{"id":32543,"date":"2024-03-29T12:42:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T19:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32543"},"modified":"2024-03-29T12:42:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T19:42:23","slug":"a-cultural-mission-visits-with-alonzo-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/a-cultural-mission-visits-with-alonzo-king\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cultural Mission visits with Alonzo King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Community Music Center\u2019s family day is Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/445e6fe4cc696bd39773e3c90f5108b6?s=160&amp;d=mm&amp;r=g 2x\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/445e6fe4cc696bd39773e3c90f5108b6?s=80&amp;d=mm&amp;r=g\" alt=\"\"> by\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/author\/andrewg\/\">ANDREW GILBERT<\/a><\/strong> MARCH 28, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/missionloca.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Alonzo-King-LINES-Ballet-_-Ilaria-Guerra-_-Version-1-_-%C2%A9-RJ-Muna.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"Alonzo King LINES Ballet's Ilaria Guerra captured mid-twirl, with a colorful shawl flowing behind her against a dark background.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alonzo King LINES Ballet&#8217;s Ilaria Guerra. Photo by RJ Muna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>April might be the cruelest month for some folks, but the first full blast of spring brings bounty and joy to Alonzo King. The renowned San Francisco choreographer returns to the&nbsp;Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/linesballet.org\/lines-ballet-company\/spring-2024\/\">April 5 to 14 run<\/a>&nbsp;with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet, featuring the world premiere of \u201cSpring,\u201d a new dance set to a score of African-American spirituals. On top of that, his work is a major presence across the Bay, where the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/calperformances.org\/events\/2023-24\/dance\/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater-2324\/\">Cal Performances residency<\/a>&nbsp;includes&nbsp;the Bay Area premiere of his ballet \u201cFollowing the Subtle Current Upstream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set to music by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, a frequent King collaborator, and Miguel Frasconi and Miriam Makeba, \u201cSubtle Current\u201d has traveled the world with Chicago\u2019s Hubbard Street Dance and the Ailey company, which commissioned and premiered the dance in 2000. For King, it\u2019s more than gratifying that \u201ca\u00a0work created 20 years ago is still vibrant and fresh as hell,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spring Home Season 2024\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2_Drpe9LRf4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Created with AAADT Artistic Director Judith Jamison\u2019s sole imperative that King create a work to&nbsp;\u201chave the dancers move differently,\u201d he\u2019s kept the ballet in the Alonzo King LINES repertory, because the challenging piece&nbsp;\u201cgrows artists, as it was intended to do,\u201d he said. \u201cMeredith Webster stages ballets of mine all over, and it\u2019s amazing the way she works with people. It\u2019s joyous that something is going to have longevity and survive after you\u2019ve gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A conversation with King is always something of an adventure. More than passionate about music, he experiences it as creative fuel, inseparable from the need to set bodies in motion. Philosophical and curious, he resists questions that seek to dissect the creative process, but often reveals deep ties to the music that inspires his choreography.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The timing of the world premiere of \u201cSpring\u201d and the AAADT\u2019s annual residency at the University of California, Berkeley, which includes Ailey\u2019s masterly 1960\u00a0suite set to spirituals and gospel \u201cRevelations,\u201d is a nice coincidence. It will be in six of the seven performances, and helps to set up a fascinating dialogue between the dance makers. For Ailey (1931-1989), \u201cRevelations\u201d drew on what longtime AAADT dancer Renee Robinson called his \u201cblood memory\u201d of growing up in Rogers, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Revelations - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BG1lg9GV9WY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Alonzo King\u2019s \u201cSpring\u201d is set to spirituals sung by&nbsp;Bernice Johnson Reagon, best known as the founder and guiding spirit of the all-women African-American cappela ensemble Sweet Honey In the Rock. But he encountered her much earlier, as a wide-open 8-year-old in Albany, Georgia, witnessing the civil rights movement accelerate to ramming speed in 1960.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe was about 17, and that voice was just incredible,\u201d said King, whose father was a leader of sit-in movement that break out at&nbsp;Albany&nbsp;State College&nbsp;in 1960, where the pre-Reagon Johnson was a freshman. \u201cYears ago, I wanted to work with her, but this was the first opportunity to make it happen.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s fascinated by the foundational role of spirituals in the evolution of the new identity forged by Africans brought to the colonies as slaves. A repository for spirituality, a vehicle for coded messages, and a communal celebration in the face of vicious dehumanization, spirituals \u201cwere the earliest recorded sound of that transition, before blues, jazz and gospel,\u201d King said. \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating that these brilliant people were brought here, and had to disguise their intelligence. They could not practice their languages or culture, and yet, through this clash of cultures, they emerged into a society drenched in African ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much like blues songs are often misconstrued as primarily an expression of lamentation, rather than a communal ritual about overcoming life\u2019s vicissitudes, King sees spirituals as \u201ca secret key, an escape route somehow,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople think they\u2019re sorrowful songs, but African-American spirituals are about hope, no matter how dark it is. That\u2019s why I called the ballet \u2018Spring.\u2019 We don\u2019t drown in this darkness that seems insurmountable. There is a way out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The YBCA program also features King\u2019s San Francisco Ballet-commissioned \u201cThe Collective Agreement,\u201d set to pianist Jason Moran\u2019s newly recorded score featuring the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and his 2013 Bach-inspired \u201cConcerto for Two Violins.\u201d In the case of \u201cThe Collective Agreement,\u201d King is reclaiming work that\u2019s been performed by ballets with their own orchestras.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI wanted Lines to be able to do it too, and that means we had to go to Lithuania and work with National Orchestra with Jason and myself,\u201d King said, referring to the renowned jazz pianist and composer with whom he\u2019s collaborated on numerous ballets. \u201cThe players were brilliantly skilled, and really wanted the work to shine. When I do set works on other ballet companies, I like to keep it open that I can do them with my own company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Community Music Center\u2019s family day is Friday. by\u00a0ANDREW GILBERT MARCH 28, 2024 (MissionLocal.org) April might be the cruelest month for some folks, but the first full blast of spring brings bounty and joy to Alonzo King. The renowned San Francisco choreographer returns to the&nbsp;Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/a-cultural-mission-visits-with-alonzo-king\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32545,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32543\/revisions\/32545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}