Alvin Ailey Premiers Jamar Robert's MEMBERS DON'T GET WEARY - Superb Addition to the Repertoire

Jamar Roberts has been a dancer with the Alvin Ailey Theater since 2002.  Among his many accolades as a dancer extraordinaire he was named "1 of 25 to watch" by Dance Magazine (2007) & graced their cover in 2013.  He won Outstanding Performer at the New York Dance & Performance "Bessie" Awards & was a featured guest star with London's Royal Ballet.  Roberts with his statuesque presence is a regal and versatile dancer.  His artistic skills imbibe a musicality binding movement & music.  Roberts can now add outstanding choreographer to his artistic talents with his premiere for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater MEMBERS DON'T CRY.  This is a remarkable debut for the company destined to become a favored standard amongst its illustrious repertoire.  Roberts didn't  shy away from choreographing to the music of legendary jazz/blues artist John Coltrane.  He embraced Coltrane's "Dear Lord" & "Ole" with soulful elongated notes, complex tonal qualities & astounding syncopation.  The marvelous dancers embodied the music's plaintive sounds, its riff and accentuated expressions.  MEMBERS DON'T WEARY is a spellbinding personification of Coltrane's music.  Every note, every measure pulsated through the dancers extending a visceral sensation. Neither did Roberts shy away from prescient social issues of racial oppression.  The first movement "Dear Lord" pays homage to Alvin Ailey's iconic REVELATIONS.  The dancers are adorned with large floppy hats and move languidly and pleadingly, arms extended upward, moving in groups as a unit.  Hardships, tenacity and kinship are expressed with poignancy & grace.  Roberts is to be lauded for his costume designs.  The dancers wore shifting shades of pale blue to indigo with similar styles enhancing a seamless aesthetic to the choreography.  Brandon Baker's subtle but effecting lighting & scenic design adhere to the movements and story telling of Robert's remarkable work.  The dancing in  "Ole" resonates strong & mournful images of systemic racial strife.  Roberts quotes Ralph Ellison whose words come alive with indelible spiritedness in Roberts astounding art form combining Coltrane's music and the phenomenal Ailey dancers.  "The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details & episodes of a brutal experience alive in one's aching consciousness...to transcend it not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism."  Applaud Ailey's artistic director Robert Battle who entrusts & supports members of the company to explore their burgeoning talents.  Mr Battle at the helm of Alvin Ailey in searching for talented artists wishing to express their heart's desire nurtured a masterpiece in his own backyard.