At Ailey, Stretching More Than Bodies

 The dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are sleek, ferociously strong technicians. Audiences have ample evidence of this at every show of the company’s current New York City Center season.An emphasis on these dancers as artists, however, is often lost amid the physical feats and near nightly “Revelations” ritual. There was “Revelations,” Ailey’s signature hit, on Friday night, and there were those physical feats. But the program also featured “Dancing Spirit,” a premiere by Ronald K. Brown: finally, a vehicle that allows for the possibility of artistry. The work shares the title of Judith Jamison’s autobiography, and is intended as tribute to Ms. Jamison, Ailey’s artistic director. There is even a Jamison figure, the regal though somewhat stiff Renee Robinson. Yet the dance also suggests another path than the flashy, emotive, Broadway-esque style this company has cultivated during Ms. Jamison’s 20-year tenure. In its understated, inward intensity, “Dancing Spirit” requires that the audience lean into it. What a relief to do so, especially following George W. Faison’s sickly sweet “Suite Otis” (1971), a boilerplate mishmash of basic ballet and jazz. (Big kick! Run, spin, kick again!) The only thing less sophisticated than the choreography is Mr. Faison’s caricatures of couples, all dressed in lurid pink. Better to close your eyes and listen to Otis Redding’s rough and tender love songs. Matthew Rushing and Linda Celeste Sims somehow managed to make a little something of their cartoonishly hot and cold duet. But to see them again in “Dancing Spirit” was to see how much further they can go when not sinking into easy, long-ingrained performing patterns. Mr. Rushing in particular shone as the central male, digging into Mr. Brown’s complex rhythms so that you could actually follow their undulating progressions throughout his body. And what a delight to see Ms. Sims tearing through fierce, almost pugilistic material, as opposed to the lyrical roles she so often dances. The delicate but feisty Rachael McLaren also stood out, and all of the dancers were handsome in Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya’s white-and-blue, fabric-rich costumes. SOURCE:NYTIMES.COM