Forever Revelations
When the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre celebrated 50 years at the Arsht Center Ziff last April, stars flickered in the clear night sky. The Ziff Ballet Opera House buzzed as 2500 eager spectators hurried to find their seats. The crowd hushed as a documentary reviewed the life of Alvin Ailey (1931-1989). His deep baritone voice resonated so powerfully, his legacy felt so palpable, it seemed as though the company founder and choreographer might step off the screen and into the theater.
The fourteen dance works that followed testified to the Ailey legacy, the dancers moving now to church bells, now to the blues, now to a subtle conga beat, always with the sultry sway and strut that is synonymous with the fierce Ailey technique. The cast slipped easily from classical ballet to modern and world dance forms, exposing a lover’s aching heart, a midnight prayer, an animal hunger.
This legacy began with Ailey’s first work for the company, the 1958 Blues Suite. Applause and finger snaps from the Miami audience suggested that we had actually been transported to Smalls Paradise, a blues club in Harlem. Effortlessly twirling and leaping through the air, Kirven Boyd danced a pas de deux with a trumpet as though he were serenading the love of his life. Miami’s own Yusha Marie Sorenzo epitomized classic Ailey style at the close of the ballet, when she retrieved a scarf from her teasing lover, ran her hand along the length of the peach silk, then rotated her shoulders with just the right poise.
The highlight of the evening was Ailey’s legendary 1965 Revelations. One the most celebrated dance works of the 20th century, the 38-minute ballet grows more significant with each passing moment. As the curtain rose for the much-anticipated piece, the audience exhaled and a hum echoed through the hall. We had been transported again, this time to a Southern Missionary Baptist Church in the Deep South where we join the dancers in a journey from the distress of slavery to the joy of a spiritual release.
Most of the dance movements in Revelations are based on the modern dance techniques of Ailey’s influences. Lester Horton’s influence is evident in the Egyptian-style arms and the lateral projections of the body through space. Martha Graham is represented by deep contraction and release from the abdominal cavity and spirals of the shoulder around the spine. From Katherine Dunham’s technique, Ailey drew on the African movements of the Caribbean to connect the body to the soul. In the Wade in the Water section, dancers dressed in white travel as a wave along swaths of shimmering blue fabric. The water symbolizes the purification, regeneration and rejuvenation of a Southern Baptist baptism.
Revelations was brought to life by veteran dancers Renee Robinson, Amos Mechanic, Linda Celeste Sims, Glenn Allen Sims and Matthew Rushing. Sims was especially striking in the section Fix Me Jesus, where she echoed the lyrics of the spiritual, making her long brown dress sing by effortlessly extending her legs with each turn and lift. Her song was answered in the ensemble’s open expressions and beaming eyes. Palms open and arms outstretched like butterfly wings, the dancers touched the core of every soul in the audience.
This summer, the Ailey legacy will be revealed to a new generation of dancers as the celebrated AileyCamp arrives in South Florida for the first time. The AileyCamp is an innovative summer program for children grades six through eight (ages 11 to 14). The AileyCamp teaches self-esteem, nutrition, self-government, conflict/resolution, and critical thinking skills. Participants also receive daily dance techniques classes in ballet, Horton-based modern, jazz, and tap.
The AileyCamp is not a training ground for professional dancers; instead dance is a primary tool to encourage kids’ creative expression and communication skills. In the spirit of the company’s founder, AileyCampers affirm everyday: “I will not use the word can’t to define my possibilities.”
AileyCamp Miami runs from July 13 – August 8, 2009
Venue TBA
For more information contact:
Nasha Thomas-Schmitt
National Director of the AilyCamp
212-405-9000 or
the Arsht Center at 786-468-2270.
Applications available at local middle schools.
The fourteen dance works that followed testified to the Ailey legacy, the dancers moving now to church bells, now to the blues, now to a subtle conga beat, always with the sultry sway and strut that is synonymous with the fierce Ailey technique. The cast slipped easily from classical ballet to modern and world dance forms, exposing a lover’s aching heart, a midnight prayer, an animal hunger.
This legacy began with Ailey’s first work for the company, the 1958 Blues Suite. Applause and finger snaps from the Miami audience suggested that we had actually been transported to Smalls Paradise, a blues club in Harlem. Effortlessly twirling and leaping through the air, Kirven Boyd danced a pas de deux with a trumpet as though he were serenading the love of his life. Miami’s own Yusha Marie Sorenzo epitomized classic Ailey style at the close of the ballet, when she retrieved a scarf from her teasing lover, ran her hand along the length of the peach silk, then rotated her shoulders with just the right poise.
The highlight of the evening was Ailey’s legendary 1965 Revelations. One the most celebrated dance works of the 20th century, the 38-minute ballet grows more significant with each passing moment. As the curtain rose for the much-anticipated piece, the audience exhaled and a hum echoed through the hall. We had been transported again, this time to a Southern Missionary Baptist Church in the Deep South where we join the dancers in a journey from the distress of slavery to the joy of a spiritual release.
Most of the dance movements in Revelations are based on the modern dance techniques of Ailey’s influences. Lester Horton’s influence is evident in the Egyptian-style arms and the lateral projections of the body through space. Martha Graham is represented by deep contraction and release from the abdominal cavity and spirals of the shoulder around the spine. From Katherine Dunham’s technique, Ailey drew on the African movements of the Caribbean to connect the body to the soul. In the Wade in the Water section, dancers dressed in white travel as a wave along swaths of shimmering blue fabric. The water symbolizes the purification, regeneration and rejuvenation of a Southern Baptist baptism.
Revelations was brought to life by veteran dancers Renee Robinson, Amos Mechanic, Linda Celeste Sims, Glenn Allen Sims and Matthew Rushing. Sims was especially striking in the section Fix Me Jesus, where she echoed the lyrics of the spiritual, making her long brown dress sing by effortlessly extending her legs with each turn and lift. Her song was answered in the ensemble’s open expressions and beaming eyes. Palms open and arms outstretched like butterfly wings, the dancers touched the core of every soul in the audience.
This summer, the Ailey legacy will be revealed to a new generation of dancers as the celebrated AileyCamp arrives in South Florida for the first time. The AileyCamp is an innovative summer program for children grades six through eight (ages 11 to 14). The AileyCamp teaches self-esteem, nutrition, self-government, conflict/resolution, and critical thinking skills. Participants also receive daily dance techniques classes in ballet, Horton-based modern, jazz, and tap.
The AileyCamp is not a training ground for professional dancers; instead dance is a primary tool to encourage kids’ creative expression and communication skills. In the spirit of the company’s founder, AileyCampers affirm everyday: “I will not use the word can’t to define my possibilities.”
AileyCamp Miami runs from July 13 – August 8, 2009
Venue TBA
For more information contact:
Nasha Thomas-Schmitt
National Director of the AilyCamp
212-405-9000 or
the Arsht Center at 786-468-2270.
Applications available at local middle schools.