Tag Archives: Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

★★★★★

Sadler’s Wells

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★★

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

“A great introduction to the company, and modern dance, for modern audiences”

This year is the first time Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed in the UK since 2019 and they are making the most of the opportunity. The fifteen show run at Sadler’s Wells treats audiences to four different programmes spanning a wide range of classics and more contemporary pieces.

Most programmes end with the iconic and uplifting Revelations, created by the company’s founder-choreographer in 1960. It is a masterpiece of modern dance, a tribute to Ailey’s southern American upbringing – standing the test of time through its combination of moving spirituals, evocative costume, and as a piece which allows the company’s large cast of dancers the opportunity to demonstrate their technical prowess. It’s the most rehearsed, most precisely directed piece of the programme. The artistry is evident, with the smallest movements of the arms, hands, or hips often having the most powerful impact. I only wished the music could be louder – ear-drum-bustingly so – to be transported all the more into a southern baptismal church where the power of the music means you can’t help but find yourself dancing in the aisles.

In a clever programming decision, the opening piece in many ways mirrors Revelations, as a celebration of the contemporary black experience. Are You in Your Feelings? was created for the company by Kyle Abraham and is set to popular black music from Kendrick Lamar to Jazmine Sullivan. It is a playful piece with plenty of humour, bright neon lights and costumes contrasting with the muted tones of Revelations. From braggadocious displays of street swagger, through to voguing and intimate pas de deux, mixed and same gender, Abraham clearly has a broad church when seeking to represent the black experience.

The choreography here is more relaxed than the other works, informed by classical techniques but taking its cue from the musical choices, and likely the dancers own unique styles. Some moments, like when doing a pastiche of a petit allegro to a Drake song, don’t quite come off. But that doesn’t detract from enjoyment. Ashley Kaylynn Green is undoubtedly the star of the show. She intuitively melts into each and every movement, or jolts her isolations like a bolt of lightning. Her face lights up the stage and she looks like she’s having the time of her life – you can’t take your eyes off her.

The two pieces that act as the bridge between the contemporary and classic are For Four and Unfold, both by current artistic director Robert Battle. For Four is a high intensity jazz number where the rapid and precise movements of the four dancers have a specificity to the music. Unfold, set to an operatic aria, takes a much slower pace, but appears no less demanding on the dancers. But neither piece is just a beautiful display of talent; each leaves you with questions about what you were really watching. The jazz formula is broken in For Four when one of the dancers breaks out of their braces and waistcoat and dances in a spotlight of the american flag. Ashley Mayeux’s movements in Unfold get steadily more unnerving and unnatural, until she looks like a woman possessed. No explanations are given in either piece, and you are left wondering what it could all mean – an interesting contrast to the relatively simple narratives in the other half of the programme.

The four year hiatus from UK shores has done nothing but increase anticipation for this iconic American company who have delivered with crowd-pleasers and more challenging works. This is a must-see show for dance aficionados and amateurs alike. A great introduction to the company, and modern dance, for modern audiences.


ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 5th September 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Paul Kolnik

 

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 65 runs at Sadler’s Wells Theatre until 16th September and features four different programmes. This review was Programme C (Contemporary Voices) 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

 

 

Dance Me | ★★★★★ | February 2023
Breakin’ Convention 2021 | ★★★★★ | July 2021
Wild Card | ★★★★ | June 2021
Overflow | ★★★★★ | May 2021
Reunion | ★★★★★ | May 2021

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Click here to read all our latest reviews

 

Dance Me

Dance Me

★★★★★

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

DANCE ME at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★★

Dance Me

“Just immerse your ears in spellbinding words and music, and feast your eyes on the kaleidoscope of images that unfold before you”

 

Dance Me, a choreographic tribute to the words and music of the late, great Leonard Cohen, might seem an incongruous project for the Ballets Jazz Montreal. There’s the obvious Montreal connection, of course. Both were born there. But it’s a daring move on the part of director and dramaturg Eric Jean to choose to create an evening of dance around the work of an artist like Cohen, whose words and music demand your full attention. But then, both Ballets Jazz Montreal and Leonard Cohen like to defy expectation, I suspect.

Cohen died in 2016, well known and loved. As he himself wryly recognized, he could look forward to “a huge posthumous career”. Dance Me certainly falls into that category. It’s not just a sense of shared roots that brings Ballet Jazz Montreal and Leonard Cohen together though. Cohen’s work reveals the influences from many cultures, both literary, philosophical and spiritual, just as the Ballet Jazz Montreal reveals its multicultural influences in the fluid, yet muscular; surreal yet gymnastic, movements of its work. This unlikely match, then, produces a fusion of blunt physicality that merges seamlessly with Cohen’s powerful emotions. The irony is there as well. Something Cohen himself seems to have recognized, as he gave this project his blessing before he died.

The title of the show, Dance Me, comes from Dance Me To The End Of Love, a perennial favourite of fans. But the show does not launch into an energetic attention getter of Cohen’s greatest hits. Dance Me begins quietly, in darkness, with spoken words from an early poem, Prayer for the Messiah. With a mood established that is completely Leonard Cohen, the dance begins. Choreographers Adonis Foniadakis, Ihsan Rustem and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, weave together a sinuous evening from meditative beginnings. The choreography of Dance Me evokes both Cohen’s distinctive gritty voice and the unabashed mix of spirituality and eroticism that characterizes his work. Dancers Yosmell Calderon Mejias, Alyssa Allen, Gustavo Barros, John Canfield, Diana Cedeno, Astrid Dangeard, Hannah Kate Galbraith, Shanna Irwin, Ausia Jones, Jordan Lang, Austin Lichty, Marcel Mejia, Andrew Mikhaiel and Eden Solomon bring a variety of looks to the line up, whether part of solos, duets, trios or more. The choreography allows them by turn to heighten the depth of feeling so recognizable in Cohen’s art.

All Cohen’s best known poems are there, including Suzanne, Boogie Street, Dance Me To The End Of Love, Everybody Knows, A Thousand Kisses Deep, and the iconic Hallelujah. Dance Me is a celebration of words, music and dance, but it’s also a celebration of light and darkness. The lighting (designed by Cédric Delorme-Bouchard and Simon Beetschen) is an integral part of the show, and under the direction of Eric Jean, moves to its own precise choreography. It illuminates the dancers in constantly changing, dramatic pools of light. Video design from the HUB Studio projects Cohen like figures on stage. The shape of the man as well as his instantly recognizable sound, are all there, echoed as well in the costumes of the dancers (designed by Philippe Dubuc).

Dance Me is a great evening out at Sadler’s Wells. It’s no accident that it’s been scheduled so closely to Valentine’s Day. So by all means take your beloved out for a special date night. But, single or partnered, take Dance Me as an opportunity to forget the weight of expectation. Just immerse your ears in spellbinding words and music, and feast your eyes on the kaleidoscope of images that unfold before you. You’ll come away with an added appreciation for how very different kinds of art can be combined to reinforce the other. And if you’ve had the forethought to upload Cohen’s poems on your Kindle before leaving for Sadler’s Wells, you’ll be able to maintain the mood for the journey home.

 

Reviewed on 8th February 2023

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Rolando Paolo Guerzoni

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

 

Overflow | ★★★★★ | May 2021
Reunion | ★★★★★ | May 2021
Wild Card | ★★★★ | June 2021
Breakin’ Convention 2021 | ★★★★★ | July 2021

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