Ailey II
Harmonic Echo
Ailey II's C. Moulterie, A. Jordan, K. Moore. Photo by Nir Arieli.
Tickets
Tickets are required and include Museum admission. $50 General Admission, $30 Members. The November 22 at 7:30 pm performance is $10 General Admission and Members.
Doors open approximately 30 minutes prior to showtime. To protect the focus and integrity of our artists, latecomers will not be admitted. Tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged. Additional tickets may become available closer to the program date. Check back often.
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Floor 3, Theater
September 25–29 at 11 am
November 20–21 at 2 pm, 5 pm
November 22 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm
November 23*–24 at 2 pm, 5 pm
December 21–22 at 2 pm, 5 pm
January 22–24 at 1:30 pm
January 25–26 at 11 am
*Audio description will be available for the performance on November 23 at 2 pm.
This performance is presented as part of the exhibition Edges of Ailey.
Ailey II is universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best early-career dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding and emerging choreographers. The performance opens with Divining, a dance by Judith Jamison set to a score of North African, Central African, and Latin rhythms. Divining builds on African dance idioms to create a striking, pulsating modern dance work. Divining is followed by excerpts from Blues Suite, Ailey’s first masterpiece, which poignantly evokes the sorrow, humor, and humanity of the blues—those heartfelt songs that Ailey called “hymns to the secular regions of the soul.” Lark Ascending seamlessly fuses ballet and modern vocabularies to display the dancers’ technical abilities in both disciplines and has entranced audiences for years. The performance closes with the formal, meditative mood of Streams. The dance evokes images and sensations inspired by various bodies of water—from gentle brooks to turbulent oceans—that correlate to the changing tides within us.
Program
Excerpt from Divining
Excerpts from Blues Suite
Excerpt from Lark Ascending
Excerpts from Streams
Runtime is approximately 30 minutes.
Excerpt from Divining
1984
Choreography by Judith Jamison
Music by Kimati Dinizulu and Monti Ellison
Original costume design by Masazumi Chaya
Costumes redesigned by Andy Kay
Excerpts from Blues Suite
“Mean Ol’ Frisco”
“House of the Rising Sun”
1958
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Restaged by Masazumi Chaya, Sylvia Waters, Renee Robinson, and Kanji Segawa
Music performed by Brother John Sellers
Original decor and costumes by Ves Harper
Costumes by Normand Maxon
Original lighting by Nicola Cernovitch
Lighting by Chenault Spence
Excerpt from Lark Ascending
1972
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Restaged by Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish
Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (The Lark Ascending)
Costumes by Bea Feitler
Lighting by Chenault Spence
Excerpts from Streams
1970
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Restaged by Masazumi Chaya, Linda Kent, Renee Robinson, and Kanji Segawa
Music by Miloslav Kabelac (“Eight Inventions, Opus 45”)
Costumes by A. Christina Giannini
Lighting by Chenault Spence
AILEY II
Ailey II is a world-renowned repertory company—the junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater—presenting new and classic works performed by the brightest young dancing talent. Founded in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II has advanced Alvin Ailey’s vision by giving early-career dancers the vital experience of transitioning from training as a student to becoming a professional dancer. Led by Artistic Director Francesca Harper, Ailey II is forging a new path for modern dance—one that’s inclusive, experimental, and transformative.