Robert Battle remembers growing up in Miami’s Liberty City and taking the bus to the Jackie Gleason Theater for a children’s matinee performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. “And look where I am now,” he says. For the past seven years, Battle has been artistic director of that very institution. “People should take that as a guide—that it’s important young people especially see the company, because it can be a transforming experience.”
This year celebrates two major anniversaries for the modern-dance company, renowned for its ability to communicate African-American experiences to a global audience through movement. March 30 commemorates 60 years since the theater’s inaugural performance in New York, while 2018 marks a decade of Alvin Ailey at the Adrienne Arsht Center, where its annual program is a cultural staple. And every Miami tour is a homecoming for Battle, whose mother still lives in his childhood home.
“Having grown up in Miami, [I think] it’s important that we see a company where the majority of the dancers are dancers of color, that we see images of people that are successful in the field, and that dance can serve as a uniter,” says Battle. “I know Miami. I was there for some of the not-so-good times, the riots. I know how important it is for a company like Alvin Ailey to come and deliver a message of hope.”
That theme will no doubt resonate during the theater’s 2018 Arsht program, which features Battle’s Mass, a rapid-fire work for 18 dancers; and Ailey’s 1960 masterpiece Revelations, which Battle describes as “a spiritual performance that expresses the experiences of African-Americans in this country, and how we overcame through faith.” It’s the single piece with which audiences continually connect no matter where the company performs.
Photograph: Nan Melville
The Arsht performance also premieres Members Don’t Get Weary, the choreography debut of Ailey dancer (and Miami native) Jamar Roberts. Set to the music of John Coltrane, the socially charged piece draws from the current political narrative, though its intent is to heal, not narrate. “He was looking at this notion of reaching and wanting to be filled with spirit, wanting to be released from the ills of the moment,” says Battle.
Roberts is the latest in a tradition of Ailey choreographers who strive to make modern dance approachable. They choreograph dancers who push the form—and their bodies—with meaning. There isn’t a single Ailey show that isn’t fraught with feeling, and that’s intentional. “Dance has the ability, because of its ephemeral nature and nonverbal communication, to touch on certain emotions that are not so obvious,” says Battle. “Even in works we do that can be sometimes political or have to do with social justice, dance can be a bridge.”
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Feb 22–25. Get your tickets HERE.
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