A Celebrated Centennial

Few mid-20th-century choreographers were as distinctive and influential as Alwin Nikolais, whose eye-catching multimedia spectacles blended his mastery of choreography, music composition and scenic wizardry. The passage of time—Nikolais died in 1993 and his company, which had already merged with that of his longtime colleague and partner, Murray Louis, and school shut down six years later—has allowed a generation to neglect his contributions, which for years were vividly present on the city’s dance stages. But his centennial this year is bringing back a wide range of his work, spanning more than 30 years, to two stages where his company regularly performed.

The Nikolais repertory has mainly been kept alive in recent years by the Utah-based Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. This week and next, it will showcase the range of these works and offer today’s audiences an invaluable chance to reassess Nikolais’ contributions and influence. This weekend, the company performs on the stage—at the Abrons Arts Center—that was home to Nikolais and Louis for two decades, beginning in 1948. It was there that Nikolais came to artistic maturity, presenting the premieres of many landmark works. Ririe-Woodbury will perform several of these early dances: Noumenon (1953), in which bodies encased in stretchy fabric take on an anthropomorphic life of their own; Kaleidoscope (1956), which exemplifies his inventive use of props; and Imago Suite (1963), a highly inventive breakthrough work. Students from the Abrons dance program will perform the signature piece Tensile Involvement (1953), in which bodies racing across the stage, trailing and interweaving streamers, create fascinating designs and patterns.

Moving to the Joyce Theater next week, Ririe-Woodbury will offer an ambitious program that includes two dances from the 1980s—Liturgies and Crucible—that exemplify the imagination and sophistication of Nikolais’ mature works. He created a dazzling sound-and-light show in which the human body became part of an intricate, ingenious design in which potent, often disturbing themes emerged.

Former company member Alberto del Saz is the major curator of these works, working along with Louis, and he describes the Ririe-Woodbury association as a fruitful collaboration, resulting in seven works being revived since the project launched in 2003. “We thought it would be a one- or two-year project, but it has been great,” he says. “The National Endowment for the Arts has been extremely supportive, and we have toured nationally and in Europe.” He also works often with university dance departments around the country, staging Nikolais’ works.

Introducing young dancers to the Nikolais technique and esthetic is a responsibility that Del Saz, a former Spanish national figure skating champion who performed with the Nikolais company from 1985 to 1999, clearly finds rewarding and significant. “For a lot of them, it’s a totally different approach from the way they’ve been trained.” He notes that the NYU students for whom he recently staged Pond “were totally taken by all the possibilities; once they learned a little bit more about the philosophy and the technique, they were fascinated.” Their 21st-century technical facility may surpass that of an earlier era, but “the challenge for them was to approach movement and dance from a very different point of view.

“They are able to really make a connection between the psyche or the intellect, and then make choices in terms of how qualitative they are with the movement, because with Nik’s work, you don’t stay with the same quality throughout the piece. It may be only five or 10 minutes long, but during that time, you have many opportunities to be sophisticated about your approach, in terms of the emotion and the quality of the movement. So that was a big challenge for the dancers: They have to make the choices in terms of how the movement is going to feel to them, and how the movement is going to look to an audience.”

Del Saz recalls the total immersion of the Nikolais school, where he and others trained to prepare for dancing his repertory. “Our day was pretty hectic: a two-hour technique class in morning, then improvisation, then composition. I think one of the biggest legacies of Nik’s work and philosophy is that he made performers. He wasn’t about making dancers who look a certain way. He was about making artists and performers who had a distinct voice, who could be unique and different.

“Nik’s work was about creating this magical environment—the music, the dance, the lighting, all blending in that very unique, special place that he’s taking the audience. For me, this centennial was about making people aware of how really influential, and how important, he was at one time in American dance. Many people came out of his school, or have been touched by his works and his technique. It’s important that it remain an active and vital legacy. We are trying to put him back on the map, make sure people understand that he was ahead of his time, a visionary.”

Alwin Nikolais Centennial

May 1 & 2, Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St. (at Pitt St.), 212-352-3101; $10 and up.

May 4-9, Joyce Theater, 175 8th Ave. (at W. 19th St.), 212-242-0800; $10 and up.