Former Ronald K. Brown/Evidence member and Ailey School alumna Camille A. Brown has choreographed a new work set to music by Ray Charles and emerging composer Brandon McCune. The piece explores connections between people waiting for a subway train.
Mark O'Connor's Appalachian Journey, performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor serves as a backdrop to the company's second world premiere of the season, Saddle Up! by Frederick Earl Mosley, founder of the company Diversity of Dance. The spirited work uses western themes.
Ailey's second company premiere, Robert Battle's Unfold, is a duet to a recording of Leontyne Price singing music by Gustave Charpentier. Dance magazine called the work a "highlight of 2005."
A re-staged Reflections in D by Judith Jamison, after Alvin Ailey's own 1962 solo; Talley Beatty's 1959 The Road of the Phoebe Snow, set to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn; and Alvin Ailey's Janis Joplin-inspired Flowers (1971) mark the company's new productions. Associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya, to be honored at a December performance celebrating his 35th anniversary with Ailey, will restage the last two.
The 2007-08 season company repertory also includes pieces by Ulysses Dove, Rennie Harris, Hans van Manen, Elisa Monte and Twyla Tharp.
Other performances of note are the New Year's Eve Celebration, featuring Ailey's Revelations, and The JPMorgan Chase Family Matinee Series, Saturday performances followed by question and answer sessions with Ailey dancers.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 2007 New York season will run for five weeks starting November 28. Visit www.alvinailey.org for more information.
