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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's S.Dumas, S.Figgins, B.I.Pereyra, and R.Maurice in Robert Battle's For Four

Repertory

For Four

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

RUN TIME

8 Minutes

WORLD PREMIERE

New York City Center, 2021

STAGING

Elisa Clark

MUSIC

Wynton Marsalis

COSTUMES

Corin Wright

LIGHTING DESIGN

Al Crawford

Take four amazing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancers and add in Wynton Marsalis’ delicious jazz score—written in 4/4 time—and you’ll understand why former Artistic Director Robert Battle cheekily titled this exuberant short work For Four. Battle uses this work to express the pent-up energy of a world that had largely been cooped up for the previous 15 months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally created as the opening video segment for AILEY's 2021 Virtual Spring Gala Benefit, the piece was then re-staged for the Company’s New York City Center season later that same year.  

“Dance really is about being close together,” Battle said. “When we were in the studio making this dance, you could feel the electricity of what we did together, the way we felt so free to express ourselves in the way that we do, and so For Four is a manifestation of that expression."

In its review of the Gala, The New York Times observed, "With all its spinning and attitudinizing… [For Four] can seem like simple release. But there’s also a darker, more desperate undertone, a hint of having to perform…. Something more than pent-up energy is being expressed." 

A woman in black pants, white shirt and black blaizer stands on one leg with the other kicked back behind her and one hand raised in the air.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Samantha Figgins in Robert Battle's For Four Photo by Paul Kolnik

A dancer in black pants and a white shiret with suspenders stands on one leg leaning forward and kicking his back leg in the air behind him.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Renaldo Maurice in Robert Battle's For Four Photo by Jeffrey Auger

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's S.Dumas, S.Figgins, B.I.Pereyra, and R.Maurice in Robert Battle's For Four

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's S. Dumas, S. Figgins, B. Pereyra, and R. Maurice in Robert Battle's For Four Photo by Paul Konik

News & Press 

The Washington Post review, 1/29/22: "As director of the Ailey company, Robert Battle pushed his own creativity aside. The pandemic brought it back." 
"His new creation…is called For Four. With a quartet of dancers bounding to feverish jazz by Wynton Marsalis, it’s a seven-minute affirmation that Battle the artist is back in business…fast-paced and jittery, the dancers spinning and jumping without stop. That boiling energy comes from the thrill of being back in the studio, Battle says. Riding that joy, he pushed self-consciousness aside and focused on the dancers." 

Funders

Leadership support for the world premiere of For Four was provided by Pamela D. Zilly & John H. Schaefer. 
The world premiere of For Four was made possible with major support from Melinda & Paul Pressler, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn & Nicolas S. Rohatyn, The Ellen Jewett & Richard L. Kauffman New Works Endowment Fund, Elaine & Lawrence J. Rothenberg, Denise Littlefield Sobel, and the Red Moose Charitable Fund. 
For Four was supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.