Saturday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. — RUTLAND — Ailey II, the internationally heralded dance company, will perform at The Paramount Theatre in Rutland on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.
Ailey II is universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding emerging choreographers. Ailey II is one of the most popular dance companies in the country, combining a rigorous touring schedule with extensive community outreach programs. After two record-breaking seasons as Artistic Director under his belt, Troy Powell announces two richly diverse new commissions in his third year at the helm of the Company.
“I always aim to commission ballets that challenge the dancers and help them develop as artists. Our 12 dancers are excited to hit the road and share their gifts with the world. I’m so proud that 40 years after its inception, Ailey II continues to offer incomparable opportunities to young professional dance artists and rising choreographers,” Troy Powell said.
Manuel Vignoulle’s athletic full-company world premiere work, “Breakthrough,” is set to haunting music by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson and examines the struggle to connect in a world where these connections are often just out of our reach. Vignoulle’s diverse international background, first as a dancer and now as a choreographer, informs his creative approach — drawing on both the introspective, conceptual world of European modernism and the more outwardly expressive culture of American dance. Small wonder, then, that he views dance as “an art without borders which generates feelings that touch people’s hearts and lead them to reconnect with their own humanity.”
In his 2006 contemporary ballet Hissy Fits, Dwight Rhoden, the former Ailey star turned in-demand choreographer and Artistic Director of Complexions, goes beyond mere virtuosic movement to depict the sometimes tumultuous and ambivalent nature of human relationships. J.S. Bach’s piano music provides a powerful backdrop to the high-voltage interplay of five couples, each of whom feels the ripple effect of a series of “hissy fits,” or uncontrollable emotional impulses, that reverberate in this work.
This season, seven new dancers are: Samantha Barriento, Nathaniel Hunt, Annnellyse Munroe, Chalvar Monteiro, Courtney Ross, Terrell Spence, and Deidre Rogan join the five returning members. In addition to Powell’s two new commissions, Ailey II’s touring repertory will include favorites such as Alchemies, Cuore Sott’olio, The External Knot, The Hunt, Revelations, Rusty, Streams, Takademe, Virtues, We, and Wings.
Tickets ($29.75-35.75) are available by phoning the Box Office at 802-775-093 or online atwww.ParamountVT.org. The Paramount Theatre is located in historic downtown Rutland, Vermont at 30 Center Street.
For more info, visit www.alvinailey.org.
