A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham put Black love, joy and vulnerability at center stage during its third year at the Carpenter Center on Saturday night.
The program included works choreographed by Abraham, the artistic director and founder of A.I.M, and other collaborators, including The Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. The company’s mission is to celebrate Black culture and history through dance-based work that draws inspiration from various movement styles.
New company member Amari Frazier took the spotlight in “Just Your Two Wrists,” where he drifted across stage to an isolated vocal piece composed by David Lang. The dancer rapidly shifted from fluid movements to stiff, robotic arm gestures.
“You have to switch on a dime wildly,” Frazier said. “You have to reach your extremes but also have to be soft with it. It’s one of the hardest pieces I’ve ever done.”
“Motorrover,” a duet by Jamaal Bowman and Donovan Reed, was an emotionally-charged piece performed without music. The audience could only hear the dancers’ breath and steps across the dance floor during its 14-minute span.
Choreographed by Kyle Abraham in collaboration with A.I.M., the piece takes inspiration from Merce Cunningham’s 1972 dance “Landrover.”
“There was a moment where I was a little insecure and started to consider putting music to it, but I went back and decided I was going to hold onto this,” Abraham said.
“Rain,” choreographed by Bebe Miller, placed performer Gianna Theodore on stage alongside a patch of grass. Theodore crawled and leaped around the grass to a fast-paced, haunting drum soundtrack.
The music transitioned to a dynamic opera piece when Theodore finally ran into the grass, rolling around and sprawling her body on the prop at center stage.
Theodore primarily rehearsed the piece through Zoom calls with Miller, where she would receive feedback from the choreographer ahead of its premier in May.
“It is such a grounded, deep, rooted work,” Theodore said. “I’m very grateful to be able to have this legacy passed onto us in such a special way.”
“If We Were a Love Song” closed the night, with a series of six vignettes set to songs by jazz singer Nina Simone. Donovan Reed and Kar’mel Antonyo Wade Small moved with yearning and tension in a dramatic duet to “Don’t Explain,” a song that describes the pain of having an unfaithful partner.
The crowd was filled with community members and CSULB dance students who trained with A.I.M. company members in various workshops throughout the week.
First-year dance student Ayanna Dowell came to the event to see some of the movements and pieces they learned on full display.
“I really enjoyed taking those classes,” Dowell said. “I’m hoping to find those [moves] in the show and see the iconic Kyle Abraham movement.”
Abraham said that he is working on a new creative process, where he reflects on nature, aging and how people hold fragility and empathy in the body.
“It starts with reading and a lot of different types of research for us,” Abraham said. “There might be a lot of different literature that we’ll explore as a work group … but there’s different points of entry for every process.”
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham will continue their tour with a show in Montclair, New Jersey at Peak Performances. The Carpenter Center is set to host various performances throughout the school year, including the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra in November and Versa-Style Dance Company in December.