The Ailey 2 tour UK – the first in over a decade

Ailey 2 tour UK arrives after the summer with 12 young dancers presenting works by William Forsythe, Alvin Ailey, Robert Battle and the company's new artistic director Francesca Harper.

 The 12-venue tour starts at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury on 19 September and continues until 28 October.

Ailey 2 celebrates its 50th anniversary this season. The company is known for bringing together “the creative vision of exceptional choreographers with the spirit, energy and talent of the next generation of dance artists”.

The company's new artistic director, Francesca Harper, has selected four works: excerpts from her own Freedom Series and William Forsythe's Enemy in the Figure along with The Hunt, choreographed by Robert Battle, artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Revelations¸ Alvin Ailey's 1960 masterwork and a signature piece of all the Ailey companies.

Revelations was choreographed by Ailey when he was 29 years old. It has been seen by more than 23 million people in 71 countries, more than any other modern dance work.

The company will perform the central section of William Forsythe's 1989 work, Enemy in the Figure. The choreography is driven by Thom Willem's percussive and rhythmic electronic score which also influences the extreme use of light and shadow in its design.

Robert Battle is Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. His 2001 classic The Hunt is a primal ritual with an urban feel, fuelled by a thundering percussion soundtrack by Les Tambours du Bronx. It is an athletic work, originally choreographed for six male dancers, but will be performed by an all-female cast for the UK performances. It explores the relationship between modern sports and the rites of the gladiators.

Francesca Harper created her futuristic work Freedom Series on the company in 2021 inspired by her Ailey homecoming. The work is a landscape of memories where the past strives to influence the future and was developed in collaboration with the Ailey 2 dancers. The excerpt is danced to a montage of acoustic and electronic sounds with tender moments contrasting with deep-rooted ferocity.

The dancers of Ailey 2 for the 2023-2024 season are Andrew Bryant, Spencer Everett, Jaryd Farcon, Maya Finman-Palmer, Patrick Gamble, Alfred L. Jordan II, Kiri Moore, Corinth Moulterie, Kali Marie Oliver, Tamia Strickland, Kayla Mei-Wan Thomas, and Maggy van den Heuvel.

The company has an extensive community outreach programme and for this Dance Consortium UK tour, the programme includes masterclasses, open rehearsals and workshops alongside special projects being hosted by member venues as part of the Ailey Project UK. Dance Consortium is a group of 19 large-scale theatres with a mission to bring the best international dance to stages across the UK and Ireland.

Programme
Freedom Series excerpt (15 mins) / pause / The Hunt (14 mins) / interval (15 mins) / Enemy in the Figure excerpt (18 mins) / interval (15 mins) / Revelations (36 mins)

Running time: 115 minutes

Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 September at 7.30pm
The Marlowe Theatre CANTERBURY
The Friars, Canterbury CT1 2AS
Tickets: 01227 787787 / www.marlowetheatre.com

Friday 22 and Saturday 23 September at 7.30pm
Mayflower Theatre SOUTHAMPTON
22-26 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1GE
Tickets: 023 8071 1811 / www.mayflower.org.uk

Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 September at 7.30pm
Theatre Royal PLYMOUTH
Royal Parade, Plymouth PL1 2TR
Tickets: 01752 267222 / www.theatreroyal.com

Friday 29 and Saturday 30 September at 7.30pm
MILTON KEYNES Theatre
500 Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 3NZ
Tickets: 0333 009 6690 / www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes

Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 October at 7.30pm
BIRMINGHAM Hippodrome
Hurst St, Birmingham B5 4TB
Tickets: 0844 338 5000 / www.birminghamhippodrome.com
† 0844 calls will cost 4.5p per minute plus the phone company's access charge

Friday 6 & Saturday 7 October at 7.30pm
NORWICH Theatre Royal
Theatre St, Norwich NR2 1RL
Tickets: 01603 630000 / www.norwichtheatre.org

Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 October at 7.30pm
Royal Concert Hall NOTTINGHAM
Theatre Square, Nottingham NG1 5ND
Tickets: 0115 989 5555 / www.trch.co.uk

Friday 13 & Saturday 14 October at 7.30pm
The Lowry, SALFORD
Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, M50 3AZ
Tickets: 0161 876 2015 / www.thelowry.com

Tuesday 17 & Wednesday 18 October at 7.30pm
Alhambra Theatre BRADFORD
Morley St, Bradford BD7 1AJ
Tickets: 01274 432000 / www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

Friday 20 & Saturday 21 October at 7.30pm
HULL New Theatre
Kingston Square, Hull HU1 3HF
Tickets:  01482 300306 / www.hulltheatres.co.uk

Tuesday 24 & Wednesday 25 October at 7.30pm
NEWCASTLE Theatre Royal
100 Grey St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6BR
Tickets: 0191 232 7010 / www.theatreroyal.co.uk

Friday 27 & Saturday 28 October at 7.30pm
Eden Court, INVERNESS
Bishops Rd, Inverness IV3 5SA
Tickets: 01463 234234 / www.eden-court.co.uk

https://danceconsortium.com/touring/ailey-2/

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.