Look who’s back -- and who’s up front

NEW YORK —  They are powerful, elegant and versatile, technically exceptional and dramatically persuasive. The women of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have really stepped forward this season, seizing the possibilities of an unusually eclectic repertory that allows them to reveal the many facets of their talents.

They portray a tormented rock star and edgy subway commuters; they bring the company’s trademark searing, dynamic verve to abstract works that reflect the musical styles of David Byrne, Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder and others. They can turn on the sass as readily as they swoop and soar through a lushly romantic duet.

Returning to the Los Angeles area for the first time in two years, the company will bring a very different set of dances to the Orange County Performing Artscenter this week. “Revelations,” Ailey’s ever-popular and uplifting 1960 masterwork, still closes every program, but unexpected choreographers -- Twyla Tharp and Maurice Bejart -- are represented, as are several from a younger generation starting to make its mark.

One reason the women are particularly in the spotlight is that Ailey’s 1971 “Flowers,” with a bravura leading role inspired by Janis Joplin, has returned to the repertory after more than 20 years.

This dramatic tour de force was created for Royal Ballet star Lynn Seymour, a guest artist. Its scenes chart the glamorous highs and crushing lows of a star who revels in the adoration of her fans and the strobe lights of the paparazzi, but whose offstage life is a sadly familiar tale of addiction, wrong choices in men and untimely death. Seven men portraying all the sycophants, manipulators and hangers-on who populate her world make up the rest of the cast.

According to Jennifer Dunning’s “Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance,” the choreographer described the character to Seymour as “a combination of Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Bessie Smith and Joplin” and told her “she’s got a lot of baaad habits.”

Yet there have long been dominant -- even iconic -- roles for women in the company’s repertory. Ailey himself created two such landmark parts that resonated with deep personal meaning for him.

The three-part solo “Cry,” made the same year as “Flowers,” showcased the stunning sweep, muscular force and dramatic power of current artistic director Judith Jamison and not only confirmed her as a dance luminary but also became an instant classic. “Memoria,” Ailey’s 1979 tribute to his longtime colleague and friend Joyce Trisler, showcased the luminous warmth and expansiveness of Donna Wood.

But according to Renee Robinson, the company’s seemingly ageless veteran (she joined in 1981), “I think the works in the repertory right now show off the women a great deal -- not only technically but in the acting levels, character work. I think that has brought forth the wonderful quality of female dancers we have in the company -- very strong dancers and wonderful personalities.” That is not always the case, she notes: “Some years it seems the men have everything!”

Those men certainly will not be slighted in Orange County, especially with Bejart’s “Firebird” as a featured work. Three of the company’s most impressive and versatile males -- Clifton Brown, Matthew Rushing and Antonio Douthit -- will perform the title role, which requires considerable balletic virtuosity. And the Olympian athleticism of Tharp’s 1981 “The Golden Section” offers both men and women opportunities to reach for the heights.

All the same, the female contingent really staked its claim during the company’s New York season in December. Although two leading women of recent years, Dwana Adiaha Smallwood and Asha Thomas, had just left, there was no lack of star power as others came to the fore.

Shortly afterward, five of the company’s more notable women took time for interviews during the final week of rehearsals before the four-month national tour bringing it to Costa Mesa. In addition to Robinson, they included Linda Celeste Sims, the troupe’s closest thing to a ballerina, who appeared in every new work and revival; Alicia Graf, the willowy nascent star of Dance Theater of Harlem who was left stranded when that company went on hiatus and who joined Ailey in 2005; Briana Reed, a tall, commanding member since 1998; and Courtney Brene Corbin, a dancer of charm and spirit who was among the newer company members taking on substantial roles.

A respected leader

With the vibrant, engaging Jamison as artistic director -- a position she assumed in 1989, shortly after Ailey’s death, and recently announced she would leave in 2011 -- the company’s women work for someone who particularly inspires and understands them.

“We have an amazing woman to look up to, who knows exactly where everything should be,” said Reed, who blazes with particular intensity in contemporary roles but also performs two of the classic parts in “Revelations.” “She’s very hands-on in rehearsal, and it’s something very special to see her move.”

For Graf, Jamison is “somebody that I can truly emulate -- because she is a woman and because she has had such an amazing career in dance. I feel like I can ask her any question, talk to her about personal things if I need to. And her energy is great.”

Robinson, the only current company member who was there while Ailey was artistic director, said: “I think it is a strong influence on the females to have a woman director -- such a wonderful one, who is strong in her personality and very clear in where she wants to take the company, how she wants to take care of the legacy Mr. Ailey has left to humanity. So we have that wonderful example around us every day. But I think that even when Mr. Ailey was here with us, the females were strong, and very frontal in their technique, personality and their artistry. It’s probably a part of the company’s fabric that the females have a strong presence.”

Under Jamison, company neophytes do not linger in the back row for a prescribed period. Anyone and everyone can be cast in featured roles, keeping things fresh and surprising.

“It’s definitely not about waiting your turn in this company. I think they see us all as individuals, see what we can do and mold you into different characters,” said Corbin, who joined in 2005 after dancing with the company’s junior troupe, Ailey II. A graduate of the unique Ailey/Fordham University BFA program, Corbin went into “Love Stories,” a three-choreographer collaboration, as soon as she joined. (She is to perform in it Wednesday at OCPAC.)

Both Sims and Graf perform the central role in “Flowers”; although Graf is not scheduled in it this week, Sims and Gwynenn Taylor Jones will be seen. The role poses considerable acting as well as dancing challenges -- the character sports a boa and high heels in the first scene, then dances in pointe shoes during a drug- induced hallucination.

“When you get a chance to do something like this, you have to be as real as possible,” said Sims. “It starts out with paparazzi. You’re on top of the world, you’re bigger than everything, you’re a movie star/rock star. And then all of a sudden, it’s like you fall in love with someone, or maybe this person doesn’t want you, makes you use drugs -- and your whole world starts to deteriorate.

“It’s just so sad. There are moments when I start crying onstage, and I’m like, ‘OK, take it easy.’ You also don’t want the audience to leave saddened. I want them to have more of a learning experience: OK, this is what can happen if I make wrong decisions.”

Between the two casts who perform Tharp’s “The Golden Section,” staged by original cast member Shelley Washington, nearly all the company members get a chance to stand out. Ultimately, however, the work is about group energy and a readiness to catch one another with bravado.

“It has to be precise, but at the same time you have that loose quality that Twyla really likes,” said Graf. “When Tharp came in to coach us, we really began to understand what she wanted -- this tautness in your lower body but then a really loose upper body.” For Sims, the 1981 work “seemed really fast at first, but once you get the movement in your blood and your muscles, it’s so much fun.”

The enthusiasm the dancers display extends into the wings, Corbin noted. “Backstage, we’re clapping, egging each other on from the sidelines, enjoying each other. It’s a pretty short piece, but you’ve got to give it all you’ve got.”

That kind of mutual support further extends throughout the company, since so many of the dancers know one another from sharing classes at the Ailey School or performing together in Ailey II before arriving in the main company -- Jamison has often been able to chart their progress and know them to some degree before they enter the ranks.

“It’s like a full circle that keeps on going,” Corbin said. “I worked with a lot of dancers in the second company, and we all moved into the company together. We’ve all learned so much from each other -- personality-wise, dance-wise, lifestyle-wise. I think it helps us all create a certain atmosphere onstage.”

From her more experienced perspective, Robinson -- who sometimes advises and coaches the younger dancers -- gets a charge from dancing alongside the latest Ailey generation, knowing what they can attain.

“It’s a company that’s going to be very demanding, but if it’s where you want to be and you enjoy the legacy that Mr. Ailey left, it’s going to be a great ride,” she observed. “You’re going to have to grow, to bring your full person to the company -- on and off the stage, in the studio. It’s going to be a full experience, but you have to be ready for the challenge.”

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Where: Orange County Performing Artscenter, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

Price: $25 to $85

Contact: (714) 556-2787 or www.ocpac.org