Rocka My Soul!

It’s Christmas time in the city! Which means, in addition to shopping till you drop … Alvin Ailey season! They opened last week, but I was still in North Carolina for their opening night gala, so today’s matinee was my first Ailey experience this season. And, as always, it was an amazing one. Above is the cast following Revelations — a ballet that for me, no choreographer will ever outdo. It will always be my favorite, will always bring tears to my eyes. And, really, you know you are a crazed, obsessed nutter of a dance fan when you are neither black nor have ever lived in the south, yet you know all of the words of the ‘negro spirituals’ sung to that ballet by heart, and can’t seem to help yourself from unconsciously singing along during the performance 🙂 … and you cannot then sit still and refrain from at least bopping your head all about during the last song, Rocka My Soul! Everyone was clapping along to that one, so my nuttiness wasn’t so noticeable 🙂 Clifton Brown is definitely my favorite (he’s from Arizona 🙂 ), and Matthew Rushing and Glenn Allen Sims (whom I’ve noticed before) both really impressed me as well this time in a lovely little pas de trois called “Solo” set to a staccato piece by Bach, and choreographed by the dutch choreographer Hans van Manen. Very playful but very lyrical and beautiful. I also saw for the first time Tharp’s The Golden Section, a very fast-paced piece much like The Upper Room, with some very difficult jumps and lifts — some jumps directly into a lift, and set to some great David Byrne music. The dancers got a standing ovation for that one, which they definitely deserved. And the final piece this afternoon was Witness, another of Ailey’s spiritual pieces. Renee Robinson gorgeously danced this solo, which was set in a church pew with a candlelit background. I’ll be seeing Revelations at least twice more this season, as well as Ailey’s other classics, and Pas de Duke, a piece that was originally choreographed for Baryshnikov and Judith Jamison and that is being revived, I think for the first time since then. Can’t wait!

After I left the theater, prompted by an H&M ad on the back of Time Out New York advertising a dress that looked very cute and very me and was discounted only today, I headed over to their store on Fifth Avenue. There, I found exactly what other bloggers have been talking about — the insanity of the New York Christmas crowds, which I hadn’t yet seen since returning from N.C.

It was true madness. And many of the buildings are decorated. Here’s Cartier, wrapped with red ribbon, like a giant present:

Ugh. Glad I braved the crowd though, because, amazingly, the Fifth Ave. H&M actually had the dress in stock, which I bought 🙂

The one advertised was gold with a brown lacey overlay, but this one looked better with my coloring. Okay, it’s not Chanel, but hey, not bad for $24.90 right?