Ensemble Arts Philly presents Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned to Philly on February 27 with a couple of pieces as warm and familiar as a favorite blanket, and a pair of newer pieces to keep us on our toes.

The show began with an Ailey season premiere of Medhi Walerski’s Blink of an Eye, originally created in 2011 for the Netherlands Dance Theater. According to the program notes, the piece “explores the fragile boundary between presence and absence, change and stillness.” There was nothing fragile about the Ailey interpretation, however. Bach’s Violin Partita brought the speed, and the eight dancers brought the power in Walerski’s black costumes, long pants for the men and leotards for the women that gleamed like leather in Nicole Pierce’s lighting.

The dancers came together to spin off one solo after another, and then duet after duet, swooping almost like birds with their arms curved out to their sides, or turning in quick, low lifts before merging into the group again. The solos gave us poses of power and strength, with arms bent to highlight the muscles. Mason Evans was a riveting highlight; he brought whimsy that felt light as air as he slid or tumbled across the stage, or rose in a breathtaking spin.

Love and community

The duet A Case of You, an excerpt from Judith Jamison’s Reminiscin, was the highlight of the night. The music, Joni Mitchell’s song of the same name sung by Diana Krall, gave a sultry backdrop to Jacquelin Harris and Yannick Lebrun’s sensual, tender love poem in dance. Lebrun, in black pants and a white shirt with a red scarf, made his partnering look effortless, all his attention fixed on Harris while he seemed to melt into the longing of the music. In some of my favorite moments he seemed to be her shadow, in perfect unison. Harris, in a red slip dress, brought the give and take of the relationship. A roll across his back, legs in an elegant pose, was impossibly, sensually, slow, and she broke our hearts a little when she curled into LeBrun’s shoulder while he held her secure with one arm. It was heavenly.

Fredrick Earl Mosley’s aptly named Embrace was a warm hug of a dance. It explored the emotional ups and down of the community, and Jon Taylor’s costumes, brightly colored dresses on the women and pants and shirts on the men, set the piece in the everyday. It opened with Isaiah Day alone on the stage with just a set of low tables, dancing to Stevie Wonder’s “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer”. The center table, set on its side, became a partner, then a barre as he danced around it and stretched his leg in a barre exercise. I was particularly struck by the precise intentionality of his feet. Later, Day’s dance with Christopher Taylor, surrounded by the cast, brought disruption to the scene as they jabbed at each other until the argument left both of them on the floor. But the company picked them up again, community preserved.

Samantha Figgins, in a yellow dress, lived up to Etta James’s sultry “At Last”, dancing on the low platform table with a swish of her yellow skirt. She lounged on the table, carried by the cast, and when they tilted the table upright, she gripped the top and gleefully kicked her legs. Dandara Veiga and Renaldo Maurice brought us back to the struggle with “This Woman’s Work”, but the most affecting part of the dance culminated in a tableau: three couples sitting against three of the upturned tables. The first time, the women curled against the men, who held them with one arm while raising the other arm over their heads. At the end of the piece, the same tableau appeared, but with the women doing the protecting with upraised fist.

Revelations

Like the rest of the audience, I always look forward to Revelations, which is a study in dance styles as well as a celebration of spirituality and the Black community. We saw a somewhat subdued version on Friday, but the company was gripping in the opening I’ve Been ’Buked section of “Pilgrim of Sorrow”. Martha Graham’s influence shows in the contraction and release that plays out here as suffering: cores tight, arms curved like wings or reaching in supplication. “Wade in the Water” was another highlight—the most engaging version I have seen of late. It’s hard to overcome the memory of a statuesque Judith Jamison holding her umbrella aloft while leading the procession through the bands of fabric standing in for water, but Constance Stamatiou made it entirely her own. I would have followed wherever she led.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, audiences saw Jazz Island, Difference Between, and Song of the Anchorite along with Revelations. Find the rest of Alvin Ailey’s 2026 tour dates here, including March performances from the Ailey II company in New York City.