Riverside

Following worldwide acclaim for Hymn, her powerful tribute to Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison joined forces with Kimati Dinizulu, her musical collaborator for Divining, in the creation of this ballet that draws from eclectic idioms and narrative traditions. In a suite of seven sections, the ballet follows the structure of rituals that celebrate rites of passage from birth to death. The work as a whole suggests an African ritual treated with geometric cool. The emphasis is on the community rather than the individual.

Riverside draws inspiration from the rural South, although Ms. Jamison researched earlier material—the vestiges of West African culture still found in some regional customs. She was helped by two folklorists: Cheryl Johnson for material in Georgia, and Infama Arson for material in Louisiana. Dinizulu's percussion score continually surprises with its shifts of rhythm and texture including a harmonica solo and a deconstructed vocal arrangement of “Down by the Riverside." Tim Hunter's ingenious set—hanging ropes that sweep and curve—evokes a changing forest from which the ensemble emerges.