No one could have been better suited than Robert Battle to take over the artistic direction of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from the stupendous Judith Jamison. When he assumed the position in July 2011, though only 38, he had already achieved more than many people do in a lifetime.
Robert Battle, artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Photo by Andrew Eccles
Battle graduated from two of the most prestigious arts schools in the United States: The New World School of the Arts, in his hometown of Miami, and the Juilliard School in New York. He joined the popular Parsons Dance in 1994 and spent seven years performing and choreographing with the troupe. In 2002, he founded his own company, Battleworks, and toured the United States and Europe, making a name for himself with his dynamic works.
Battle has also won his share of honors. He was named one of the Masters of African American Choreography by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005 and received the prestigious Statue Award from The Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 2007. In July 2010, he was a guest speaker at the United Nations Leaders Program in Turin, Italy.
Tall, handsome and with a mischievous sense of humor, Battle has already brought dramatic changes to Ailey, showing little hesitation about asserting his imprint. Audiences can see what he’s up to when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the world’s most popular dance company, arrives at City Center for its annual season Nov. 30–Jan. 1. [Valerie Gladstone]
In your first season as artistic director, you have made some radical changes in programming. You are presenting Paul Taylor’s Arden Court, a choreographer who has never been performed by the Ailey company, and you are bringing back the iconoclastic Israeli dance master Ohad Naharin with Minus 16. Naharin has been in the repertory before, but he’s certainly not who one thinks of as a traditional Ailey choreographer. How did you, right from the start, have the nerve to bring in works that are so stylistically different from most of the repertory?
I’ve been thinking about these things for some time. Over the year that I was being considered for the position, I dreamed about new possibilities for Ailey.
I’ve always loved Paul Taylor’s work. I danced his Esplanade when I was at Juilliard. I knew the dancers would like the challenge. The same is true of Ohad’s work. He has this whole different system of movement called Gaga, which they’ve learned, and it’s so much fun for them. It’s also fun for me to see their fervor. It gives them a chance to push the envelope. They’ve responded beautifully.
You are also commissioning what might be considered a controversial piece: Home, from Rennie Harris, the terrific Philadelphia-based hip-hop choreographer, about living with HIV and AIDS. What was behind that?
I’ve admired Rennie’s choreography ever since we worked together on the three-part Love Stories for the Ailey company in 2004. I admire his purity of approach to hip-hop. He’s interested in the roots, not the commercial aspects.
The impetus for Home came from Bristol-Myers Squibb, who wanted to see a dance at Ailey that reflected 10 people’s experiences living with HIV or trying to do something about it. They submitted prize-winning essays to the company. I thought it would be fascinating to see Rennie look at the subject through the lens of hip-hop—he always comes up with surprising perspectives.
How about your audiences? How do think they’ll take to the new works?
Ready or not, here we come!
You do have a classic Alvin Ailey work on the program too. Hedging your bets?
Alvin’s Streams has always been one of my favorites and it’s largely gone unnoticed. People always think he choreographed narrative dances, but that’s not necessarily true. This was his first abstract dance.
For many, it’s great that you are bringing some fresh air into the repertory. But it’s also not an easy thing to do because good, young choreographers are hard to find—in part because they have few places to develop their skills. So it’s ingenious and helpful to the field that you started the New Directions Choreography Lab. Tell us about that.
It’s crucial. Choreographers don’t have anywhere to get direction and try out their ideas. It was wonderful to have the chance when I was at Juilliard to ask questions like, “Why end a piece this way? Why start on the diagonal?” After leaving a university or college, no one has that luxury.
We’ll be giving resident fellowships of $9,500 each to four young or mid-career artists yearly, starting with Adam Barruch, Camille Brown, Joanna Kotze and Malcolm Low. The Lab is also a way to find new choreographers for the company.
You have to juggle a lot of responsibilities. How do you do it?
I handled a lot when I ran Battleworks, producing work for the company, looking for places to perform, making sure everything was well danced. Running a company also shares traits with performing on stage: You have to think what’s coming up next, how you did the last move—and figure out what you want for lunch. Now, my concerns are the choreography and the dancers’ progress, and I’m constantly thinking about how to develop the school. I’d like to be able to provide housing for students. I’d like to have more live music for performances. We can’t become complacent.
Still, it’s a big deal being in the spotlight in one of the world’s most popular and revered dance companies.
The position doesn’t feel foreign to me. It’s as if it was part of my destiny. Leading feels natural to me. And then I have so much support from Judi Jamison and the staff. It’s very grounding. I feel that, no matter what, things will be OK. I’ve also learned that I can’t do everything.
How do you relax?
On the treadmill at the gym. When people ask me a deep question, I tell them I’ll think about it on the treadmill.
