Alvin Ailey Dance Theater makes 30th appearance at Carolina Performing Arts

On Tuesday, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater sold out the Carolina Performing Arts venue Memorial Hall. 

For many audience members, this show is an annual affair, as the theater performs at UNC two nights a year as a part of their running partnership with CPA.

This year, CPA held Alvin Ailey tour dates on March 18 and 19, marking their 30th appearance at UNC since their partnership began in 2006. 

“There's older folks in the community that have been coming to see Ailey for as long as they've lived in the Triangle, so I think this is a tradition for many people,” Amanda Graham, CPA’s associate director of engagement, said. “There's a lot of enthusiasm in the crowd. Universities who have dancers from across the Triangle attend in large numbers.”

The show’s format this year allowed attendees who attended the Tuesday and Wednesday shows to view two different programs. Tuesday night included the pieces “Sacred Songs,” “Many Angels” and “Revelations,” while Wednesday’s longer program presented the pieces “Grace,” “Finding Free” and “Revelations.”

“Revelations,” a crowd favorite often repeated throughout the Ailey tour, premiered in 1960 and was choreographed by the theater’s founder Alvin Ailey. One of the most popular moments in “Revelations” was a group dance to the song, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.” 

Dancers emerged onto the stage in bright yellow suits and dresses, dancing with church fans and rocking to the catchy rhythm. It’s a well-known practice that toward the end, the audience stands up and claps along with the song. 

“Sacred Songs” is seen as a modern “Revelations.” Many songs in the piece come from omitted spirituals from “Revelations,” which was originally much longer than it’s performed today. Matthew Rushing, interim artistic director at Alvin Ailey and Creative Associate Du’Bois A'Keen reworked these songs with an updated sound to appear in “Sacred Songs.” 

“They brought these spirituals to a modern style so that this generation can relate to it versus the hymns from Mr. Ailey's ‘Revelations,’” Ailey dancer Constance Stamatiou said. “It brings you on this journey of community; people coming together for a need, for limitation, for faith and for joy.”

The second piece from Tuesday’s performance, “Many Angels,” felt like an exhale, according to Stamatiou. The inspiration for the piece was the question, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”

Opposed to the large ensemble in “Sacred Songs," only five dancers performed “Many Angels,” wearing light colors and sheer fabrics — conveying angels.

“It's really beautiful because they're in front of this backdrop that looks like heaven,” Stamatiou said. “It's just sunshine on clouds, and at points, if you stare at the backdrop longer, it's moving, and it's just so peaceful and so beautiful.”

Each piece included a different group of dancers, and at the curtain call, audiences erupted with applause as the dancers took their final bows. 

The two performances were not the last time the Chapel Hill community got to see the Ailey Dancers. CPA has expanded their partnership with the theater to include dance workshops where the public can learn from current and former dancers. A workshop occurred on Wednesday at an art space and studio CPA operates on Franklin Street.

“[Ailey Dance Theater] can engage in campus life with us, in offering their expertise as masters of their technique and masters of dance, and helping students who are learning new dance forms, or curious about dance or just curious about movement more generally,” Chris Pendergrass, artistic planning manager at CPA, said. 

Thanks to this 19-year partnership, UNC students and the Chapel Hill community can witness the legacy of Alvin Ailey for years to come.       

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