A choreographer's 'love letter' to Alvin Ailey

Choreographer Ronald K. Brown stepped into a big studio at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and greeted the dancers with warm hugs. Then, almost without a word, he began to move, his feet and shoulders swaying to the beat, his upper body undulating slightly. “The Love,” a Malian song with a slow, hypnotizing groove, was playing on the sound system. The dancers gathered in a semicircle around him, moving to the rhythm. Just like that, they were drawn into the spirit of the dance.

Brown was putting the finishing touches on “The Call,” which is to have its premiere Dec. 4 as part of the Ailey company’s 60th-anniversary season. The dance, which he describes as “a love letter to Ailey,” is his seventh for the troupe in 20 years. So it’s no wonder the vibe in the studio is a bit like a conversation picked up midstream.