Having completed a successful New York City season, the brilliant Alvin Ailey Dance Company will embark on a cross-country and Canadian tour in February. So, all you dance lovers in Washington, Philadelphia, Amherst, Boston, Detroit, Tulsa and many other cities put your feet to the beat and go see this exciting company. They display elegant funk and boast stars the likes of Judith Jamaison, Donna Wood, Dudley Williams and Clive Thompson. This dynamic troupe has also just signed on the quicksilver Daniel Clark and the Apollonian Roman Brooks, a former member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. If you missed the recent Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre season here, it was truly a loss. It was quite wonderful.
If pointe (toe) shoes are your bag or if they are not, it simply doesn’t matter — you must visit the New York City Center on West 55th Street any [if not every] night from January 9th through the 27th. This is when the glorious Dance Theatre of Harlem will be in residence. This company is making history by doing what many said could not be done — DTH’s women actually dance on their tippy toes. The dancers also excel when they pull off their shoes and dance barefoot.
Classical dance enthusiasts will be happy to know that DTH will be dancing Swan Lake — Act II during their City Center residency. Casting Odette and Siegfried should pose no problems for this company of beautiful and technically strong men and women. The DTH production is being staged by Frederick Franklin.
If you think that Swan Lake is the only bit of spice that DTH will offer in January, think again. Franklin and the great ballerina Alexandra Danilova have staged Paquita. Those who like their ballets modern shouldn’t miss the upcoming American premiere of Glen Tetley’s Greening, to be performed by DTH. This is a mixed-media ballet originally choreographed for the Stuttgart Ballet. DTH will also stage a few wonderful revivals, including Lester Horton‘s The Beloved, Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun, George Balanchine’s Serenade — who can forget the look of those gorgeous black women when the curtain rose, Arthur Mitchell’s Holberg Suite and Talley Beatty’s Caravanserai.
Do not miss taking advantage of this current dance season — it’s bound to be an event.
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