In 2022 Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Gave Joy! You Can SEE Them at BAM in June 2023!
It was a superb evening of pure psychological insight expressed in the mighty art of dance at City Center, with Alvin Ailey dancers performing three works, both new and nuanced. It began with Azure Barton's meticulously realized work of art, Busk, which I have seen before but could watch a hundred times over and never tire of. A highly physical piece of work that asks the dancers to give everything; engage their entire body, from eyes to toes. All rockets are employed; like missiles, they are firing on all cylinders. Not just soaring, but as it says in the program, they are in a "collective hive mind," moving energy in physical syncopation.
The thing about Busk's excitement is the splendor of its personality. It has so much; it is not mere dance. It shared human language you have seen a million times acutely instilled into one hypnotic performance. Between costume, music, and dance, it has a modern medieval feel still more than that; it has an eerie quality of otherworldly humor. Of irony. Ms. Barton shares her exciting innovation like Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, and the great Alvin Ailey. She has something rare and refreshing. . Azure Barton is intensely tuned to the expression of life through dance, channeling it through her soul and, in turn, with gigantically intuitive dancers.
