The Opera Tattler

* Notes *

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (pictured, photograph by Dario Calmese) made an annual stop at Cal Performances in Berkeley earlier this month. The company has a new artistic director, Alicia Graf Mack, a former dancer at Alvin Ailey. The opening performance on April 7 was exceptional.

I absolutely loved Medhi Walerski’s Blink of an Eye. Set to Bach’s Allemande from Partita No.2 for Solo Violin and the Adagio and Presto from Partita No. 1, the dancing was sinuous and acrobatic. The dancers were entirely synchronized, the duets and trios were particularly strong. The dancing was lithe and beautiful.

The music for Matthew Neenan’s Difference Between was less inspiring to me, but one could tell the choreographer felt deeply about Heather Christian’s songs. There were lovely wave sequences and the dancers did very well.

Yannick Lebrun had a gorgeous and meditative solo in Jamar Roberts’ Song of the Anchorite. It was very cool to be able to see this work in such close proximity to the Martha Graham performance of Roberts’ We The People back in February.

Of course the evening ended with Ailey’s Revelations, always a joy to see.

* Tattling *

Not much bad behavior was noted, though I do think it helps to be in the first row of the mezzanine, where one can focus on the dancers at a good distance but still see details as well.