Ailey's Comet

he Alvin Alley American Dance Theater is back at New York's City Center Theater for its annual four-week stand, and it can be counted on to brighten up long and dark December nights with its rousing repertory. This season artistic director Judith Jamison, the diva who danced in the company for fifteen years and for whom Ailey created the tour de force solo Cry, as well as Pas de Duke, which she danced with Baryshnikov, choreographs the world premiere o/Rift, set to an original score by Nona Hendryx. "Rift," says Jamison, "explores the dynamics of the individual and the group and how the group exerts its influence on the individual—invoking, rejecting, compelling. "

LARRY KAPLAN