more affiliated with the media, the better," Jamison
declares. "A few years ago, we did an American Express commercial
that premiered during the Academy Awards and at the Super Bowl.
More people saw us in that minute than saw us in the entire history
of the company."
Augmenting this are the numerous outreach performances and
workshops the Ailey Company conducts world wide. And in attempting
to educate young audiences about their cultural history, Jamison
and company add another coat of wisdom and nuance to their own
knowledge.
Jamison, long ago discovered by Agnes De Mille and dubbed "the
face of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater," still watches her audience
with the same intensity the passionate fluidity on stage demands
from them.
"There’s still this roundness, this loop that goes on between
us. And it has to be going on not just here,." Jamison gestures to
her silver-streaked head, "but in your heart, your mind, your
spirit. It has to bathe you."
And what about the next 40 years? Who is the next guest in the
Ailey Company’s 63-choreographer repertoire?
"I see small performances, I see big performances. That’s how I
get ballets, that’s how I get dancers," Jamison says. "Today I’m
going to see a choir sing."
In other words, leave it up to chaos theory.
DANCE: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 40th Anniversary
Celebration runs through Sunday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,
135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Tickets range from $15 to $55. For
more information, call (213) 972-7211.
"The Stack-Up" is one of six pieces in the Ailey Company’s 40th
anniversary show.
Photos courtesy of the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts
Judith Jamison, previously an Ailey dancer and choreographer, is
now the company’s artistic director.