Signifying Alvin

For those of us who work with words, dance can feel like an undecipherable language. Dance is fluid, percussive, ebullient, bleak — expressive, certainly, but undeniably abstract. Yet it’s also a universal human expression, as Sylvia Waters, artistic director of the Ailey II dance company, points out. We all move.

“We’ve traveled everywhere, and there’s no language barrier with dance,” she told The Inlander back in 2002. “It’s a powerful means of communication, the stuff of life. It’s body language.”

Ailey II is the second repertory company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, established by the man whose name became synonymous with expanding the boundaries of modern dance during the 1960s and beyond. The 12 dancers of Ailey II are emerging artists personally selected by Waters from the students of the Ailey School, and most go on to full professional careers with the AAADT or other dance companies. The company tours for many weeks each year, bringing Ailey’s vision of dance to small and mid-size communities where exposure to cutting-edge modern dance is rare.

“We never underestimate the audience, no matter how sophisticated or how underexposed to dance they are,” said Waters. “Unlike classical ballet, modern dance comes from emotions or life experience or a physical visualization of the music. Alvin used to say, ‘Dance came from the people. It should be given back to the people.’”

Music is a huge part of the emotional punch of an Ailey II performance. One dance may find the company moving to an angular piece by Philip Glass while the next riffs off the improvisational near-chaos of jazz great Max Roach. Or tribal drums, perhaps. Or music from James Bond movies, performed by Sex Mob.

The dance styles are just as diverse as the music. Some moves come straight from classical ballet; others evoke jazz or ballroom dance; still others defy description. The movements and music spring from multiple roots and grow together, like the best of American culture. And that’s exactly how Ailey wanted it.

“At the school, all of our dancers train in the four forms [of jazz, classical, modern and ethnic],” said Waters. “That’s the way Alvin worked.”

True to Ailey’s vision, the repertoire includes dances by both established and emerging choreographers such as Jessica Lang, Robert Battle, Christopher Huggins and company dancer Chang Yong Sung. But the company also draws upon the vast catalog of works created by Ailey, including classics like “Blues Suite” and “Revelations” — dances that were revolutionary when created and whick have since become iconic portraits of the African-American experience.

“But his work is about all of us,” said Waters. “It’s about hope, pain, despair, hardship, joy — it’s really a celebration of life that taps into the human spirit.”

The Ailey II dance company explodes onto the stage of the Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 pm. Tickets: $14-$28. Visit www.foxtheaterspokane.com or call 624-1200 or 325-SEAT.