UMS Concert Program, October 1, 1978: American Dance Theater -- Alvin Ailey

Concert: Ninth
Complete Series: Eighth Annual Choice
Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ALVIN AILEY
American Dance Theater
ALVIN AILEY, Artistic Director
SARITA ALLEN --MARILYN BANKS --ALISTAIR BUTLER -MASAZUMI CHAYA
ULYSSES DOVE --RONNI FAVORS --NICKY HARRISON --JUDITH JAMISON
MELVIN JONES --MARI KAJIWARA --KEITH McDANIEL --JODI MOCCIA
STEVEN MONES --MILTON MYERS --MICHIHIKO OKA --CARL PARIS
MAXINE SHERMAN --BETH SHORTER -ESTELLE SPURLOCK
CLIVE THOMPSON --MEL TOMLINSON --DUDLEY WILLIAMS
DONNA WOOD --PETER WOODIN
On leave of absence
Mary Barnett, Rehearsal Director
Sunday Afternoon, October 1, 1978, at 3:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
This season celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In its 1958 debut it had seven dancers at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York City; the Ailey Company now numbers twentyfive dancers, with a repertory ensemble company, a wellestablished school, and a repertory that boasts such Ailey classics as Revelations, Blues Suite, Cry, and Suite Otis, as well as fifty ballets by over thirty major choreographers. Not only has the Company developed a strong and devoted following in New York, but it annually spends six months on the road, with appearances in no less than fortyeight states over the past twenty years. The Company's travels abroad include standingovation performances in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Africa, Europe, and the Soviet Union.
The three concerts this weekend comprise a residency under the Dance Touring Program, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for the Arts.
Centennial Season -Ninth Concert Eighth Annual Choice Series
BLUES SUITE
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Music: Traditional
Decor and Costumes by Ves Harper
Lighting by Nicola Cernovitch
"Been down so long
Getting up don't cross my mind . . .
When you see me laughing
I'm laughing to keep from crying . . ."
From the fields and barrelhouses of the Southern Negro sprang the blues--songs of lost love, despair, protest and anger--hymns to the secular regions of his soul.
Good Morning Blues...........The Company
I Cried..........Ulysses Dove and the Company
Mean 01' Frisco.........Melvin Jones, Alistair Butler,
Milton Myers, Masazumi Chaya, Peter Woodin House of the Rising Sun . . . Mari Kajiwara, Donna Wood, Marilyn Banks
Backwater Blues........Estelle Spurlock, Ulysses Dove
In the Evening.........Melvin Jones, Milton Myers,
Ulysses Dove, Peter Woodin
Yancey Special.............The Company
Slow Drag--Going to Chicago.........The Company
Sham......Masazumi Chaya, Beth Shorter and the Company
Good Morning Blues...........The Company
Arranged by Brother John Sellers
REFLECTIONS IN D
Choreography by Alvin Ailey Music by Duke Ellington (The Duke Plays Ellington)
A lyric solo dance inspired by the mood, texture and dynamics of the music.
Dudley Williams
intermission
SUITE OTIS A Tribute To The Late Otis Redding
Choreography by George Faison
Music by Otis Redding Lighting by Chenault Spence
Just One More Day.........Donna Wood and Company
I Can't Turn You Loose.......Carl Paris, Masazumi Chaya,
Mel Tomlinson, Keith McDaniel, Milton Myers
Lover's Prayer..........Marilyn Banks, Carl Paris
Satisfaction......Donna Wood, Marilyn Banks, Estelle Spurlock,
Maxine Sherman, Jodi Moccia
I've Been Loving You Too Long.........The Company
Try A Little Tenderness..........The Company
Uscd with permission of Atlantic Records
INTERMISSION
REVELATIONS
Choreography by Alvin Ailky
Music: Traditional
Decor and Costumes by Ves Harper
Lighting by Nicola Cernovitch
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."
This suite explores motivations and emotions of American Negro religious music which, like its heir the blues, takes many forms--true spirituals with their sustained melodies, songsermons, gospel songs and holy blues--songs of trouble, of love, of deliverance.
"Spirituals sing of woe triumphantly, knowing well that all rivers will be crossed and the Promised Land is just beyond the stream. The Spirituals ask no pity for their words ride on the strongest of melodies, the melody of faith. That is why there is joy in their singing, peace in their music, and strength in their soul."
--Langston Hughes
PILGRIM OF SORROW
I Been Buked.............The Company
Arranged by Hall Johnson
Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel .... Milton Myers, Nicky Harrison,
Arranged by James Miller Maxine Sherman
Fix Me Jesus.........Mari Kajiwara, Ulysses Dove
Arranged by Hall Johnson
TAKE ME TO THE WATER
Processional..........Ronni Favors, Steven Mones,
Alistair Butler, Keith McDaniel
Wading in the Water.....Sarita Allen, Carl Paris, Estelle Spurlock
Wading in the Water sequence by Ella Jenkins. A Man Went Down to the River is an original composition by Ella Jenkins.
I Want To Be Ready...........Melvin Jones
Arranged by James Miller
MOVE, MEMBERS, MOVE
Sinner Man......Alistair Butler, Michihiko Oka, Milton Myers
The Day is Past and Gone..........The Company
You May Run On............The Company
Arranged by Brother John Sellers and Howard Roberts
Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham......The Company
(Alt arrangements by Howard Roberts unless otherwise noted)
19781979 -INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS -100TH YEAR
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.....September 29, 30, October 1
Metropolitan Opera Stars on Film........October 7
Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist..........October 8
Emil Gilels, Pianist............October 12
Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society......October 14
Bugaku, Japan.............October IS
Eugene Fodor, Violinist...........October 17
Julian Bream and John Williams, Guitarists.....October 21
Martha Graham Dance Company......October 23, 24, 25
Belgrade Chamber OrchestraLynn Harrell.....October 26
Viennese Gala.............October 27
Murray Perahia, Pianist...........October 30
Dimitri, ClownMime...........November 1
Nathan Milstein, Violinist..........November 5
Karyo Yamahiko, Japan..........November 6
II Divertimento.............November 7
Fred Waring Show............November 9
English Chamber OrchestraVladimir Ashkenazy . . . November 10
Barbara Strzelecka, Harpsichordist.......November 14
New Irish Chamber OrchestraPrieur, Gal way .... November 21
Handel's Messiah...........December 1, 2, 3
Isaac Stern, Violinist...........December 7
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet.....December 14, 15, 16, 17
Judith Blegen, Soprano...........January 12
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro..........January 14
"Pirin," Bulgarian Folk Ensemble........January 16
Philidor Trio.............January 21
Paul Taylor Dance Company........January 26 & 27
Barbara Nissman, Pianist..........February 1
Moscow PhilharmonicDmitri Kitaienko......February 3
Paul BaduraSkoda, Pianist..........February 9
Les Menestrels.............February 11
Andres Segovia, Guitarist..........February 17
Aspects of Peking Opera..........February 20
Founders Day Concert..........February 24
NDR Symphony of HamburgZdenek Macal.....February 28
Los Angeles Ballet..........March 12, 13, 14
Guarneri String Quartet..........March 21
Festival of Russian Dance..........March 24
Detroit Symphony OrchestraDorati, von Alpenheim . . . March 25
Fifth Annual Benefit Concert.........March 30
Netherlands Wind Ensemble..........April 1
Yakshagana, South India...........April 9
Cleveland OrchestraLorin Maazel........April 17
86th Annual May Festival........April 25, 26, 27, 28
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: 6653717, 7642S38