Modern Dance – Memphis Flyer

Alvin Ailey ‘Invites Audience into a Conversation’ Through Dance

When the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater opens its latest touring show at the Orpheum Theatre this Friday, March 3, it’s bringing more than entertainment: it’s a whole way of looking at the world, and our own history. The company’s repertory has always taken on such major themes, and this year’s iteration is no different.

To dig deeper into the programming this time around, the Memphis Flyer reached out to dancer Khalia Campbell, who figures prominently in both the classic Revelations and the more recent In a Sentimental Mood, now enjoying its world premiere on this tour.

Memphis Flyer: How long have you been with Alvin Ailey?

Khalia Campbell: It’s now my fifth season with the company. I’ve been in Memphis with them before, in 2018 when I first joined the company. It was a very memorable experience for me: It was a really great crowd, and it was my first tour, so everything was heightened, the experience. I remember going out with my friends to eat and Memphis really treated us well. It was a really good experience being there, so I’m excited to be back!

It seems there’s special care taken with the music in Ailey productions.

Yeah. We have a new work, a world premiere called Are You In Your Feelings? by Kyle Abraham, an acclaimed choreographer, and it’s really about Black culture and Black music, with a youthful feel to it. It’s like a mixtape. He made a collection of all these amazing songs, R&B songs. From way back in the ’80s all the way to the present day. There’s Jazmine Sullivan, there’s Kendrick Lamar, there’s Maxwell, and so many songs that people know, that we just listen to on a daily basis. It’s just great to be able to dance to good music that you could just listen to on a car ride. So that’s one example of the music playing a great role in this year’s rep.

On the other hand, Revelations is based on Negro Spirituals, and they too really speak to the Black experience, just as Are You In Your Feelings? does. The music we dance to speaks a lot about Black culture, and the importance of faith to us, to persevere through hard times. So Revelations really takes you from tragedy to triumph. It’s like a movie, talking about us as a culture, but also about all human struggle through trials and tribulations. The music speaks to the universal experience.

Regarding Revelations, which first premiered in 1960: is it intimidating to take on this kind of hallowed piece?

It’s not difficult at all. Dancing Revelations does have a weight to it, because it’s about the Black experience, and legends in the dance world have performed it. Like, I do a role that Miss Judith Jamison once performed. So there’s a weight to it, but I’m not intimidated by it. It is a responsibility, and an honor, and a privilege to be able to continue this legacy that Ailey has given us. We’re still on his shoulders, still dancing a work that was created in 1960. And it’s still relevant today. The human experience is still the same, especially for African Americans today. We still are dealing with racism and discrimination. So I can put my own experience into it and still honor the work’s integrity. When I first saw the company and saw this piece, I saw myself. From growing up in the Black church and beyond.

I always wondered about how much it evolved over the years. Has it changed at all since 1960?

When he first created it, there were fewer people. And the steps have evolved a little bit. And the set may have changed a little, too, but the overall heart of the piece is still the same. The music lineup is the same, though a different choir is singing the songs. The old tapes sound different. And the dance has evolved since then. It’s still the same steps, but maybe there’s a higher leg, or there are more turns now. Different subtle changes.

Dance is always dependent on music, but did the late Alvin Ailey, as the company’s founder, bring a special understanding of music to the organization?

Alvin Ailey loved music. He specifically loved Duke Ellington. There are a lot of dances that we perform to Ellington’s music, and there’s a beautiful contrast between the movement and the music, and how they come together. Ailey really played with that.

The piece In a Sentimental Mood must be built around Ellington’s music.

Yes, it is! And Jamar Roberts, the choreographer, and also a former member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, wanted it to be a modernized version of Blues Suite, which was a work by Mr. Ailey. It’s an intimate scene, of two people coming back to revisit a relationship. And the music plays a big part in setting the mood. I really look forward to performing it in Memphis. It allows me to tap into my experiences, of being in a relationship, or of being in future relationships, and the kinds of conversations I want to have. It allows you to tap into real life experiences. We do that a lot in Ailey’s work, but Jamar’s work has really allowed me to just go there and get lost in that piece.

It uses a lesser known work by Ellington, “The Single Petal of a Rose.”

Yeah it does. Dance is a universal language and when it’s done with music people enjoy, it allows them to engage with the overall experience more. And the works this year feature some fantastic music, and will really allow the audience to engage with the experience with us.

The audience response to Ailey shows here in the past has been really enthusiastic.

Yeah, and that’s what Mr. Ailey always wanted. His most famous quote was, ‘Dance came from the people, it shall always be delivered back to the people.’ He wanted his works to speak to real life experiences, to speak to the soul, to the spirit. And that’s one way that Mr. Ailey really stands out from other modern dancers. It speaks to the soul. Even the music he chose. It helps the audience members come into an experience, instead of just watching for entertainment. More than ‘Oh, that was nice,’ you really feel changed. Like, that was just a whole experience. And I would love more art to be about that. Inviting the audience into a conversation with the performers.

There’s also some really fine jazz showcased on this tour. Wynton Marsalis, Roy Eldridge in a Twyla Tharpe piece, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln in Survivors. Has the use of really fine jazz been a through-line in Ailey pieces?

Yes. Again, Mr. Ailey loved Duke Ellington. We have Pas de Duke and Night Creatures and other jazz pieces. We’ve had whole programs devoted just to Ailey’s work and Duke Ellington. So there is a through line of Mr. Ailey working with really great music. And for dancers, that’s all you could ask for.

I think Ailey had respect for all genres of music and dance, and that’s why we’re a repertory company, because we do everything, from House music to jazz to Martha Graham-like modern dance music. We’ve done Afro-Centric work, like one called Shelter. Ronald K. Brown is one African-inspired choreographer we’ve worked with. So I think we have so many choreographers, including European choreographers, that we want to pay respect to the art. Ailey appreciated all genres of dance. And it expands our arsenal, our creativity, and artistry. And Ailey wanted his dancers to be very versatile.

It’s definitely challenging, but it keeps me motivated, it keeps me inspired and engaged. And one thing I love about Ailey is, I get to wear different hats every night. I play different roles every night. I tap into different techniques od dance. And that’s what you need to grow. Just doing one thing would lead to complacency. But at Ailey I’ve become a better artist because I’m able to dive into all these different techniques and genres of dance.

The program for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Orpheum engagement includes:

Friday, March 3:
In a Sentimental Mood / For Four / Are You in Your Feelings? / Revelations

Saturday, March 4:
Roy’s Joys / Survivors / Revelations

Sunday, March 5 (Matinee):
In a Sentimental Mood / For Four / Are You in Your Feelings? / Revelations

The company will also be engaging in lecture demonstrations for local schools and through a free community dance workshop open to all ages and abilities. Tickets, registration for the lecture demonstrations, and attendee registration for the free community workshop can be found at orpheum-memphis.com.

Firebird: Conjuring Power and Passion with Dance and Steel

Last night’s soft opening of Firebird, a new immersive modern dance work being staged at Off the Walls Arts through August 7, was a paradox: using only the simplest of forms and set pieces, it transported the audience to new realms.

Staged in the same space that once housed the elaborate Baron von Opperbean’s Exploratorium by Christopher Reyes, the contrast couldn’t have been greater. Where neon forests and planetary landscapes once stood in the former exhibit, there now stands a stark, spare area, stone gray except for a few black arboreal forms and a vivid mural of a phoenix on one wall. At one end, velvet curtains hang.

Those curtains were the only real indication that the space has now become a dance stage. Some audience members even clustered on the floor informally at the foot of the curtains, while others sat in folding chairs behind a strip of tape that established the edge of the performance area.

“This blue line marks the edge of the action,” one usher noted to those of us in the front row. “There’s going to be a large swinging structure. Stay back or you might end up with someone in your lap.”

Being perched on the precipice of the performance made it all the more effective when the lights went down, the aggressive techno-flavored opening music revved up, and the five-person ensemble burst out from behind the curtains, ferociously dragging a large spherical framework. From that point on, we were transported.

The spherical frame proved to be a versatile structure for myriad movements, inspiring vigorous dance and gymnastics from the performers. While the piece may have been sparked by The Firebird ballet that premiered in 1910, there was not a hint of Stravinsky here. The music, composed by Michael Wall, a faculty member at the University of Utah, varied abruptly from pounding industrial jams to gentle, ambient sound design, making for sonic contrasts that perfectly matched the stark lighting and shifting movements.

*Firebird* at Off the Walls Arts (Credit: Hattie Greene)

Meanwhile, the dance itself, choreographed by Neile Martin and Ashley Volner, embraced such contrasts, from gritty interpersonal struggle to the tenderest of romantic duets, sometimes in the space of a breath. The dancers — Martin, Volner, Aiyanna LaRue, Kimberly Madsen-Thomas, and Connor Chaparro — gravitated to the sphere, dragging it to and fro, climbing it, imprisoned by it, sometimes abandoning it altogether as they moved across the space. And then it was done, the entire work lasting only about a half hour.

Reluctant to shake off the spell cast by the dancers, I spoke with Off the Walls Arts founder and set-builder Yvonne Bobo and the choreographers to hear how such a piece, unmoored from any established dance company, came to be.

Memphis Flyer: Yvonne, in your opening remarks, you said you envisioned a space that fostered interdisciplinary arts. Could you expand on that?

Yvonne Bobo: I’ve been doing sculpture on my own for a long time. And when I left Crosstown, I was looking for a building where I could be long term, and where other artists could be. A lot of us are working on the outskirts by ourselves. So I bought the building, not knowing what would happen. But we have, including this group, thirty artists in the building. Dance, woodworkers, mixed media, photographers, sculpture, everything.

Recently, I met Ashley at a friend’s house, and I ran into Neile at Memphis Rocks, and we all were talking about Elizabeth Streb’s choreography, using big metal structures. So I said, ‘Why don’t we do a collaboration? I’ll build the structures, you guys dance.’

Ashley Volner: The third piece is actually a tribute to one of Elizabeth Streb’s dancers who passed away about two months ago. I’m from Memphis, but when I lived in New York, I ended up working with Elizabeth Streb in JAMPack’d, which is a company under her main company. I also train upper level gymnasts.

There’s a lot of gymnastics in Firebird. It reminded me of Cirque de Soleil in places.

AV: Yes. And we have incredible gymnasts in Memphis.

So this piece was inspired by The Firebird?

Neile Martin: It’s a Russian folk tale, but you see phoenixes and firebirds in a lot of mythology. And when we started looking at the story, we knew we wanted to use a story that was familiar, to make modern dance feel more palpable to people who aren’t sure what they’re supposed to be thinking or feeling when they see modern dance. We’ll use something that people know, and then play in that framework of a familiar story. Something that came out in the past couple weeks was the dynamic shift when something powerful meets something equally powerful, and they recognize in each other what it means to have that kind of power. And that’s the struggle that occurs between the sorcerer and the firebird at the end. And out of that recognition of self and self, comes kindness and forgiveness and acceptance.

YB: That moment is very powerful, when they come to forgive. The quiet moments are as strong as the loud ones.

NM: What does it mean to have such a burden of power? What do you do with it? What do you want?

YB: That’s what’s interesting about the sphere, too. You feel all the pieces that are moving. You think there are two sides to a story, but there are so many more. And you see them all.

NM: The language and vocabulary of modern dance gives us freedom to express that complexity with a larger physicality.

Even in modern dance, you don’t always see works so driven by the set pieces. Maybe in work by Meredith Monk or Twyla Tharpe.

NM: Yeah, Twyla’s quite a force to be reckoned with. But it also comes down to the brilliance of Yvonne. [To Bobo] You hearing us talk, and then making Betty…

YB: That’s what we call the big structure.

NM: We named her Betty. But she’s Liz when she’s feeling feisty.

YB: What’s funny is, that was my mom’s name. They just coincidentally named the structure Betty. And my mom liked to be the center of everything.

NM: Seeing Betty for the first time, our vision just took off from that moment.

AV: I think Neile immediately climbed on it. There was no verbal response at first, it was just like this frog climbing up.

It evokes jungle gyms and childhood. And when you’re a kid, in a jungle gym, that’s your universe. You can create a million stories in that structure.

YB: To be inside, to be outside, even to be trapped inside. And then get out! It’s an orb that’s a cage; it may just be an idea, or magic. It’s a sentiment.

But also liberating: climbing upside down, or climbing to the top.

YB: Yeah, getting really high! Like when you’re a little kid and get brave enough to get to the top. You’re king of the orb, right?

The audience seemed absorbed the whole time.

YB: This is our soft opening, which sold out, and that was a little daunting. We were like, ‘Great! Oh crap! It’s happening!’

NM: That’s what I love about performing live. You get to live in the moment. And then you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s done! Okay, I’m gonna do it again.’

The rawness of the space evokes venues in New York where I’d see performances in the 80s, like P.S. 122 or warehouses that hosted performance art. It creates that feeling of an urgent, urban wellspring of creativity that you don’t always get in Memphis.

YB: As a public artist, I feel like the committees, the approvals, the calls, all the things where they tell you what they want you to do, it’s like they dilute us over and over again. There can be so many stages of approval that there’s just nothing left to look at. So when I imagined Off the Walls, I thought, why don’t artists run a nonprofit? So what I see in Firebird is, artists want to do stuff! But where are they going to do it?

NM: There’s no other place in Memphis that’s an incubator for professional artists to have time and space to play and build to create a product like this.

YB: And I have no idea what we’re going to do next.

Firebird Immersive Modern Dance runs through August 7 at Off the Walls Arts, 360 Walnut Street. For showtimes and to purchase tickets, click here.