His A.I.M is True

For its twentieth anniversary, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham showcased a trio of established works set to live music at the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. In curating this program, Abraham wrote that he was “reflecting on 20 years of having a dance company in this complicated day and age.” The oldest dance in the retrospective, “The Gettin,” was created at New York Live Arts between 2012 and 2014. The most recent, “2x4,” had its NY premiere at the Joyce this past April. The dances’ birthdays were largely irrelevant, however. No matter the year, the majority of Abraham’s output is grounded in his experiences as a Black man and queer artist. The themes of freedom, equality, Black love, and self-love dominate his oeuvre, as they did on this evening. In the program notes, Abraham linked even the most abstract dance on the bill, “2X4,”to his progressive vision, describing it as “an ode to form and a hopeful call for unity and support.”

Performance

A.I.M by Kyle Abraham retrospective

Place

Rose Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, September 25, 2025

Words

Faye Arthurs

A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in Abraham's “2x4.” Photograph by Alexander Diaz

The only dance that was new to me was “The Gettin,” which closed the show. This was the most pointed political piece on the program. The unsettling set designs by Glenn Ligon featured menacing, blotchy figures, segregationist Apartheid signage, and mugshot photos given a Warhol treatment (embellished with neon hues and polka dots). Similarly, the video clips by Dan Scully ranged from Black people playing guitar and stirring grains to footage of Eric Garner’s horrific strangling. Abraham set all this to Robert Glasper’s reimagining of We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, which was vividly played at the back of the stage by musicians Otis Brown III, Luther Allison, Liany Matero, and vocalist Charenee Wade. Abraham kept his cast of 7 offstage for the first number, a plaintive a cappella turn from Wade, but they flooded the stage to the rousing drum piece that followed, clad in Civil Rights era garb by Karen Young.

Abraham’s ability to evoke musical texture through steps is uncanny. I loved an angry balloté refrain. This ballet step is most often done liltingly, as in the happy-go-lucky opening of “Giselle.” In “The Gettin,” Abraham made it rageful. The women in the cast aggressively tossed out their legs to snare drum runs, making their feet into electrified daggers even though they were clad in dainty bobby socks and jazz shoes. Abraham also employed lots of running in circles, as in his large-scale Park Ave Armory work last year: “Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful.” But here, he often incorporated the runner’s lunge starting pose too, which added tense anticipation. Throughout, he deftly approximated Roach’s instrumentation through movement. The lingering reverb of cymbal hits was paired with bursting chassés en tournant en l’air; the sound and the step simultaneously gave the impression of a firework hanging in the air as it slowly dissipated.

Jamaal Bowman and William Okajima in “The Gettin’” by Kyle Abraham. Photograph by Alexander Diaz

Hauntingly, “The Getting” closed in the same manner as the preceding piece, “If We Were a Love Song,” with a lone Black woman tweaking out in despair onstage. I had seen the NY premiere of this piece at Fall for Dance in 2021, when it was called “Our Indigo: If We Were a Love Song,” and I admired it then. But during this Rose Theater stint, the Nina Simone songs were played onstage by the same terrific band who performed “The Gettin’,” with the tremendous baritone singer Baby Rose tackling Simone’s famous vocals. Rose’s husky, nuanced interpretation kicked this dance into a higher gear yet. Though, metaphorically speaking, low gear might be a better descriptor for this somber, slow-burning work. The oozy, tender opening septet was followed by a series of meditative solos and one fraught pas de deux to the song “Don’t Explain.” In 2021 this pas was danced by a man and a woman. During this run, it was performed on alternate nights by either two men or two women: the excellent Alysia Johnson and Niya Smith danced it on the night I attended.

The highlight, however, was Gianna Theodore’s suavely strong turn in “Little Girl Blue.” Abraham’s pairing of weighty, adagio breakdancing with the airy, 16th century piano tune from “Good King Wenceslas” that Simone sampled was magnificent. Theodore was brilliant, especially at the end of the solo, when the jingle returned and she did a smooth back-walkover into a cunning repeat of the opening floorwork sequence. She displayed subtle humor as well as proud defiance to butt up against the messaging in the lyrics: “you might as well surrender because your hopes are getting slender.” You got the idea that this little blue girl would be just fine in time.

Destin Morisset in “If We Were a Love Song” by Kyle Abraham. Photograph by Alexander Diaz

With the live music, “Love Song” was transformed. I liked it even better than before. However, as in A.I.M’s Joyce shows last April, my favorite dance of the night was the newest: “2x4.” As I said, Abraham is a master of elucidating musical texture through dance, and the gritty dueling baritone saxophone score by Shelley Washington gave him plenty to work with. Screeching jags on the saxes were aptly matched by teetering penchés and corkscrew soutenus. I liked when Morgan Olschewske and Niya Smith teased out the instruments’ guttural hiccups and breathy moans by holding hands through galumphing hops into floaty, sustained adagio work.

Walking and running were prevalent here too, but this time backwards, which Abraham used for funkier musical passages. He also used the awkward coordination of backwards perambulation as a startling foil to voguing prances. Mykiah Goree and William Okajima performed rapid-fire barrel turns to stress syncopated sax honks. Similarly, the dancers repeated odd, exaggerated balancés that stressed the middle beat of the triplet—which is rare—by pausing in a turned in attitude front. Chain saw firing and revving arm motions were fitting accompaniments to wood-sawing sax wails.

A.I.M in “2x4” by Kyle Abraham. Photograph by Alexander Diaz

The quartet of dancers was awesome, as were the saxophonists Guy Dellacave and Thomas Giles—who joined in the dance at times with their stomping and tilting. And Devin B. Johnson’s backdrop complemented the rough and raw edges of the music as well as Abraham’s steps did. Indeed, Johnson’s 2024 painting Congealed and Stuck was the impetus for the piece, and its burnt umber splotchiness hung at the back of the stage like a Rothko that had been painted on concrete at a skate park and left to the elements.

Though the abstract “2x4” seemed to be world’s away from the overt messaging of “The Gettin,” in its own way it was also about processing jaggedness and creating cohesion from harshness. Abraham’s artistic mission does the same. He generously credits his dancers as choreographic collaborators, and at the end of the show he introduced past company members and every current cast member by name. For 20 years Abraham has been addressing difficult themes with hope and grace and the unifying aspects of formal structure.

Faye Arthurs

Faye Arthurs is a former ballet dancer with New York City Ballet. She chronicled her time as a professional dancer in her blog Thoughts from the Paint. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English from Fordham University. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their sons.

comments

Rachel Howard 11 oct. 2025

Appreciate your writing so much.

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