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Ten shirtless male dancers on stage in a diagonal line, each with one arm extended upwards, all against a dark background.

Repertory

LIFT

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

RUN TIME

25 Minutes

WORLD PREMIERE

New York City Center, 2013

ASSISTANTS TO CHOREOGRAPHER

Jonathan Emanuell Alsberry with William Briscoe

MUSIC

Curtis Macdonald

COSTUMES

Fritz Masten

LIGHTING

Burke Brown

This propulsive work by Aszure Barton accentuates the vitality and physical prowess of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Driven by the dancers’ passion, skill, and collective power, LIFT was created through a developmental process with the entire Company. The percussive score, composed by Curtis Macdonald, is infused with the infectious energy and heart that Barton observed in her initial encounters with the dancers.

An in-demand dance maker whose choreography ranges from Baryshnikov to Broadway, Barton has a style that is “vulnerable and feisty, brightly adept yet peculiar, witty and impetuously wild” (Dance Magazine). This exhilarating work, her first commission for the Company, celebrates and challenges the dancers with its markedly intricate rhythmic patterns and mercurial structure. 

Six dancers on stage, five female dancers in feathery skirts and one shirtless male dancer mid-jump, all against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Aszure Barton's LIFT Photo by Paul Kolnik

A male and female dancer on stage, the male dancer leaning back with one leg bent, while the female dancer arches over him with arms extended, both against a dark background.

Linda Celeste Sims and Jamar Roberts in Azure Barton's LIFT Photo by Paul Kolnik

Four female dancers on stage, each with one leg lifted high and arms gracefully extended, wearing dresses with feathery skirts, all against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Aszure Barton's LIFT Photo by Paul Kolnik

Ten shirtless male dancers on stage in a diagonal line, each with one arm extended upwards, all against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Aszure Barton's LIFT Photo by Rosalie O'Connor

A shirtless male dancer in the center with one leg lifted high, surrounded by four other male dancers bent forward with arms extended, all against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Aszure Barton's LIFT Photo by Paul Kolnik

Five shirtless male dancers on stage, with one in the center mid-jump and the others in powerful stances, all against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Aszure Barton's LIFT Photo by Paul Kolnik

Support for this production was provided by The Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey - Sara & Bill Morgan New Works Endowment Fund and Michele & Timothy Barakett. This production was made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.