The Friday, May 11 at 8pm Ailey Jazz program presents the NJPAC debut of Ailey star Jamar Roberts’ Members Don’t Get Weary – his first world premiere for the Company, which he joined in 2002. Roberts says the work is “a response to the current social landscape in America,” and “takes an abstract look into the notion of one ‘having the blues.’” Set to the powerful music of the legendary jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane 50 years after his death, the work aims to allow the audience to momentarily transcend their own personal blues. Also featured are Robert Battle’s gripping solo In/Side, set to the vivid emotions of Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind,” and Night Creature, a bubbly champagne cocktail of a dance fusing Alvin Ailey’s buoyant choreography and Duke Ellington’s sparkling music. One of Mr. Ailey’s most popular works and a definitive homage to “The Duke” who said “night creatures, unlike stars, do not come OUT at night– they come ON, each thinking that, before the night is out, he or she will be the star.”
The Saturday, May 12 at 8pm Musical Inspirations program features Robert Battle’s Company Premiere Mass, an ensemble work that gives physical life to a haunting score by frequent collaborator John Mackey, and Ella, an irresistible high-energy duet with lightning-fast movement that matches the iconic Ella Fitzgerald’s virtuosic scatting in a live concert recording of “Airmail Special.” Tribute is paid to modern dance pioneer Talley Beattyduring his centennial with the return of Stack-Up, set to vibrant 1970s beats (Earth, Wind & Fire, Grover Washington Jr., Fearless Four, and Alphonze Mouzon) and a graffiti background. Inspired by Los Angeles’ urban landscape and the lives of its disparate inhabitants, the work depicts the emotional “traffic” in a community that is stacked on top of each other.
For Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 13 at 3pm, Celebrate Women spotlights a new production of Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Shelter – a gripping portrait of homelessness returning to the Ailey stage after 25 years. Set to an inventive score featuring drumming by Junior “Gabu” Wedderburn, poetry by Hattie Gossett and Laurie Carlos, it includes an updated text by Zollar and Paloma McGregor that references recent natural disasters. Fittingly, the performance will feature Alvin Ailey’s classic tour-de-force solo Cry, created in 1971 on his stunning muse Judith Jamison as a birthday present for his mother. The physically and emotionally demanding 16-minute solo is dedicated to “all black women everywhere – especially our mothers.” A performance of veteran company member Hope Boykin’s r-Evolution, Dream. will celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years after his assassination. Inspired by Dr. King’s sermons and speeches the large ensemble work melds creative storytelling, new music composed by Ali Jackson (Jazz at Lincoln Center), and historic and original writings narrated by Tony Award winner Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton).
And of course, the engagement would be incomplete without Alvin Ailey’s American masterpiece Revelations. Since its creation in 1960, Revelations has been seen by more audiences around the world than any other modern work, inspiring generations through its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring spirituals. Springing from Ailey’s childhood memories of growing up in the south and attending services at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Texas, Revelations pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of the African-American and explores the emotional spectrum of the human condition. Revelations has been performed as part of Opening Ceremonies of the 1968 Olympics, for six sitting presidents at various events, at the inaugurations of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and at The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison, presented by then First Lady Michelle Obama. Acknowledging its lasting significance after five decades, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution recognizing the artistic and cultural contributions of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the 50th Anniversary of the first performance of Revelations. Hailed by The New York Times as “modern dance’s unquestionable greatest hit,” this American masterpiece was choreographed when Alvin Ailey was only 29 years old, and is as relevant now as ever.
