If you know anything about modern dance, congratulations, you already know more about it than me! Watching the Australian edition of “So You Think You Can Dance” does not make me an authority on the subject, though I enjoy self-delusion as much as the next armchair expert.

It boded well, though, when the audience at the Sony Centre (formerly the Hummingbird) for the Friday night performance of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater was noticeably excited even before the curtains went up. I’ve never seen a dance performance begin with a documentary, but that’s what this one did – and to good effect, because there is a lot of history behind this performance, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company’s founding.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater began with a now-famous performance in March 1958 by a group of African-American modern dancers led by Alvin Ailey. From those roots the company has become known for its works “expressing the African-American cultural experience through modern dance”. Under the direction of Alvin Ailey and subsequently Judith Jamison, it has performed more than 200 works by over 70 choreographers over the past 50 years. The majority of dancers in the company are of African-American descent, and many of the choreographies have blues, spiritual and gospel influences – including “Revelations”, which, as the most famous piece in their repertoire, was danced to moving effect during the performance.

My favourite piece of the night was the very accessible and quirkily humourous “The Groove To Nobody’s Business”, about a group of strangers that meet waiting for (and subsequently on) the subway. Set to music by Ray Charles and Brandon McCune, the piece features a cast of characters ranging from a young man stricken with cold to a harried lady looking for directions to an irritable businessman, as they jostle for space on public transit. Next time somebody takes my place on the TTC, I’m going to bust out one of those grooves.

Other performances included the visually striking “Firebird” and of course “Revelations”.

Unfortunately for the dance fans out there, the show only played two days (Friday and Saturday). But keep an eye out for other Sony Centre shows this summer. Jazz fans will be swooning after Chick Corea, who is scheduled to play on June 25 with his band Return To Forever. The grand master of jazz fusion and former bandmate of Miles Davis is back on tour this year, and is in Toronto for one performance only.

For other performances, see the website.

Images courtesy of alvinailey.org, thefirstpost.co.uk, nytimes.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Wish You Were Here. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.