Aqura Lacy & Jeroboam Bozeman "One Forgotten Moment" photo: Eduardo Patino
For his inaugural season as artistic director of Ailey II, succeeding Sylvia Waters who held the post for 38 years, Troy Powell offered up two nicely planned programs. Yes, the works chosen by Powell are varied and indeed challenging, but what’s exemplary is how the company took on this challenge and mastered it. In the “All New” program, they glossed through the demanding style (bridging William Forsythe and Crystal Pite) in Malcolm Low’s One Forgotten Moment (2012), and in the same vein, Benoit-Swan Pouffer’s Rusty (2012) which drew lush interpretations from these not so“young” dancers. Al Crawford’s lighting for Rusty is especially noteworthy in how his half-shadowed, voyeuristic motif set the pace. Jessica Lang’s introspective solo Splendid Isolation II (2006) performed by Tyler Brown, and Amy Hall Garner’s up beat Virtues (2012) rounded out the program. The “Returning Favorites” program was equally challenging, but the dancers also took that in stride firing out Powell’s no-nonsense The External Knot (2007), Alvin Ailey’s hilarious Quintet (1968), and Judith Jamison’s demanding Divining. Kudos to the entire company: Jeroboam Bozeman, Brown, Paige Fraser, David Adrian Freeland, Jr. Gentry George, Jenna Graves, Daphne Lee, Olivier Medus, Anne O’Donnell, Edward Spots and Thomas Varvaro, with special plaudits to Aqura Lacey for meeting the challenge.
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