Why Alvin Ailey's new ‘Sacred Songs' is a homecoming: L.A. arts and culture this weekend

Los Angeles Times

28-03-2025

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 'Sacred Songs' is a homecoming of sorts. It was initially conceived to celebrate the 60th anniversary of 'Revelations,' the seminal masterpiece that closes every Ailey show.
' 'Revelations' is a history lesson through dance that evades antiquity, a timeless reminder of how far we've come, and how far we have to go,' wrote critic Lauren Warnecke. 'Technically demanding, choreographically sound and aesthetically magnificent, … it's the closest we get in dance to a permanent exhibit.'
Matthew Rushing, the company's interim artistic director who choreographed 'Sacred Songs,' was intrigued by the chapter in Jennifer Dunning's 1996 book 'Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance' that detailed the classic's initial form. 'It was over an hour long and with live musicians and singers on stage,' he told The Times. 'But when it came time to take it on tour, he decided to condense it by removing half of the songs.'
Rushing perused the list of omitted 'Revelations' songs and collaborated with composer Du'Bois A'Keen to reimagine this left-out collection of spirituals for a new piece. 'These spirituals have such power and history, but some of them are extremely well known and important to a lot of people,' he said.
'We wanted to present them in a fresh way. We spent two weeks brainstorming with musicians at the 92nd Street Y in New York, where 'Revelations' premiered in 1960. It was amazing to be in that room, creating sounds to honor the original.'
Though the debut of 'Sacred Songs' was delayed by the pandemic, the piece made its world premiere last year at New York City Center as part of the Whitney Museum of American Art's exhibit 'Edges of Ailey' — complete with instrumentalists and a chorus on stage. Its music fuses jazz, African drums, gospel and hip-hop, and it went over so well that the suite was recently released as an album.
The company will perform Rushing's 'Sacred Songs' as part of its seven shows at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (April 2 to 6) — marking its Los Angeles premiere, a notable milestone for the L.A. native. While the dancers pays homage to Ailey and 'Revelations,' Rushing personally dedicates the song 'Troubles Troubling,' a reimagining of 'Troubles of This World,' to his late mother, Barbara DeLoach, who passed away as he was choreographing the piece.
'One of the omitted 'Revelations' songs happens to be about someone transitioning; the lyrics say, 'I'm going home to live with God,' ' said Rushing. 'I was able to choreograph this section as a way of grieving, and it's been the most amazing experience to watch that special part, sometimes with laughter or tears.'
I'm Ashley Lee, and I'm looking forward to witnessing this new Ailey creation. I'm with my fellow Times staff writer Jessica Gelt to bring you more arts and culture news and things to do:
'Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall'When the hip-hop group released 'Black Sunday' in 1993, The Times' review noted it 'boasts even sharper insights, crisper beats and a more tantalizingly ominous tone' than their debut album. Last year, the icons reimagined this masterpiece release with the London Symphony Orchestra — yes, another 'Simpsons' joke predicted the future — and the resulting collaboration, conducted and arranged by Troy Miller, debuts stateside via a filmed performance. It's playing in theaters throughout L.A. on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, ahead of the live album's release on June 6. iconicreleasing.com
'Multiple Loads'Nicholas Pilapil's last play, 'God Will Do the Rest,' had me laughing, crying and returning for a second viewing. His new stage show centers on two men in L.A. who fall in and out of love over the course of a decade. Playwrights' Arena is presenting a reading as part of its New Pages Lab, a series designed for playwrights to hear their work with an audience. George Salazar and Adrián González star in the reading, directed by Shinshin Yuder Tsai. Admission is free with online RSVP. Sunday, 1 p.m. Art of Acting Studio, 1017 N. Orange Drive, L.A. playwrightsarena.org
'Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs''Lanthimos' worlds operate like a transparent watch exposed straight through to the gears,' wrote Times film critic Amy Nicholson of the filmmaker's 2024 movie 'Kinds of Kindness.' 'The fascination comes from seeing how each piece of the machine pressures the others to behave. His characters speak their minds without apology.'
Starting Saturday, the Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter exhibits his still photography for the first time, featuring images from his recent books: 'i shall sing these songs beautifully,' made during the filming of 'Kinds of Kindness' and published by Mack; and 'Dear God, the Parthenon Is Still Broken,' shot during the making of his 2023 hit 'Poor Things' and published by Void. The exhibition is on view through May 24. MACK + Webber at 939, 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles. webberrepresents.com
— Ashley Lee
FRIDAY🎸🎭 Adobe Punk Sparks fly as a 1980s musical trio squatting in an old Bell Gardens adobe home power through rehearsal in this punk rock musical written and directed by Gabriel Garza and Theresa Chavez.⏰ Through April 13. Margo Albert Theatre, Plaza de la Raza, 3540 N. Mission Road. aboutpd.org/adobe-punk
🎭 Into the Woods Musical Theatre West presents Stephen Sondheim's fairy-tale-fueled musical.⏰ Through April 13. Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. musical.org
🎼 🎻 Kerson Leong The Canadian violinist performs a dynamic program of sonatas by Poulenc, Fauré, Boulanger and Franck. Leong will also lead a master class at 11 a.m. Saturday.⏰ 7 p.m. Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. colburnschool.edu
🎸 Papa Roach/Rise Against The bands team up for the Rise of the Roach tour.⏰ 7 p.m. Kia Forum, 3900 .W Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. thekiaforum.com
SATURDAY🎸 Franz Ferdinand The Scottish rockers reach L.A. in the Human Fear tour.⏰ 7 p.m. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. wiltern.com/shows
🎭 Jane Eyre Geoff Elliott directs Elizabeth Williamson's adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë novel. ⏰ Through April 20. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org
💃 A Jewish Child's Story Choreographer Louise Reichlin's autobiographical dance multimedia work reflects on her early dreams as the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants.⏰ 1:30 p.m. Culver City Senior Center, 4095 Overland Ave. lachoreographersanddancers.org
🎼 Nowruz: The Concert — Return of the MastersThe Pacific Symphony and Farhang Foundation's annual celebration includes the Pournazeri Trio — Kaykhosro, Tahmoures and Sohrab Pournazeri.⏰ 8 p.m. Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. pacificsymphony.org
🪘🎵 Orquesta Akokán The Havana jazz ensemble provides a 21st century take on Cuban mambo.⏰ 8 p.m. The United Theater on Broadway, 929 S. Broadway, downtown L.A. cap.ucla.edu
🎭 🎵 El Otro Oz Salsa, merengue, Mexican folk songs and Dora, 'a contemporary Latiné teenager,' take center stage in this bilingual musical inspired by 'The Wizard of Oz.'⏰ Through April 13. Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. centertheatregroup.org
SUNDAY🎭 🎵 Adanza: Show Me Your Dreams A musical adventure featuring juggling, unicycles, breakdancing, animation, bubbles, glow sticks, drumming, aerial artists and more.⏰ 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday. The Eastwood, 1089 N. Oxford Ave. adanzamusical.com
🎭 Aristotle/Alexander The Greek philosopher engages in an intellectual battle of wits with his star pupil in a new play written and directed by Alex Lyras.⏰ 3 p.m. Sundays; 8 p.m. Saturdays, through May 4. Company of Angels, 1350 San Pablo St. aristotlealexander.com/
🎼 🎹 Leif Ove Andsnes The Norwegian pianist performs Grieg's Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7; Geirr Tveitt's Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 129, 'Sonata Etere'; and Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28.⏰ 3 p.m. Soka Performing Arts Center, Soka University, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo. soka.edu
🎨 Carole Caroompas 'Heathcliff and the Femme Fatale Go on Tour' is a series of works created by the feminist artist between 1997 and 2001, inspired by Emily Brontë's 19th century novel 'Wuthering Heights.'⏰ 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, through July 13. Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. lagunaartmuseum.org
🎼 Hear Now Music Festival: Voices Raised The 14th annual event features three programs of new music by contemporary Los Angeles composers: Electroacoustic with Vocal (co-presented with People Inside Electronics), Brightwork Ensemble, David Cubek, conductor HEX and Fahad Siadat, director; Instrumental Chamber Music (April 13); and Vocal Chamber Music (May 18). ⏰ 5 p.m. 2220 Arts + Archives, 2200 Beverly Blvd. hearnowmusicfestival.com
📺 Neo-Japonism: Samurai and Beyond Japanese broadcaster NHK showcases its use of technology in the presentation of its annual 'Taiga' historical dramas.⏰ 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 11 a.m-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, through Sept. 1. Japan House, Ovation Hollywood, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. japanhousela.com
🎨 Su Yu-Xin The L.A.-based artist discusses materiality, the intersection of art and science, and the ways color shapes our understanding of the world with OCMA CEO and director Heidi Zuckerman.⏰ 3 p.m. Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art
A 90-year-old mystery was solved earlier this year when the Ebell of Los Angeles discovered that a series of frescoes painted by revered female muralist Maxine Albro in 1933 still exist beneath more than nine layers of paint in the center's north loggia. The frescoes were commissioned by the Ebell's president in 1933 and became a flash point for controversy, with many members of the prominent women's club complaining that they were too modern and did not fit with the aesthetic of the garden. The artworks were thought to have been destroyed in 1945, so it was with great joy that the Ebell discovered they had only been painted over and can be restored when the moment is right.
Stephen Laughton's play, 'One Jewish Boy,' which premiered in London in 2018, is making its West Coast debut in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre. The show explores the relationship between a young Jewish man and his mixed-race wife. It begins at a point of crisis in their marriage and unspools back to their first meeting in Ibiza many years ago. 'The debate between them is handled with admirable complexity, but the characters don't have enough room to develop beyond the central argument of the play,' writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty in his review.
Ron Sossi, founder of L.A.'s Odyssey Theatre, died March 19 of congestive heart failure at age 85. Sossi was revered in the local theater community and known for his boundary-pushing experimentation and willingness to take big swings and risks when it came to the stage. Read Sossi's obituary by staff writer Cerys Davies, here.
Joe Goode, the Los Angeles-based visual artist best known for his milk bottle paintings and his ties to the Light and Space movement, has died. He was 87. In an appreciation, Times Art Critic Christopher Knight writes, 'In the 1960s, Goode's work was uncomfortably tagged as Pop art. It shared some attributes of paintings by Ed Ruscha, his childhood friend from Oklahoma City, as well as Southern California artists as diverse as John Baldessari, Billy Al Bengston, Wallace Berman and Vija Celmins. But those artists approached representational imagery in a wide variety of ways. As his career developed over the next five decades, and as art movements began to unravel as a way to characterize art, the term fell away.'
Ten Los Angeles-based contemporary arts institutions got a boost Friday when the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts announced its first Infinite Expansion Grants, which support upcoming projects that present, according to a news release, 'thought provoking and compelling work.' These new grants are a departure from previous years when the foundation supported more grantees with less money. By choosing only 10 organizations this time around, the foundation handed out larger grants ranging from $32,000 to $45,000. The current crop of grantees are: 18th Street Arts Center, the Brick, CalArts REDCAT, Fulcrum Arts/home LA, Future Roots/Canary Test, Human Resources, JOAN, Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), Pieter Performance Space, and Self-Help Graphics & Art. The title 'Infinite Expansion' is derived from one of Kelley's large drawings that features a small landscape at its center with psychedelic wood-grain patterns radiating outward. 'In a nod to the title, these grants emphasize the resounding impact that arts organizations and artists make in the communities they build and the world at large,' the foundation wrote in its announcement.
— Jessica Gelt
A gorgeous read on outgoing Loewe fashion house head Jonathan Anderson, and 'his holistic approach to design, seamlessly fusing together art, fashion, poetry, architecture, and interior design.'