The New International Paris Dance Festival provides a rare chance each year to see some of the world’s best repertory companies. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, currently directed by Judith Jamison, kicks off the program with two of the company’s most recent works: “Grace,” which blends modern and West African dance forms and “Following the Subtle Current Upstream,” a whirlwind piece of deconstructed ballet basics in dizzying fourth gear. The second program focuses more on a couple of excellent but older works, such as Ailey’s jazzy “Pas de Duke,” a tribute to Duke Ellington, devised for America’s bicentennial and Jamison’s “Divining.”
Embarking on its premier tour here, the Prague National Theater Ballet performs a trio of early vintage works created by the brilliant Czech-born dancemaker Jiri Kylian, head of the unrivaled Nederlands Danstheater. Paris offerings include a lyric fairy tale based on a poem by Colette, “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges,” (1984) set to music by Ravel, “Return to a Strange Land,” (1975), a sort of requiem in movement dedicated to the memory of Kylian’s mentor John Cranko, and “Sinfonietta,” a ballet in five parts about the courage of the Czech people after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.
The renowned Tokyo Ballet presents Maurice Béjart’s nine-scene choreographic saga “Kabuki,” a visualization in movement of Japanese history and culture, past and present. Unveiling it in Tokyo in 1986, Béjart blended his inimitable modern ballet style with stylized elements from traditional Kabuki theater.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Oct 2 & 6 at 8pm; Oct 7 at 4pm: Program 1 “Grace” (chor. Ronald K. Brown), “Following the Subtle Current Upstream” (chor. Alonzo King), “Revelations” (chor. Alvin Ailey) Oct 3-6 at 8pm — Program 2 “Divining” (chor. Judith Jamison), “Pas de Duke” (chor. Alvin Ailey), “Bad Blood” (chor. Ulysses Dove), “Revelations” (chor. Alvin Ailey)
Prague National Theater Ballet, Oct 9-11 at 8pm; Oct 12 at 8:30pm. “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges” (chor. Jiri Kylian), “Return to a Strange Land” (chor. Jiri Kylian), “Sinfonietta” (chor. Jiri Kylian)
Tokyo Ballet, Oct 16-20 at 8pm; Oct 21 at 4pm, “Kabuki” (chor. Maurice Béjart), Théâtre Musical de Paris Châtelet, 1 pl du Châtelet, 1e, M° Châtelet, RER Châtelet-Les Halles, tel: 01 40 28 28 40
Mats Ek's "Giselle"
