How to Please the Audience

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s two premieres aimed to please as many people as possible, with partial success. David Parsons, in “Shining Star,” created a super-sweet confection offering litt­le except surface, like a cream puff with no nutritional value. “Love Stories,” a choreographic collage, offered more by mixing styles and dynamics, but was weighed down by its overly literal tribute to Ailey’s legacy.

Much excitement has surrounded the opening of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s new building on West 55th Street, the crowning physical mani­festation of Ailey’s work. “Love Stories” pays tribute to this achievement with choreography to Stevie Wonder’s music by Judith Jamison with Robert Battle and Rennie Harris. Jamison began the piece with a single light ascending from the hands of a dancer who moved through a virtuoso yet relaxed solo. Clifton Brown, the long-limbed young star of the company, performed the role with graceful bravura, effortlessly pirouetting with one leg held next to his head. Dancers in rehearsal clothes took turns tossing off lifts, leaps, and spins, basking – and inviting us to bask as well – in the talent of similarly gifted peers.
Robert Battle’s ...