Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater swings back to Sadler’s Wells

In 1962, just a year before his assassination, president John F. Kennedy launched the Special International Program For Cultural Presentations, to promote the U.S.A around the world through art not war. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was chosen to become the first black company to fly the stars and stripes on stages abroad through its invigorating and inventive choreography. The moment was historic. 

There is a clear and obvious parallel between that memorable diplomatic overture and the State Department Tours that sent a number of jazz giants, such as Duke Ellington, to the four corners of the globe, and it is entirely possible that he and Ailey may have compared notes on their experiences. The two icons first collaborated in 1960.

 “I think they had a certain kindred spirit,” says Robert Battle, current artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which was founded by Ailey in 1958. “There are so many choreographers that have come behind this collaboration. I think you see it in the work that I bring to the repertory. So it had a huge impact on the dance field.”

Indeed the company’s blend of liquid grace, sensitive composition and bursts of exhilarating movement is an important reference for contemporary practitioners  

An institution in modern dance, AAADT, has maintained the adventurous vision of its founder, producing excellent work over the decades, and celebrates its 65th anniversary with a two-week residency at Sadler’s Wells in London that starts this month. Given its substantial repertory there is no shortage of pieces the company can perform but one of the enduring joint projects with Ellington, ‘Pas De Duke’, the title of which riffs on the choreographic term pas de deux, is being revived, much to the delight of those who weren’t at its premiere in 1976. It was a showcase for two very gifted dancers, Judith Jamison, a key figure in AAADT history, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Latvian who defected to America a few years prior, and went on to become a major ballet star.    

Bringing African-Americans and Eastern Europeans together on stage seems appropriate because of Ellington’s love of the music of Stravinsky and Tchaikosvky, but the union of the Duke and Ailey’s dancers, of which Jamison was one of the most renowned, had an immense significance insofar as it was a meeting of two pioneers in their respective fields. Each was striving to enshrine the idea of the black artist who was not limited to the field of entertainment, though both Ailey and Ellington, in terms of the communicative nature of much of their work, could also be highly entertaining.    

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (above)

Robert Battle is well aware of their great desire to set off a cultural sea change. 

“It’s been wonderful bringing those works back and to imagine those two giants together,” he says via zoom. A picture of Art Kane’s celebrated A Great Day In Harlem photograph adorns the wall of his office, along with a West African balafon.

“What is evident is that they both respected each other and also understood that modern jazz and dance, both being somewhat American artforms, had a certain importance. You have to think about the time in which they were doing this, where jazz in some ways was looked at as inferior to the classical idiom, and so was modern dance. So there was always that kind of stigma that they were having to fight against, in terms of really showing the sophistication of their respective artforms. I think that is as equally important as the work itself… that they were trying to break down these barriers, whether intentional or not. I think they found a certain kindred spirit in that.”

In addition to ‘Pas De Duke’ there are other pieces for Sadler’s Wells audiences to enjoy, such as Ronald K. Brown’s ‘Dancing Spirit’, made in honour of Judith Jamison, who led the company at Ailey’s behest for 21 years. Titled after her autobiography the work celebrates the notion that dance reaches beyond the physical body to be a vital manifestation of the human spirit. “It uses west African dance along with contemporary modern dance that is really quite beautiful,” says Battle warmly.

Furthermore, there is the Modern Masters series which features Twyla Tharp’s take on the music of the legendary trumpeter Roy Eldridge, ‘Roy’s Joy’, while Jamar Roberts offers his responses to Ellington’s music as well as to several jazz standards.

“It’s always important to see past, present and future reflected,” says Battle, before making the point that his predecessor was well aware of how he could also have a socio-political impact by the very terms he used to describe his group of dancers.    

“I think that Alvin Ailey was very shrewd in the naming of the company. It reminds me of a poem by Langston Hughes, ‘I Too Sing America.’ It was the notion of the fact that we built this country. and I knew this poem when I was a kid because my mom had a group called the Afro-Americans and they did poetry and song related to the black experience. As I related that to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater I thought he wasn’t saying that in this simplistic notion of nationalism and sort of hollow patriotism. He was reclaiming ‘I too sing America’ and I think that in so doing he knew very well that even the people that hated you had claimed that their most important thing was ‘we’re American’. So we were kind of pushing that a little bit.

“He was ahead of his time with the success of the company all over the world being the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,” Battle continues. “To me it is multi-dimensional. By naming it the American Dance Theater we say American not out of a false sense of patriotism but out of a belonging and the fact that we belong here too.”

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is at Sadler’s Wells from 5-16 September – for full details visit www.sadlerswells.com