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The company announced Wednesday that the next season of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York City Center will celebrate 10 years of Robert Battle’s artistic direction. After the challenges of the past 17 months, Battle is more open than usual to embrace opportunity.
“Being part of and going through the problem-solving process that took place actually made me somehow have these 10 years a little bit more fully,” he said in an interview. “There’s something about living that makes me think, ‘Hey, if I’m going to get through this, then I’ll definitely take the good one and go with it’.”
During his tenure at Ailey, Battle founded the New Directions Choreography Lab, an initiative to support emerging and mid-career dancers, and named Jamar Roberts as the company’s top performer. first established choreographer. “When I first started creating, I was lucky to have David Parsons promised me,” Battle said. “I’ve always wanted to pay for it up front.”
His support paid dividends. Roberts has created several critically acclaimed dances. “Members Don’t Get Tired” and “Pay” since taking over in 2019. And now, to concentrate on his choreography, Roberts stops dancing; The farewell performance on December 9 was announced along with the season’s roster.
Making their debut online, the two dances will be performed live for the first time during their three-week City Center engagement. “For Four,” a piece of Battle for four dancers tuned to jazz by Wynton Marsalis, will make its full debut on December 3 alongside Roberts’ “Holding Space.”
New productions of older works will also be featured throughout the season: Ailey’s “Pas de Duke,” performed for a year atop the Woolworth Building by Jacqueline Green and Yannick Lebrun. dance video in 2020; Ailey’s 1970 collaboration with Duke Ellington, “The River”; an Ailey solo, “Reflections in D”; and “Unfold,” a more recent work by Battle.
Looking to the future, Battle said he wants to focus more on preserving and sharing the work of underrated choreographers: “The idea of being a repository for historical artifacts, I’m really interested in mining that.”
Tickets go on sale on October 12. Detailed information is at: alvinaley.org.
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