Alvin Ailey
Pepper Greene and I went to see the Alvin Ailey Dance at the Opera House in Boston. The Introduction was a film with Judith Jemison the present director of the Alvin Ailey. She introduced and explained the classic piece, Revelations, that was the evenings performance, and told interesting background biographical tales about Alvin Ailey.
The music of the evening was the famous Gospel Music of our nation, Wade in the Water, Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?, Rock-a-my-soul in the Bosom of Abraham, Oh Sinner Man...and others..
What was unique? The dancers appeared in Turkish Costumes, the gold pleated whirling dervish for part of the performance. And what else? Not all the choreography was a religious fervor nor celebration of the book of revelations as we think of it and as it was usually performed...added gestures: The woman almost punches her partner in the face a dozen times but never quite, The two partners, woman and man intersaw wood or so it seems with each other gesticulating their arms back and forth between each others arms.....as if they are at the filing cabinet fighting over files...who has the authority to put that issue in that folder?
Fight...Fight...Fight...
It was Fierce!
Salem Dance at MassArt Dance Project
A sneak preview of the grace of The Dance Project brought to us by Colleges at the Fenway
Directed by Kristen Young and Sandra Parks
April 18 at Tower Auditorium
What was so enticing.... it is so young and fresh!!
What is so beautiful and unusual, ...some of the dancers are not so skinny but pleasantly robust... plump.
What is so worth bringing home and writing about? "Amazing Grace" the war in Iraq, in which the dancers wore fatigues and blessed the photos of their soldiers now serving overseas...
Hard to be graceful about.
Senagalese Dance
Held at the Dance Complex, Fatou D'jai performed with her troop...
Senegalese dance and song are always energizing..
What was unique? The black female dancers and white female dancers were in perfect synchronicity side by side.
My role: I did not dance, I videoed. For a change.
