Alvin Ailey Gala is fun but somewhat unadventurous

There is no modern dance troupe as likeable as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Their dancers are warm, exciting and beautiful to watch. Their performances are always engaging and the audiences clearly love seeing them. 

It is thus churlish to complain about last night’s gala performance, but nonetheless, the amount of speechifying was truly numbing. The program began at seven, but there were almost 40 minutes of speeches before the actual dancing began. There was a brief excerpt of Cry performed to honor the recently departed Judith Jamison, granted. After an intermission there was another long speech. 

The program was also rather unadventurous for a gala. Usually galas are opportunities for world premieres. Instead, we got the tried-and-true: Ronald K Brown’s Grace (celebrating its 25th anniversary) and Revelations (1960). This was the exact program of the Alvin Ailey gala 25 years ago. In recent years, Robert Battle has tried hard to extend the Ailey repertoire. I intend to go back later in the run when they are reviving more contemporary pieces, including the excellent Are You In Your Feelings, by Kyle Abraham.

The positive was that I got to see Grace again after many years. Because this was a gala, there were two guest singers to sing Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday, which bookended the work. Leslie Odom Jr. to open, and Cécile McLorin Salvant to close. Leslie Odom Jr.’s sweet tenor was particularly appealing on the ears.

But the heart of Grace is its crescendo of Afro-Caribbean-infused club and jazz dancing. It is one of those pieces that makes you want to get up and dance. There are the white-clad angels and the red-clad devils, and they weave in and out of the stage. At the end of Grace, everyone is now clad in white. They’ve been redeemed?

What impressed the most about the Ailey dancers was how much they seemed to feel the music in their bodies. There was little of that polished prettiness that tends to happen when trained dancers take on club dances. The entire work is engaging and shows off the Ailey style perfectly.

At the end of Grace, Ronald K. Brown came out for a bow. He was frail and needed assistance standing, which made it more poignant.

There’s not much new to be said about Revelations. It remains the single most popular work in the entire modern dance canon. It’s like George Balanchine’s Nutcracker or Paul Taylor’s Esplanade. It never fails to provoke an automatic dose of serotonin and thus is the perfect work for the Christmas season.

No matter how many times one has seen it, the way the Ailey dancers respond to the spirituals is a moving experience. And one admires the way they resist the urge to “sell” the piece, until the now de rigeur encore of Rocka My Soul. They dance it straight, without the knowing little glances and smiles at the audience. Everyone has a favorite section of Revelations. Mine is Wade in the Water. Every time I see the white parasol I feel a thrill.