Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – New Works – review

Alvin Ailey’s New Works opened last night with a press night that was both exhilarating and deeply moving.

The programme is split into two parts — New Works and Legacy — and last night was all about  New Works, which felt like a celebratory montage of what Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater does so brilliantly: honouring its rich legacy while continuing to embrace new voices, new perspectives and new possibilities.

From the very first moments, Blink of an Eye brought the stage alive with mood lighting, creating an atmosphere that was intimate, vibrant and evocative — and Revelation finished the evening by  ‘taking us to church’ spiritually reminiscent of New Orleans, with its soulful energy, song and unmistakable sense of rhythm and African American praise.

But the pieces in between were my favourite – Many Angels transports you into the heavens and gives you the delicious feeling of spying on angels at play: fleeting figures appearing against an immense sky, disappearing and re-emerging as though caught in a private celestial world.  The pastel -clad  dancers bringing an extraordinary energy to the evening,  gliding effortlessly between power, playfulness and tenderness with remarkable ease. There was something genuinely fresh about this dance, while still possessing that classic Ailey quality: technically brilliant, emotionally generous and rooted in storytelling through movement.

Romance unfolds beautifully in A Case of You. Performed by Caroline T. Dartey and Christopher Taylor, the piece captures the intimacy and passion between two lovers. Through intricate entanglements   and synchronized gestures,— every movement seems charged with emotion. It is sensual without becoming sentimental, and filled with that special connection that makes dance so powerful.

Across the evening, tenderness sits alongside exhilarating bursts of movement, creating a wonderful emotional range. It was a vibrant, sophisticated and thoroughly enjoyable opening night — a celebration of both where Ailey has come from and where it continues to go.

 I’m very much looking forward to Legacy tomorrow hoping it will be just as mysterious and mesmerising.