For more than 40 years, Ailey II has merged the spirit and energy of the country’s best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding emerging choreographers. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Troy Powell, Ailey II embodies Alvin Ailey’s pioneering mission to establish an extended cultural community that provides dance performances, training, and community programs for all people.
With “off-the-charts energy” (The New Yorker), the critically-acclaimed Ailey II has a distinctive repertory that has included works by dance masters Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty, Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, George W. Faison, Lar Lubovitch, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle, and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison. The company has also performed innovative works by rising choreographers such as Kyle Abraham, Jennifer Archibald, and Manuel Vignoulle.
THE PROGRAM
SOMETHING TANGIBLE (Choreography by Ray Mercer)
Inspired by everyday emotions that awaken and bring color to the human spirit, choreographer Ray Mercer leads the ensemble cast into a series of vignettes that reflect sensations of love, passion, fear, and self-doubt in Something Tangible.
MEIKA (Choreography by Leila Da Rocha)
Choreographer Leila Da Rocha captures the essence of strength and the power of love in her new work Meika. Paired with music by Max Richter and Albeniz, Rocha has created a passionate connection of two forces blending into one in this duet.
GÊMEOS (Choreography by Jamar Roberts)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancer Jamar Roberts makes his Ailey II choreographic debut with his work Gêmeos (Portuguese for twins). Loosely based on the relationship of Roberts and his brother growing up as children—one a dancer, the other an athlete—Roberts illustrates the dynamic between contrasting personalities and how they evolve from hostility to harmony. Using music with heavy percussion, brassy horns, groovy bass guitar, and the commanding singing style of Afrobeat star Fela Kuti, Roberts perfectly captures the energy of youth in Gêmeos.
REVELATIONS (Choreography by Alvin Ailey)
Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs, and holy blues—this suite fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. Alvin Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the cultural heritage of the African-American—"sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful." This enduring classic is a tribute to that heritage and to Mr. Ailey’s genius.
Program subject to change.
