Ailey Dance Class: Night Creature Workshop
Fri, Dec 20, 2024
1–6 pm
Alvin Ailey's Night Creature. Photo by Paul Kolnik
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Floor 3, Theater
December 20 at 1–2 pm, 5–6 pm
Join world-renowned dancer Sarita Allen for a special workshop to learn choreography from Alvin Ailey’s Night Creature. Allen was a leading member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and one of the original dancers in Night Creature, chosen by Alvin Ailey himself to perform the lead role.
Night Creature is a perfect fusion of Ailey’s buoyant choreography and Duke Ellington’s sparkling music. At once wistful and sassy, it beckons viewers into a nocturnal world populated by jazz babies and night owls. Duke Ellington said that “night creatures, unlike stars, do not come OUT at night—they come ON, each thinking that, before the night is out, he or she will be the star.”
Sarita Allen was a leading member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for many years and was also an original member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. In Allen’s first season with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey created lead roles for her in two Ellington premieres: The Mooche—opposite Judith Jamison, Estelle Spurlock, and Sara Yarboroug—and Night Creature.