New beginnings often contain built-in excitement, but there was an extra note of promise in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's program Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center Opera House.
Renaldo Gardner, 21, returned to his hometown Wednesday as a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company, reuniting with former dance instructors and doing a special solo performance at West Side Leadership Academy auditorium during a matinee show by Ailey II which also performed Tuesday night.
William C. Rhoden discusses dance as an athletic endeavor with Alicia graf Mack, a dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The woman with the umbrella wades through blue ribbons of silk. Her hips roll like waves, mimicking the movement of water. Her body stretches, long and liquid, as if pulled by an invisible tension.
When Jacqueline Green's mom encouraged her to audition for the dance program at Baltimore School for the Arts, she did - on a whim. By pure serendipity, she was accepted.
Hailed as an international ambassador for African-American culture, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founded in 1958, begins its 27-city North American tour in Toronto under the new direction of Robert Battle.
One of Robert Battle's first dance memories involves moving to the song That's Entertainment. Little did he know how prophetic that title was.
Sizzling physicality and technical prowess have always been attractive hallmarks of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, but when the New York-based company returns Thursday to the Sony Centre you may be surprised by what's changed since its last visit in 2008.
Since Judith Jamison's tenure at The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the school has been regarded as a vital American "Cultural Ambassador to the World", that has practically changed forever the perception of American dance.
Imagine you're in the audience at, say, "Swan Lake," and the ballerinas you've been watching suddenly swoop over to your seat, envelop you with their wings and spirit youonstage to flutter along en pointe.