Recently celebrating its 50th anniversary, and here presenting a world premiere, America’s ‘Cultural Ambassador to the World’, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to the UK for an eight-city national tour this autumn.

The 31 member New York-based Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre company has changed the face of American dance over the last half century, combining popular music, gospel and jazz with a fusion of ballet and modern dance, encouraging audiences that number in the millions to their feet.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre grew from a ground-breaking performance in 1958 led by Alvin Ailey, who sought to enrich the modern dance tradition and celebrate his African-American heritage. Born in Rogers, Texas in 1931, Ailey grew up during a time of racial segregation and violence against African-Americans. When he was just 5 years old, the rape of his mother by a group of white men left him fearful of whites. Early experiences in the Southern Baptist church and local jook-joints instilled in him a fierce sense of black pride that would later figure prominently in Ailey’s signature works.

His inspiration for dance came in 1942 when he and his mother migrated to Los Angeles. There, young Ailey regularly attended shows at Lincoln and the Orpheum Theatres. He became serious about dance in 1949 when a school friend introduced him to the Hollywood studio of Lester Horton, who would later prove to be Ailey’s major influence and mentor; including classical ballet, jazz, and Native American dance. Horton’s school was the first multi-racial dance school in the United States and gave Ailey both a technique and a foundation of combined dance styles with which to grow artistically.

Ailey formed his own company in 1958 and a dance school later in 1969, creating more than 79 dances for his company during his tenure. Proud that his company was multi-racial, he wanted to give opportunities to black dancers who were frequently excluded from performances by racist attitudes at the time; the company always employed artists based solely on artistic talent and integrity, regardless of their race.

This ethos remains today. Known for their passion, energy and talent, the Ailey dancers include Renee Robinson, selected by Alvin Ailey himself and the only woman to have danced with AAADT for an incredible 29 years. Clifton Brown, hailed as “a star among stars” by The Sunday Times, received a Bessie award in 2007 in recognition of his work with the company.

“I was exposed to the Ailey company through a video I checked out of the Phoenix Public Library”, says Brown. “When I saw Donna Wood dance I was amazed and inspired on so many levels. Her limbs seemed to stretch to eternity, yet at times she was also so subtle. But what struck me the most was her sincerity. You could look in her eyes and see a person having a human experience. I instantly related to the feeling and expression that went through her entire body while she was dancing.”

An instant hit with fans, Clifton’s introduction to dance was by chance, and his dexterity learnt over time. “My grandmother took me to a tumbling class at a dance studio when I was four years old. All the kids in my family were older than me and had started to go to school already. Since I was still too young for school, she wanted to give me something constructive to do as well as give me some physical coordination – believe it or not I was very clumsy! I loved it and soon started taking ballet, then tap, jazz and modern. I’ve been dancing ever since.”

Besides star dancers, the team is coordinated by an exceptional collective of passionate professionals, one of which is Judith Jamison. In 2009 Jamison celebrated 20 years as Artistic Director of the company and was also named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine. She became a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1965 and danced with the company for 15 years to great acclaim. Recognizing her extraordinary talent, Mr. Ailey created some of his most enduring roles for her, most notably the tour de force solo, Cry.

Appearing as a guest artist with ballet companies all over the world during the 80’s, Jamison eventually formed her own company in 1988. The Jamison Project; a PBS special depicting her creative process, Judith Jamison: The Dancemaker, aired nationally the same year. She was then appointed Artistic Director to the Ailey company in December 1989 at the request of Ailey himself and won the prestigious National Medal of Arts alongside the Ailey organisation in 2001, the first dance company to receive the honour. Alvin Ailey sadly passed away on 1 December 1989; Ms Jamison recently announced she retires as Artistic Director in 2011, to be succeeded by Robert Battle.

Performing the over 200 works by over 70 choreographers to millions of people in 71 countries on six continents, AAADT’s far reaching popularity provides its members with an opportunity to view the world while touching international audiences.

“Touring the world is one of the perks of dancing with the Ailey Company,” says Brown. “Basically, you get to be a tourist in many different countries and get paid. Although we don’t have much time to see every city we go to, I do my best to experience each city and enjoy its offerings when my schedule allows. My favourite theatre to perform in has been the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece. You’re dancing outside under the stars, in the ruins of Greece, with beautiful views.

“I’m excited to be back in the UK though,” he adds, “I always have a great experience performing in the UK. One of the most enjoyable things is the audience reaction. The people are so welcoming and enthusiastic! You can sense their anticipation for every performance.”

Highlights from the two programmes for the forthcoming UK dates include the phenomenal Revelations (1960) by Alvin Ailey, the most viewed piece in modern dance history, with an estimated audience of 23 million to date. Programme Two also features the world premiere of Christopher Huggins’ new work Anointed.

“I don’t necessarily dance because I have a need to perform for people,” Brown says, “but simply because I love it.  I am so fortunate to dance with a company that touches and moves so many people worldwide. Dancing with the Ailey Company, which is such a positive force, has shown me how amazing it is to share the spirit that we share with our audiences. It’s so much greater than anything I could achieve as an individual.”

Performing for Take That at the MTV awards brought Aicha her first professional job. The move to choreographer, a role mostly dominated by men, was not an easy one. She admits her introduction to the job was: “kind of crazy and a fluke really. My partner Paolo had another agency and the dancers were doing stuff for Kylie (Minogue) and Geri (Halliwell). Meanwhile, I was like: ok I actually need to eat…can I have a job in the office? One day somebody called, no one else was in and they needed a concept for Levi’s. So I sat there and wrote it and they were like, Ok you got the job.”

Levi’s then approached her to create concepts for their 150th Anniversary, staged in Berlin. A string of trade and fashion shows followed. Then came the Brit Awards and Kanye West. She explains: “Kanye said ‘We want models but they need to move, you’ve seen the Gold Digga video, this is what we want.’ Knowing the fashion thing, I knew I could get them to dance. So we had these tall leggy girls, (and) we did Kanye, the whole UK TV promotion and he loved it.”

US-based choreographer Fatima Robinson, who has worked with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Black Eyed Peas, is also a good friend and colleague of Aicha’s and has sourced her dancers for her when she has come to Europe on numerous occasions.

Starting AMCK was a chance for Aicha “to take control and put commercial dance and dancers forward in the way that they should be respected,” she insists passionately. “I want to be the Gucci of the dance world. I just want everything high quality and the dancers are the people who make the show work and look good. I want them to be respected like models and actors are because (after all) they’ve trained really hard.”

In times of a recession, the entertainment business can often be the first to suffer but people still want to be entertained so it means “I have to work a bit harder to make simple things look good!”

Aicha is proud to have been listed as one of Britain’s 100 Most influential Black People . “For someone to come from above and say, you know, what you’ve been doing is alright and we want to accolade that. It was absolutely magical.”

And what changes has she seen for young, black dancers? “There are more opportunities definitely. There’s not just one token black (girl). If you had four girl dancers you’d be lucky if you had one black girl, but she’d have a nice weave like Naomi (Campbell). There were no afros going on,” she says grinning whilst twisting a lock of her mane. “The girls used to cuss me at Pineapple, they’d be like go and relax your hair child… Now people want more of an ethnic mix and that’s a great thing. It’s not strange to have three or four black dancers in a group but before that didn’t happen.”

I draw her attention to the AMCK logo, a sheep with a crown. She explains that it represents a shepherd – the English translation for Pecoraro – the Italian surname of her business partner Paolo. “We’re also husband and wife and we have a son who’s five, so you know it’s a family run company. People ask: ‘who backs you?’ but no it’s (just) us, we’re doing this for ourselves… working really hard… for our family.”

Michelle Harris

Beyond The Ballroom, on Sunday 19th July @ Cargo in Shoreditch London was a tribute to underground UK jazz dance – a mainly working class movement that emerged from the suburban soul scene of the South and post-Blackpool Mecca club-land in the North. Catch a Vibe attended the event to find out how the scene made its mark.

Among the live artists were Dilanga performing Cuban street rumba and Mighty Jeddo providing post-millennium freedom jazz dance. Meanwhile, DJs Snowboy and Gilles Peterson took the audience further along the journey of jazz dance. Alongside the music was a book signing, record stalls, a sprung dance floor and the London premiere of Dick Jewell’s classic film The Jazz Room. While paying homage to the roots of the UK jazz dance scene, the event also looked towards the future.

Like the funky house kids of 2009 who deliver their dance moves on YouTube, UK jazz dancers honed their art in bedrooms, but tested it in battle on the dancefloor. It’s about a young black and white Britain, united by music and dance…

(c) Denise Arthur

Fukiko Takase, by Nuno Santos

Award-winning choreographer Henri Oguike and his successful dance company are celebrating ten years with a Spring 09 UK Anniversary Tour, showcasing some of its best works. Catch a Vibe caught up with the man himself during rehearsals at Greenwich Dance Agency.

You started the tour back in January, has it been a great run?
It’s been going OK. I haven’t been on tour as much, as changes for the future are happening now. I’m not doing the same company stuff next year, i.e. touring. There’s going to be a new management and some new members of the board – one or two key people are also leaving. But touring wise it’s been going well as far as I know. There have been good reviews and feedback, especially with this particular programme in retrospect of old pieces.

What has it been like to revisit earlier dance works? Have you had to make any significant changes choreographically?
I’ve tried to avoid fussing with it too much. There was a piece way back called Seen of Angels, danced to Handel’s Messiah. I originally made it on another company, a commission, but I decided to take it on myself. A little refurbishment, a little touch here and there and it ended up a whole inside out thing. I couldn’t actually even finish it then. I learnt my lesson, from that, you know, (to) leave some of the old stuff alone.

You’re half Nigerian and half Welsh. Do you think this is where your talent for musicality comes from?
I don’t know. It wasn’t like there was anything obvious in my background; I was a bit of a wanderer as a kid. My dad had the idea of starting a business in Nigeria. He took myself and my mother out there. Going to school and so on, I’ve just got memories of me wandering around, not really engaging with anything that was [formally] set up like music lessons or dance lessons. And then we moved again. I don’t think I’ve ever settled in one place, whether it be friends or family. It wasn’t until my late teens that I did dancing, music, enjoyed a bit of art in school.

You also work with some of the finest dancers in contemporary dance. Does this allow you great freedom as a choreographer?
There’s potentially freedom but because of the way we have to operate there’s a lot of restraint. To really get to know the company, to get to the core of it is really tough as an RFO company. At the same time that’s how I want to work, part RFO, touring the world but also as a project group, research and development – that hasn’t been built in so well. Therefore I can’t take advantage of the unique areas the dancers may bring.

You also run H2O your sister company, is it still involved in educational work?
It doesn’t really exist. It was an idea that initially started out as a youth group and then became an apprentice company, but again funding was difficult, the main company wasn’t really stable enough. Maybe it’s all to do with how good you are at raising funds. It’s something for the future. It’s alright trying to put out quality but some people seem to have that flair to attract the right funds, or have somebody within the organization who can do that. I need that now. It’s something I’m going to have to absorb more of, becoming a sort of artistic businessman without losing the integrity.

Producing two works a year for the company is a lot of work. How do you continue to be inspired to create? Is it through the music?
The music thing, that label, was something I was asked at college, The Place (London Contemporary Dance School) and then I was given money from the Robin Howard [Theatre] and Westminster. I thought ok let’s try and do something specific. Other pieces had a similar approach and I got labeled as the dance and music man. But I have very strong interests in other areas. I doodle with all sorts of creative software, film, image, sound. All those things interest me – the approach. Maybe I’ve never been organized enough to hone in and say this and that is exactly what I want to do, and bring it. I try things. So as far as what inspires, it comes from anywhere now.

Although you’re a black choreographer the company and your work have never been categorized as just “black dance”. Why do you think you’ve enjoyed such mainstream success in the contemporary dance scene?
I’ve not made any noise about it in that way. In Nigeria they’d make fun of me, I was the yellow pepper. And then here, when I first came there was some of the rougher names, but I didn’t get the meaning. Having been that wandering [boy], little things pulling you in different directions, I don’t think I paid that much attention. If that’s a good thing or not I don’t know. At this point in time I believe it was a good thing, as we try and teach children and new generations coming up about labeling. You can get tangled up politically with it, and so it’s really down to the individual, regardless of what is said out there.

And the next ten years? Where do you think you’ll be?
Maybe on a street corner asking for a pound. I don’t know, I’m trying to allow life and work, that relationship to chill out a little. It’s been ten years with a lot of change, a lot of attention to things that maybe distracted from life in general. I’m at a stage like a crossroads. (I) feel like I’ve been here for ages, just poised, either waiting for the wind to blow me over if I take a step or go with it. The wandering boy image. There’s uncertainty, moments of groundedness and confidence. [It’s] a bit mixed up.

Savion Glover by NiNa (c)

For his production, Bare Soundz, tap legend Savion Glover forgoes the familiar theatrical elements of narrative and music, and lets his feet do the talking. Performing eleven short pieces upon three wooden platforms, the minimalistic yet stylish backdrop perfectly illuminates Glover’s exuberant style.

Dancing with an energy that is boundless, and a flexibility and technical prowess that is otherworldly, Glover treats the audience to a virtuoso display of complex toe taps, stamps and hops. No part of the foot is excluded by this tap wizard in order to create a barrage of rhythms as diverse as hip-hop and Calypso.

Glover is joined by Marshall Davis Jr. and Maurice Chestnut, and together this relaxed trio are the epitome of cool. At one point Glover dances with a sweat towel in hand as if in mid rehearsal, rather than performing under the pressure of an expectant audience at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. This effortlessness is evident not least in Trading Places, where each dancer take turns in a Round Robin to tap out phrases on a single platform. As one performer leaves, the next swiftly picks up the rhythm. Never is there a dropped beat and the timing is impeccable.

At times the deluge of sound is overwhelming and one may be tempted to fall into a trance like state in order to process it all. But with a flourish into the air and a daring pointed toe balance, Glover always brings the audience back to the action.

A self-confessed hoofer since age 12, it is this revolutionary brand of street influenced rhythm tap – and regular appearances on Sesame Street – that  have made Glover  a household name in America. Long surpassing the likes of Fred Astaire and the Broadway tradition, for fans young and old this is fearless and edgy tap for the Millennium.

With an Olivier Award to its name, the Theatre Royal Stratford East production deserves its promotion where it comes off superbly on the large Barbican Theatre stage. The 30 plus company of dancers have room to move,. The action takes place throughout the set where the acoustics are clear as a bell and lighting is effectively used. Multimedia video projections even find their way into the show.

Moulding Robert Hamelin’s famous story into a modern-day parable of media-driven hysteria, hooded youths, criminal gangs and society’s decline works well. Into this environment steps the vigilante justice of the Pied Piper. But retelling the fable isn’t really the issue here. The voice of the piece is delivered through Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante’s atmospheric music, the choreography of Kenrick “H2O” Sandy and the direction and set design of Ultz.

Their voices are expressive, innovative, in your face and versatile street dance routines – individual and group style – tell a tale of morality, violence, defiance and aggression.

The tale unfolds through set-piece synchronised routines. In a series of contemporary dance confrontations, the Pied Piper [a charismatic and powerfully built Kenrick Sandy] challenges his adversaries.

Each battle is a display of individual dance skills and co-ordinated choreography of passion, aggression, with fluid movement and backbreaking, gravity-defying body contortions. It’s mesmerising. The question is asked: “is this freestyle dance movement?”.   But it’s actually the adept, graceful and technical virtuosity of highly skilled and well-trained performers.  The next generation takes a bow  in a vibrant scene of pre and early teenage dancers.

This is an energetic showcase where the demands on the human body are pushed to the maximum. Over 90 minutes in seven chapters divided into fast paced scenes it’s a test that the 38-member cast pass with honours.

A powerful, defiant, and energetic piece of theatre.

Pic: Robert Day

Pied Piper – A Hip Hop Dance Revolution
@ Barbican, March 09
Boy Blue Entertainment
Choreography by Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy
Music by Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante
Directed and designed by ULTZ
A Theatre Royal Stratford East Production