The Aileys are most successful when the choreography calls for a loose, improvisational "can-you-top-this" vibe, as in the "San Sebastian" section of Billy Wilson's The Winter in Lisbon (1992), set to Latin jazz tunes by Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Fishman. That groove is also at work in the second section of Love Stories (2004) (Jamison/Battle/Harris), made in honor of Ailey. Everybody, on stage and in the house, has fun with the following section, which uses a remix of young Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips:" it's a lyrical spazz-out.

Ailey's own Witness (1986), a solo for Renee Robinson and scored by a traditional spiritual sung by Jessye Norman, is difficult to get a read on. The piece is lit, in part, by votive candles arranged across the stage; the mood is elegiac. The opening sections are so iconic, such a recapitulation of modern dance in the 20th century, as to be almost parody. Then later, in the closing section, as all of the preceding accompanying music is mashed together, the dancer repeats the phrases. Is she a portrait of perseverance, enduring in the brutal world? Or does she descend into introspective madness?

Probably the most interesting piece on the program is Acceptance in Surrender (2005), with choreography by Hope Boykin, Abdur-Rahim Jackson, and Matthew Rushing and music by Philip Hamilton. Lit by Al Crawford at low levels of raking light, the piece shares some qualities with David Parsons' Caught, also in the company's repertory. It's a languid, abstract dance for three men and one woman, a soul walking into the light for the first and last time.

 posted: 10:03:03 AM