Ailey II Launches North American/European Tour

Sold out performances in Germany, Austria, and France, launched Ailey II's first ever global tour that will visit a total of 49 cities throughout Europe and North America.  Now at the peak of its popularity, the Company has reached a new level of prominence as young American cultural ambassadors, using the beauty and humanity of the African-American experience and the American Modern dance tradition to inspire and unite people of all backgrounds.
 
"This is a groundbreaking year for Ailey II," shared Artistic Director, Sylvia Waters.  "The Company has earned a place on the world stage, and we look forward to sharing our unique spirit, dance artistry, and choreographic works with audiences from Belfast, UK to Columbus, Ohio!"
 
Ailey II is universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the world's best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today's most outstanding emerging choreographers.  Over the past 36 years, the Company's repertory has included much-admired ballets by once budding artists who are now sought-after choreographers, such as Ronald K. Brown, Christopher L. Huggins, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Artistic Director Designate, Robert Battle.  "Ailey II plays an important role in providing 'breakout' opportunities for developing artists: dancers as well as choreographers," says Waters.  "I'm so proud the company has proven to be a springboard of limitless possibilities and that Artistic Director Designate Robert Battle began his Ailey journey with Ailey II."
 
In 1999 Robert Battle choreographed Mood Indigo, for Ailey II, the first of 11 ballets he has created for the Ailey organization.  "I'm grateful that Sylvia Waters saw potential in me and gave me the opportunity to develop as an artist," says Battle.  "The exposure that came from my ballets being performed by Ailey II marked a pivotal turning point in my career.  Ailey II's dancers are beyond talented, and to describe them as just a Second Company is far too limiting.  They have always been fabulous interpreters of my works, and I'm excited for audiences on this year's tour to experience them in my ballets, The Hunt and Takademe."
 
In addition to Battle's two ballets, repertory highlights will include one world premiere and two new productions.  Named one of Dance Magazine's coveted "25 to Watch" in 2009, innovative young choreographer Kyle Abraham created the exciting world premiere, The Corner for Ailey II.  Set to music by Donny Hathaway and popular rapper Common, Abraham recreates life on the street corner utilizing the full ensemble cast of 12 dancers and blending contemporary hip hop movement with post-modern and ballet techniques. 
 
Donald Byrd's Shards is a skillfully crafted work, showcasing his eclectic and complex choreography. Set to music by Mio Morales, Byrd expertly combines passion and formality, creating the perfect company premiere for the stunning Ailey II dancers.  Originally staged on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1988, The New York Times noted that the choreography was "intellectually stimulating (and)...certainly kept one watching."
 
San Francisco choreographer Robert Moses' signature work Doscongio is a solo set to two movements of Chopin's Sonata for cello and piano (op. 65).  Both fiercely focused and relaxed, it explores the schism in one man's view of himself.  The first movement is his moment of public bravura and the second, his private realization of the fallacy of that image.
 
The Company welcomes nine new dancers, including Jacqueline Green, who is one of three dancers from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, and Solomon Dumas, whose professional dancing aspirations began almost 10 years ago as a young Chicago AileyCamper.  Dumas and Green are both recipients of the 2010 Dizzy Feet Foundation scholarship, a special fund started by So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman along with Carrie Ann Inaba and Katie Holmes.

For the full schedule, visit:  http://www.alvinailey.org/about/company/ailey-ii

Photo by Eduardo Patino