On December 16, the audience around me was happily bustling about—waving, hugging—before the evening show, fully aware of what they were in for: a beloved classic, a new production of an old favorite, and two premieres. The house was packed with Ailey fans, cool and cosmopolitan, so many donning shiny pants, leather and big earrings that I feared I had missed a “suggested attire” memo. There was beauty all around.

The first premiere, former Ailey dancer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish’s duet Me, Myself and You (2023), opened the show that evening. Roxas-Dobrish, born in Manila, was the Company’s first Filipina member, and a principal dancer from 1984-1997. After coming to NYC in 1979, she studied at The Joffrey Ballet, The Graham School and The Ailey School. She also performed with The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ohad Naharin and Joyce Trisler Danscompany, as well as on Broadway in The King and I as Eliza. She knows her stuff.

SEE ALSO: Erwin Wurm On Absurdity, Bodies and Flattening Sculpture

The new duet is set to Damien Sneed and Brandie Sutton’s haunting rendition of Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood.” The program notes that this is a dance about reminiscence, conjuring “the memories of love and passion for a woman asking herself if she should let go or forge ahead.” I was not surprised when the woman (Alisha Rena Peek) begins with some very emotive........

© Observer