Ailey celebrates 50 years of dance

Ailey celebrates 50 years of dance

by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Paramount Theater March 28, 29, 30 AAADT has visited Seattle a number of times over the years and is a favorite here, as it is all over the country. This visit is particularly poignant because they are celebrating 50 years of existence during the Seattle run. A signature piece, Memoria, will be performed on Sunday, and only in Seattle. Alvin Ailey choreographed the piece as a tribute to his longtime friend and compatriot, Joyce Trisler, who died in 1979. She was a master teacher and choreographer. When he was first choreographing it, he used her students to represent her lifetime of teaching. Ronni Favors, Rehearsal Director for AAADT, explains why this performance will be so special. When we do Memoria in New York City, we use students from the Ailey School, but we rarely do it outside of New York. This is a big deal for us. She is referring to the 23 young people she chose from the area to dance with the company in that performance. The company has a particular point of view about community involvement in dance, and always has from the beginning. Favors talks about how that developed. Our mantra is, to quote Alvin, I believe that dance came from the people and should always be delivered back to the people. That sentiment really informs everything we do and our artistic director, Judith Jamison, likes to say we were doing arts education long before it became a byword. Our outreach activities take many forms, whether its master classes [four, this time in Seattle], lectures, demonstrations, family matinees with question-and-answer sessions with dancers, and of course  most pertinent to our engagement in Seattle  well be doing Memoria, which will involve 23 young dancers. Its humbling that these young people will travel from so far away just to work with us. They remind us of how important it is, and how meaningful, even if its just to be on stage with the Ailey Company for maybe five minutes. It speaks volumes. Favors came to Seattle in early February to audition the young dancers for this upcoming performance. She describes what she looked for during the auditions. We had well over 100 eager, enthusiastic young people. I look for obvious technical abilities that are needed for the piece, and then the next aspect  which is equally important  is that persons evident love for the art form. How much he or she allows that to infuse the work and their dancing. Well rehearse three hours a day for two weeks and the [rest of the] company arrives on Friday, March 28. The kids will work with them on Saturday, and well perform on Sunday afternoon. Its exciting for all of us; obviously for the young dancers here, but for all of us in the company its a wonderful reminder of why we started in the first place. Favors also talks about other aspects of community outreach that AAADT does on a regular basis. In our school [in New York], we try to give the highest levels of dance training to the largest number of people possible. What that means is we cover every age and every level from two-year-olds to advanced professionals. We have Ailey Extension classes for dance-minded civilians [salsa, yoga, West African dance] and we also have an affiliation with Fordham University, so a dancer can receive a BA through Fordham in Fine Arts. Its a wide range of opportunities and we serve over 3000 students a year. Also, AileyCamps are in several cities across the country [the first one started in Kansas City in 1989], which is a six-week summer day camp for 11-14-year-olds from underserved communities. They study four different types of dance disciplines as well as creative communications classes in writing or art, and they also have personal development classes. Favors is keenly aware of the drop in funding for arts programs across the country. Less and less instruction is being done as funding gets cut back, but art is a necessity. Alvin always wanted dance to be accessible. Weve gotten into a sort of mindset that art is a luxury, but its not, its a fundamental expression. We can bridge gaps between people. We try, as artists, to find ways to contribute to the human conversation. For more information, go to www.theparamount.com or call 206-292-2787, or to avoid extra fees, go down to The Paramount Box Office at 911 Pine St