The word for the Ailey II performance Saturday at Millersville University was “exuberant.” The company of young dancers, directed by Sylvia Waters – an offshoot of, and training ground for, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater – lit up Lyte Auditorium and its near-capacity audience with an electric, energetic performance.
On the program were three recent dances – “The External Knot (2007)” by Troy Powell, associate artistic director, “Fragile (2007)” by Stephane Boko, and “Requiem” by Chang Yong Sung, an Ailey II apprentice. Alvin Ailey’s 1960 “Revelations,” a touchstone of modern dance, concluded the program.
A unifying theme in all the dances was human interdependence – the dancers relying on one another through passages of joy and sorrow. “The External Knot” was an outgoing and joyful dance for a changing ensemble of dancers, set to extroverted, upbeat and rhythmic music by Philip Glass and more reflective music by Robert Schumann, full of sweeping whirls and turns and punctuated by hand-clapping and the repeated motif of an outstretched arm, either upward or outward.
“Fragile” was a more introverted piece for varying groups of dancers, set to delicate music by X Alfonso and a performance by Nina Simone of “He Needs Me.” Words, music and movement converged in an image of separation and seeking: a spotlight shone from one side of the stage as a man danced and a woman slowly backed across the stage, into the light, as Simone sang, “He needs me; he doesn’t know it, but he needs me.”
Perhaps the starkest expression of that need was “Requiem.” Set to Clint Mansell’s music for the film “Requiem for a Dream,” performed by the Kronos Quartet, the work, performed by Josh Johnson and Ephraim M. Sykes, began with one partner staggering, seemingly weighed down by an impossible burden. The second dancer entered with a fall, lying still until his partner grasped his hand and he leapt to his feet. The pair seemed to engage in a sort of game, possibly even a secret language expressed in handclasps and gestures, but eventually one slipped away, leaving the other to express in every gesture and expression extreme anguish, finally dropping to the floor. At that point his partner re-entered with the same fall – but this time, his partner couldn’t pick him up. Both dance and score were shattering.
“Revelations,” choreographed by Alvin Ailey in 1960, deserves the title of classic, a wellspring of inspiration and a summation of all Ailey had absorbed from his teachers. The work traces the African-American experience from tribulation to triumph in 10 traditional spirituals, grouped in three sections. Along the way are scenes and moments that have become iconic: dancers squatting, knees outspread and heads bowed, but with arms held up, curved like the wings of birds ready to take flight; a cluster of standing dancers, arms held up, open palms catching the light; a white-clad trio in a baptism ceremony by the river in “Wade in the Water.” Especially impressive were Aisha Mitchell (who drew a round of applause) and Josh Johnson in “Fix Me, Jesus” and Ephraim Sykes in “I Wanna Be Ready.”
“Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham,” the unrestrainedly joyous conclusion, was equal parts revival service, modern dance and Broadway. It brought the audience to its feet and kept it on its feet for the encore, an even less restrained reprise that had just about everyone clapping along.
A shout-out to the Millersville University Cultural Affairs Committee: Thank you for a wonderful program!
