PAUL KOLNIK
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performers in “Sacred Songs.”
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned to deep waters in Sacred Songs, the season premiere that opened the company’s mixed bill on May 10 at Prudential Hall at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Choreographed by interim artistic director Matthew Rushing, this gorgeous piece taps the wellspring of faith that has sustained this troupe since the premiere of Revelations in 1960.
Sacred Songs, in fact, picks up where Revelations left off. Salvaging musical material that Ailey had discarded when creating his masterpiece, Rushing invited composer Du’Bois A’Keen to set the hymns and instrumental pieces in a variety of contemporary styles. This arrangement has a richness and a sheen that exalt the melodies and plainspoken lyrics.
Rushing’s choreography is equally sophisticated, though (no surprise) it lacks Revelations’ dramatic punch. While solos fleetingly emerge; and a more substantial episode features Samantha Figgins as an apostate who returns to the fold to care for others, the beauty of Sacred Songs lies in the intricacy of its ensembles. A stately trio looks on, or conjures in a circle of dappled light, as the other dancers recombine in gorgeous symmetries rearranging wooden boxes to create an architectural environment at once simple and grand. Most spectacularly, Kali Marie Oliver plunges, and is later carried down the center of braided lines of dancers that split in two, as if “unzipping.”
Effects like this one (repeated for emphasis) tend to overshadow the emotional import of bodies that crumple and gestures that break off abruptly, though Sacred Songs is certainly heartfelt.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performers in “Many Angels.”
The middle portion of the program presented a sharp contrast in styles, pairing Elisa Monte’s acrobatic duet Treading (1979) with Lar Lubovitch’s cloying new group work Many Angels (2024).
A model of the ecstatic partnering typical of its day, Treading features a man and a woman in stretchy solos that give way to imaginative combinations. A swiftly pattering score by Steve Reich seems to flow around their sculpted figures, whose evolutions are weighted and deliberate. Christopher Taylor and Ashley Kaylynn Green are the principals who clamber over and attach themselves to each other, bringing elegance to roles most notable for their power to astonish.
Light-footed where Treading is anchored, Many Angels sets five dancers in filmy garments scampering against a backdrop of refulgent clouds. The fluid movement, ebbing and swirling, pauses just long enough for the dancers to strike heroic postures or hoist someone (Miranda Quinn) into the air. Inevitably, this grows tiresome, and one waits for the finger of God to trace glittering letters across the sky (“sorry for your loss”). No writing appears, but the dance still exudes the sentiments of a greeting card.
Concluding the program, Revelations always energizes the audience, while offering the dancers opportunities to shine. On May 10, a tightly coiled Patrick Coker earned distinction in “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” while lyrical Caroline T. Dartey floated through “Fix Me, Jesus,” tenderly partnered by Michael Jackson Jr. Chalvar Monteiro brought delicacy and vivid drama to “I Wanna Be Ready.”
It doesn’t get much better than an evening with Revelations.
Tickets are now on sale for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s May 8-10, 2026 shows at NJPAC; visit ticketmaster.com.
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