Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Opera House, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
February 19, 2008
by George Jackson
copyright 2008 by George Jackson
Politics, personal allegiance, even morality and not merely aesthetics come into play when an American dance company decides to do choreography by Maurice Bejart. This Frenchman (he resided in Belgium for a major part of his career and then in Switzerland until his death late last year) was persona non grata with critics in the USA. Other choreographers could be bad sometimes or often, but Bejart became the anti-Balanchine, the contra-Cunningham. To be seduced by anything he did was the sign of a lost soul. Despite the bad press, he acquired a following in this country. His company hadn’t toured here in decades but a couple of summers ago, when a documentary film on his Lausanne work was shown, venues filled up unexpectedly. Live performances, too, have functioned as drawing cards in the rare instances when a Bejart ballet was taken into an American repertory. The most recent example is the Ailey’s acquisition of “Firebird”, with which the company opened its Washington season. The performance did not do Bejart justice.
Classical technique is crucial for Bejart choreography. He uses it dramatically, ritually, propagandistically and sometimes in a classroom way but if the dancers in core roles are not precise and strong, there’s a vacuum. “Firebird” is about leadership in a revolutionary cell. The cell consists of 8 partisans. They have to have strength but it could be the character dance or modern dance sort. Their bodies, khaki-clad in field fatigues, are not sharply outlined. To concentrate and focus the partisans’ restlessness, two figures appear – the Firebird and, after he is mortally wounded, his successor, the Phoenix. This pair, in ruby red tights, is clearly etched into the shadowy stage picture. Their dancing has to be very centered, crystalline and stellar. Clifton Brown, who did the title role on opening night, has a large, imposing body. He’s loose in the hips, though, and generally too ungirdled in the lower torso to move with the impact intended for the Firebird. Jamar Roberts as his heir, the Phoenix, came closer. There was one dancer in the cast who has the technique needed for the Firebird – Alicia J. Graf. It was difficult not to notice her. As one of the more or less anonymous partisans, Graf riveted the eye with her spacious gestures and elongated line. Why not let her dance the leading part? It would mean gender switching it, but that’s a practice Bejart has been known to employ.
The current staging of “Firebird” by Shonach Mirk (Robles), a former principal with Bejart’s company, failed also to convey fully the sense of danger that used to be so palpable in this ballet. Stravinsky’s music was heard in a somewhat murky recording. When performed with conviction, this piece by Bejart is an intriguing movement analysis of revolutionary mentalities and can be a trump in the repertory. Directors like Ailey’s Judith Jamison or the Farrell Ballet’s Suzanne Farrell, who once performed for Bejart, will hopefully persist in letting his choreography be seen in America even if their companies must extend themselves to dance with the right balance of classicism, characterization and passion. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to the next night’s performance to see an alternate Ailey cast headed by Matthew Rushing.
Rushing, on this opening night, was stunning in “Treading”, a minimalist essay by Elisa Monte to Steve Reich music. The control he and his partner, Linda Celeste Sims, showed in the radical leaning and slow unfurling of bodies was virtuoso. Renee Robison starred in the Alvin Ailey / Duke Ellington “Night Creature”, which is a bit Ameretricious. Ailey’s “Revelations”, the program’s gospel song closer, remains masterful, of course, even though it had more nuance formerly. The company is presenting 13 different works during its 6-day run.
