The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues its virtual season with a new work celebrating the music of jazz icon Charlie Bird Parker titled A Jam Session for Troubling Times.
According to the company's website, the project comes from acclaimed Ailey dancer and Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts and is part of the ongoing centennial of Charlie “Bird” Parker.
Alvin Ailey is famous for having said that “dance came from the people, and it should always be delivered back to the people.” In this upbeat, quirky, and accessible work, Roberts holds fast to that mission. At a time in our world rife with chaos and uncertainty, A Jam Session For Troubling Times uses the energy, nuance, and virtuosity of the ‘bebop’ sound as a vehicle to lift our spirits and demonstrate that we are stronger than our circumstances.
Jazz has provided the soundtrack to his other works for the Company, including Members Don’t Get Weary (2017) and Ode, last year’s powerful meditation on the beauty and delicacy of life in a time of growing gun violence.
Check it out below:
