Word: ailey
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Romare Bearden (1912-88) was one of the finest collagists of the 20th century and the most distinguished black visual artist America has so far produced: the only one, perhaps, who rivaled in his own time and field the achievements of Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin, Alvin Ailey and Arthur Mitchell, Earl Hines and Duke Ellington in theirs. His retrospective at the Studio Museum in Harlem is an exhilarating show marred by a sloppy catalog. This will not matter too much to the audience the exhibition will acquire as it moves around the museums of America, ending...
...culture too, New York remains a pacesetter. Other cities would be proud to have one world-class performing troupe. New York has dozens, including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theater, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Manhattan Theater Club. As a showcase for theater, Broadway has few rivals -- unless they are the city's own off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. Its collection of museums is a gallery in itself...
...using the whole company, a couple, and an ensemble of male dancers. Although the sharp turns, leaps and skillful hip and rib isolations of the dancers made a powerful visual impression, in particular the vignettes in which male members of the company moved in unison were most successful. Here Ailey created an atmosphere ringed with the electricity and power of their movements. The effect was a mesmerizing tour de force of the men's energy, strength and technical precision...
...PIECE THAT Ailey choreographed in 1971 to music by Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyre and Chuck Griffin, "Cry" was performed poignantly by Deborah Manning, but suffered from the absence of the strength of dancer Judith Jamison. Ailey created the dance "for all Black women everywhere--especially our mothers," and it moves slowly and somberly from expressions of anguish and suffering to ones of triumph, hope and energy. Although Manning executed the steps beautifully, she lacked the stage presence necessary to transmit the messages implicit in "Cry"--fear, anger and the struggle of Black women...
Despite sophisticated dance technique and works synthesized from good choreography, music and costumes, the performance lacked the emotional electricity that usually accompanies an Ailey program. In addition, it seemed odd that a night dedicated to the theme "In the Black Tradition," did not include Ailey's masterpiece, "Revelations," which celebrates Afro-American gospel, religious, and jazz music...