An Evening with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

A dance music theatre piece that evokes the world of childhood and its careless pleasures. But beyond pure entertainment, this performance contemplates the meaning and the importance of play when we become adults. World stage premiere dec 7 2017, Paris.

Alvin Ailey played a key role in the growth of modern dance in USA and his company, founded in 1958, is one of the USA’s oldest dance troupes as well as one of the most youthful and vital on the dance scene. In this two-part program, members of Ailey's dance company celebrate his memory by performing three works choreographed by Ailey himself, as well as a special ballet tribute choreographed by Ulysses Dove. Each piece is introduced by Judith Jamison, the dancer and choreographer whose career was nurtured to stardom by Ailey, and who was, at the time of this production, Artistic Director of the company. The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is uniquely eclectic in range, repertory, and style. As a choreographer, Ailey explored the black experience and went beyond, finding universal human truths in all his work.

The radical new take on Dickens’ classic seeks both to exhume the original story’s gritty commentary on social inequality and the corrupting influence of greed, and to breathe new life into the lyricism of the original text by setting its scenes to extraordinary tableaux of modern dance.

Maurice Hines, a charming, gay African-American entertainer navigates the complications of show business while grieving the loss of his more famous, often estranged younger brother, tap dance legend Gregory Hines.

The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performs their elegant Tai Chi-based dances to the music of J.S. Bach. Choreography by Lin Hwai-Min. This dance film examines the correlation between essence and appearance, effort and effortlessness, man and woman , all explored using water, mirror, light and reflections.

About two key pioneers of Swedish dance in the 1900s: Birgit Åkesson and Birgit Cullberg. Both were born in 1908 and became choreographers who made a big impression in the international dance history. Birgit Åkesson, in the serious "Fertility" directed by Alf Sjoberg, debuted in 1934 in Paris. She was co-designed the European avant-garde modern dance language, and created in the 1950s and 1960s, legendary works for the Stockholm Opera together with others including composer Karl-Birger Blomdahl and Erik Lindegren as librettist. Birgit Cullberg gives a much more relaxed and humorous impressions in "Antonius & Cleopatra", directed by Gerd Osten. Cullberg got her big break as a choreographer a few years in "Miss Julie" in 1950. After spending some time abroad Birgit Cullberg returned to Sweden and formed in 1967 the Cullberg Ballet, which she led until 1985. Topsy Håkansson, who performs the role as the gypsy.

Hansje, a ten-year-old boy, is home alone because his parents have to work during Christmas. His mother is an actress in a Christmas play and his father is a conductor of a Christmas concert. Hansje himself has a bad cold and spends the day making drawings until he discovers a small Christmas angel in the Christmas tree. The angel is looking for Pleasure on earth. To explain what Pleasure is, the Christmas angel takes Hansje with him, floating through the air, in the drawings that Hansje made of his hometown. They visit the Christmas play where his mother will perform, his school friend Geesje, a girl whose rabbit will be on the Christmas menu and some girls who go on a holiday to escape the cold. They also see old Mr. Biggelaar, who walks lonely through the city.

Since their inception in 1965, Pink Floyd has put out 15 studio albums. But for many, the Pink Floyd experience went beyond studio albums and into their incredible and legendary live performances. Pink Floyd : The Early Years 1965-1972 features an extensive look at the band during their time with original front man Syd Barrett and the addition of David Gilmour in 1970.

John Frusciante's performance at the Pontin’s Holiday Centre during the All Tomorrow Parties Festival in 2005 in Camber, England. He performed songs from his solo albums, as well as a few covers. The full video is made up of several different amateur recordings of the show combined into one whole video.