Alvin Ailey: Speaking From The Grave

He may have died in 1989 at the relatively young age of 58, but American dancer and choreographer, Alvin Ailey, has left an indelible mark on contemporary dance that still resounds today.

And last night it was the turn of Bradford to celebrate one of Texas’ most famous sons: founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and inspiration to Ailey 2, the junior company that is now 50 years young but still carrying a torch to the memory of their creative inspiration.

Presenting four pieces – excerpts from Enemy in the Figure (1989) and Freedom Series (2021), along with Robert Battle’s The Hunt (2001) and Ailey’s now iconic1960 piece, Revelations - one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world - this was a tour de force that, at times, left you breathless in your seat!

Full of pounding rhythms, gospel music and beautifully lit sets throughout, Ailey 2 delivered a rollercoaster of emotions from the primitive thrills of Battle’s The Hunt: basic, prehistoric and appealing to that basic instinct within, to the life giving sense of hope generated by the wonderful Revelations: beautifully lit, contrasting and leaving you with a sense that everything will be alright.

I genuinely loved Battle’s The Hunt with its thundering percussion soundtrack by Les Tambours du Bronx, and jerky, explosive gladiatorial movements. It was exhausting to watch!

By contrast Enemy in the Figure (excerpt) is the intensely propulsive central section of William Forsythe’s eponymous work, originally created in Germany with a driving electronic score and an amazing radical lighting plot.

Foreboding, fluidity and powerful were some of the words I scribbled in the subdued light of the Alhambra as I watched the ‘Enemy’, whilst Freedom Series treated us to softer music, even a classical orchestration, and the opportunity to simply relax in the dark.

Choreographer, Francesca Harper’s piece travels through a landscape of memories creating a series of vignettes that embody and imagine a hybrid world where memory strives to influence the future.

But, if the best must always be saved to the last, then Revelations leaves you on a high.

Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues – Alvin Ailey’s 1960 creation fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul.

Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the cultural heritage of the African-American —"sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.”

Alvin knew and so did his mother as a worker in the cotton fields and a witness to the horrors of the Ku Klux Klan. His work was shaped by personal experience.

Ailey 2 is only at the Alhambra for one more night but you can still catch them at Hull New Theatre this Friday and Saturday.

Thought provoking, emotional and frightening, please take a pair of spare socks: your first ones will be blown off!