Finding themselves at 50: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Zellerbach Hall. All photos by Ariel Soto.
By Ariel Soto
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrated its 50th anniversary at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley from March 3 to March 8. The performance consisted of a succession of snippets from 50 years of work, and the company took the audience through Ailey’s work and the important mark he left on the.history of modern dance.
I was impressed by the dancers themselves: their toes appeared to almost touch the ceiling and their fluid, precise movements flowed like honey across the stage. I have had the chance to see Alvin Ailey several times in the past, but I still cried like a baby and clapped my hands in time with the music till they hurt because there’s no other dance company in the world like Alvin Ailey. The company can draw you so far into the dance that you forget everything around you and just become one with movement, the emotion, and those amazing twirls.
