Ailey II now streaming (until 2 October 2022)

 

An image from The Hunt as performed by six men.

Two of Ailey II’s performances are now available on the Ailvin Ailey website and YouTube until October 2, see this link. Ailey II, as The New York Times has stated, is the younger version of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is characterised by likewise energy and brilliance. The performances in question are Robert Battle’s The Hunt (2001) and Takademe (1999). Battle is the current artistic director of the Company and, in this case, has devised a refreshing change for both these works: The Hunt was originally danced by men while in this version it is performed by women and Takademe was a solo which is now danced by the whole Company.

The Hunt is an “athletic work for six men” that “reveals the predatory side of human nature and the primitive thrill of the hunt”. In this version danced by four women and restaged by Elisa Clark, the movement quality is different and there is a body fluidity absent in the initial work. The opening image recalls the rarefied atmosphere of an Edward Hopper’s painting thanks to Burke Wilmore’s striking lighting. The high-paced and percussive music by Les Tambours de Bronx immediately starts, creating a stark contrast with the dancers’ initial stillness. Then, as the dance begins, a vigorous pulsating energy emanates from the dancers’ bodies. They move in circles, bend their torso, walk, run and go to the floor mainly in pairs, but also all together. Mia McSwain’s costumes consist of long black skirts with red under layers and red tops. The skirts move along with the dancers’ movements creating a dazzling visual effect.

The title of this piece recalls Tero Saarinen’s Hunt (2002), a solo which represents his version of Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring, set to Stravinsky’s celebrated music. There, Saarinen plays with a long and wide skirt as well, a sort of white tutu made of panels of fabric where, at one point, images of himself are projected. There is a moonlike and hypnotising atmosphere. Saarinen’s intent was to focus on the giant quantity of information with which we are bombarded every day. In Battle’s The Hunt there is a raw energy and a physicality that bring the dancers to perform a tour de force without rest. We are almost left out of breath at the end of it. That is also why it is so brilliant! 

Takademe “mixes humor and high-flying movement in a savvy deconstruction of Indian Kathak dance rhythms”. Restaged by Kanji Segawa, it presents the whole Company instead of a solo interpreter. This means that the movement of the initial version is amplified and it reverberates through a collective group of dancers. In this case there is a more delicate and precise movement quality with respect to The Hunt. The dancers, for example, cross their arms, perform a small kick and bend in a flowy way. Sheila Chandra’s music contributes to this lighter atmosphere, highlighting each dancer’s move.

This dance reminded me of Martha Graham’s Satyric Festival Song (1932), a playful solo made of irony and wit, where the dancer jumps and walks tossing her hair up and down. Both these works are elegant and refined and humorous. I wonder how Graham’s solo would look like if it were performed by a group as Takademe was. Food for thought, thanks Ailey II!