Alvin Ailey Company

Last night, Anne and Gina and I went to see Alvin Ailey at the Kennedy Center. While it wasn't life changing (as it was last year for me), it was a really wonderful show. Of all the many, many things I have seen in theatres, "Revelations" might be the best of them all.

Not to say there weren't some odd moments - the piece "Flowers" seemed promising, given that the music was by Janis Joplin and Pink Floyd, but in the end it was my least favorite. The costumes were really distracting, and though I'm sure it was supposed portray what one must feel like during a drug trip, mostly I felt like I was in a strip club. I kept thinking about these two sweet little girls that had been in the elevator with us and how it was really inappropriate for them, and also it reminded me of this terrible, terrible musical that Gina and I got free tickets to once. The dancers were still great though, despite the bad costumes.

The rest of the program was great. We saw "Night Creature" (music by Duke Ellington), "Unfold," and of course the favorite "Revelations," which is really a collection of pieces set to spirituals. Last year I loved the solo "I Wanna Be Ready" most, this year it was the pas de deux "Fix Me, Jesus." The woman in that piece, Alicia Graf (who was also in "Unfold") was freaking PHENOMENAL. I'm not sure she actually has bones, because human bodies aren't capable of doing the things she did. "Fix Me, Jesus" was hauntingly beautiful, and I spent most of it hovering between amazed goosebumps, slight teariness, and twitchy muscles because I could just feel how hard it was do (not that I was ever capable of that, but you get my drift I'm sure). All of this is to say, if AAADT comes to your city, you MUST see them.



("Fix Me, Jesus" is the third number in, but it doesn't do it any justice).