For Alvin Ailey dancers, honoring Black History Month in Atlanta is a joyful tradition

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Jacquelin Harris and Patrick Coker in Fredrick Earl Mosley's "Embrace."

Credit: Paul Kolnik

Two dancers dressed in vibrant hues of blue performed tandem arabesques to Maxwell's rendition of "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush.

Embrace is a new work choreographed by Frederick Earl Mosley that premiered last year. Dancer Jacquelin Harris is featured in the number on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's current tour and says it's a favorite musical moment in the troupe's repertoire.

"It's using popular music I know our audience is going to love — music by Maxwell, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran," Harris said. "So, it's a lot of great music. And when you hear something that you're familiar [with], you automatically connect it to an emotion or to an understanding. And that's what we're here to do: allow people to see themselves in the work. I think they'll see a lot of relationship and a lot of how we relate to each other and to the music."

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is returning to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre from  Feb. 11 to Feb. 15 and this season's new works run the gamut of styles, from African rhythms to classical violin partitas.

"Another piece I'm excited to bring is [Medhi Walerski's] Blink of an Eye, which is music set to Johann Sebastian Bach," Harris said. "And to see how our bodies relate to the classical music, relate to Bach and how we play with time and speed and really merge the two worlds together, is going to be really exciting for our audience, as well."

Alvin Ailey started his company in 1958, and his dancers have performed in Atlanta almost every year since 1976. Although Ailey died in 1989, Augusta, Ga., native and current Ailey dancer Christopher Wilson says the founder's impact through dance education and humanistic choreography looms as large today as when he saw his first Ailey production at Atlanta's Fox Theater at age 11.

"It's hard to remember the exact details, but I do remember all of the imagery I could see," Wilson said of the eye-opening experience. "And, as I got older and closer to the company, I learned what those things were. And so they were performing Twyla Tharp's The Golden Section, Ailey's The River, and of course, Revelations.

Revelations is Ailey's pièce de résistance set to beloved spirituals with storylines that span the horrors and joys of African-American cultural heritage, while Ronald K. Brown's choreography of Grace blends the music of Duke Ellington and Fela Kuti with Peven Everett. 

"I love the performances where I've had the chance to sit in the audience while Grace is being performed," Wilson said. "Every single person is moving. It might be subtle, it might just be a head nod, it might be some shoulder bops, whatever it is, but every person feels the beat because, that's what house music does to you."

Under the direction of the organization's fourth artistic director, Alicia Graf Mack, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is spreading new wings while paying homage to its rich past and celebrating 100 years of Black History Month this February.

"You know, Mr. Ailey's legacy and work is to bring humanity, bring dance back to the people," Harris said. "I think right now, especially when maybe people feel uncertain or are in need of hope, we can bring that, especially through his most iconic works."

Wilson said it's all part of a legacy that echoes in today's world at a time when human rights are at stake.

"It's our job on stage to deliver something to you," he said. "And, you know, that might vary from person to person. Someone might need hope. Someone might need joy. Someone might need happiness. Someone might just need a light at the end of the tunnel, and [for us] to tell a story, deliver a message, and just allow them to escape from the very real reality that exists outside of that theater."

For the dancers of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the responsibility of sharing cultural history is buoyed by undeniable optimism. 

"When you have people buzzing and feeling so energetic after a performance, I think that's my favorite part," Wilson said. "And it's what's needed right now, and the fact that we get to do that for a living is just incredibly special."

The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performs at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta from Wednesday, Feb. 11 through Sunday, Feb. 15.