TV REVIEW : Bill Cosby’s Special Salutes Choreographer Alvin Ailey

Not a word about Alvin Ailey’s recent death intrudes on the celebratory special “Bill Cosby Salutes Alvin Ailey” (on NBC-TV Sunday at 10 p.m.). Indeed, the late choreographer and company leader is described here in the present tense--and is shown thoroughly enjoying the festivities in his honor.

Say what? Is this a rerun?

Not quite. Just a videotaped event that should have run sooner.

Ailey’s company was founded in 1958, and part of this hourlong telecast was taped at New York City Center during a 30th anniversary gala a year ago. Other sections were shot in a TV studio this spring. Sometimes there was a live audience, sometimes not--but there was always a live honoree, and NBC is pretending that nothing has changed.

(An NBC spokesman said Friday that there are no plans to add any narration or titles to the program explaining that Ailey died Dec. 1.)

Supervised by Ailey alumnus George Faison and directed by Kirk Browning, the “Salute” clearly aims for an audience that knows nothing about Ailey and has probably never seen concert dance of any kind.

Broad, dance-related foolery by Cosby and his TV-series family dominates the first half. Even when Ailey’s dancers take over, the choreography is often shot in a way that conveys only a general impression of the movement--and then is crudely truncated.

Ailey’s output is central, of course, but the gala honored the achievements of his company , so we also see choreography by Faison, Ulysses Dove, Talley Beatty and Judith Jamison (Ailey’s successor as company director). Moreover, the interaction of past and present company members often gives the telecast great poignance, as when Jamison watches three current Ailey women dance the solo “Cry” (created for her) and briefly joins them.

The most moving excerpt is the opening sequence from Ailey’s “Revelations” performed by his whole extended company family: 30 years of upraised hands clustered together, reaching into the light.

Cosby is unfailingly generous in lending his starpower to such rare network dance projects--and his look-ma-I’m-dancin’ act should flatten his fans. But he also spreads misinformation--for starters, the statement that “Blues Suite” was Ailey’s “first creation.” It wasn’t. Phylicia Rashad is more accurate when she calls it “his first masterwork.”