Founded as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble in 1974, Ailey II – the second company of groundbreaking dancer, choreographer, director, and activist Alvin Ailey (1931-89), representing the next generation of dance – continues to advance his vision by giving talented young dancers the opportunity to transition from student training to the professional stage and global tours. Now under the leadership of artistic director Francesca Harper (a former student and choreographer for Ailey’s two companies), Ailey II is focused on the mission of being “inclusive, experimental, and transformative,” as seen in the diverse and dynamic New Vintage (one of its two current alternating programs, along with Echoes), featuring works by Ailey and other established and emerging choreographers, and now performing at Ailey Citigroup Theater following a 28-city tour.
The four-part show presents a variety of styles and inspirations, from African, balletic, and traditional, to post-modern and futuristic. It opens with a short excerpt from Divining of 1984 – the first choreographic work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater by Ailey dancer, choreographer, and artistic director emerita Judith Jamison (1943-24), to whom the Company’s 2024-25 season is dedicated. Restaged here by Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, the solo piece combines African tribal dance and modern movement, set to a score by Kimati Dinizulu and Monti Ellison of African drumbeats and polyrhythms. Performing barefoot, in a colorful costume – originally designed by Masazumi Chaya and redesigned by Andy Kay – that visually reinforces the mix of cultural forms, dancer Kayla Mei-Wan Thomas fluidly fuses the two with technical mastery and underscores the significance of the title, suggestive of uncovering hidden knowledge through magical intuition and ritual, by expressively raising her arms and head, and looking up to the sky. The mood of supernatural mystery is enhanced with evocative lighting by Timothy Hunter, redesigned after Chenault Spence’s original.
A collection of Ailey Highlights follows, featuring excerpts from three classic works choreographed by the company’s founder between 1958-72: Blues Suite; The Lark Ascending; and Streams. Together they display the distinctive array and blend in his work that made him an icon of American dance. They range from revisiting memories of his Southern childhood in telling segments from Blues Suite (created in 1958, when he was 27, launching his American Dance Theater), with dancers Xhosa Scott, Kamani Abu, Xavier Logan, Darion Turner, and Alfred L. Jordan II in Mean Ol’ Frisco and Jordyn White, Carley Brooks, and Jennifer M. Gerken in House of the Rising Sun, restaged by Chaya and set to traditional blues, the sounds of trains, and church bells, through one long indulgent Saturday night before the call to church on Sunday morning, with indicative lighting by Spence (from the original by Nicola Cernovitch); to the romantic and lyrical merging of ballet with modern dance in The Lark Ascending, displaying the talents of Kiri Moore and Xhosa Scott in both idioms, exquisitely performed to the eponymous “Romance for Violin and Orchestra” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, as restaged by Roxas-Dobrish, in costumes by Bea Feitler and lighting by Spence; to the non-narrative formal abstraction of Streams, again restaged by Roxas-Dobrish to three movements from Miloslav Kabelac’s percussive “Eight Inventions, Opus 45” – Scherzo, performed by Alfred L. Jordan II and Xavier Logan, Lamentoso featuring Jordyn White, and Diabolico with The Company, in costumes by A. Christina Giannini and lighting by Spence – inspired by the feelings aroused by and parallel to the changing speeds and sensations of bodies of water, in stunning solos, duets, and group choreography.
Next up is the world premiere of Houston Thomas’s Down the Rabbit Hole, created in 2024, and inspired by The Matrix sci-fi movie series, set in a dystopian future in which humanity is trapped inside a simulated reality created by intelligent machines, and rebels against it. Featuring Ailey II dancers Jennifer M. Gerken, Alfred L. Jordan II, Carley Brooks, Xhosa Scott, Jordyn White, and Corinth Moulterie, the work explores the timely theme of the infringement of AI on our lives and how it affects human behavior and interactions, with electronic music by Johannes Goldbach and Pomassl, robotic staccato movements breaking up passages of natural fluidity, a monochromatic palette of black, white, and grey in the costumes by Jasmine Schulter and Thomas, and sudden dramatic breaks in Aja M. Jackson’s lighting, from bright white to total blackness. It all conveys a futuristic sensibility and the threat of a tech-controlled world suppressing human grace and color, delivered to perfection by the excellent troupe.
The show closes with Baye & Asa’s John 4:20 of 2023, an expanded version of their original 2018 duet, inspired by the Biblical verse, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” and its moral that if you truly love God, you must also show acceptance and love for other people. Six dancers of divergent identities – Kamani Abu, Meredith Brown, Alfred L. Jordan II, Kiri Moore, Xhosa Scott, and Darion Turner – in contemporary costumes of athletic street wear in different styles and colors by Noble Spell and Heather Craig, alternate between coming together and facing off, aggressively challenging and competing with one another or helping and caring for each other, and lifting up those who are down, in the spirit of the message. Music by Jack Grabow is in keeping with the post-modern style, the choreography includes segments of hip-hop dance moves, and the lighting by Ethan Saiewitz, with flashing strobes and haze, dramatically accentuates the dancers and their changing moods, from the realities of violence to the need for understanding and empathy.
New Vintage provides an entertaining and meaningful showcase for the impressive company of rising stars, brimming with physical skill and emotional depth, and expanding on Alvin Ailey’s inspiring legacy.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 45 minutes, including a pause and two intermissions.
Ailey II plays through Sunday, April 6, 2025, at Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $62.25, including fees), go online.