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PHOTO COURTESY OF SEATTLE THEATRE GROUP

HARD WORK PAYS OFF. More than 100 dancers 15-22 years old auditioned to perform at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater takes the stage there later this month. Foss High School senior Isaiah Maurice Sumler was one of about 20 who made the cut.

Tacoma dancer prepares for the spotlight

By Matt Nagle

For 18-year-old Isaiah Maurice Sumler, a dream will come true when the legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) performs in Seattle for their 50th anniversary. He’ll be up on the Paramount Theatre stage with them, one of 23 local dancers ages 15-22 – and the only one from Tacoma – selected to participate in this very special occasion.

Seattle Theatre Group has the honor of hosting the company for three performances in celebration of this arts milestone, March 28-30. The engagement will include new works from today’s most daring and visionary choreographers such as Maurice Bejart, Twyla Tharp and Billy Wilson, along with an all-Ailey performance March 30, the anniversary of AAADT’s groundbreaking first performance in 1958.

Sumler, who started dancing when he entered Foss High School and also attends Washington Contemporary Ballet School in Tacoma, said he was in a bit of shock when he learned that his audition had impressed the judges enough to bring him into the show. He said that one of the reasons he started dancing in the first place was thanks to an Alvin Ailey performance he once saw. “They’re one of my favorite performing dance companies,” Sumler said. The opportunity to dance with a company that has touched so many people the world over inspires him. “As far as my dancing career, this is the highest point so far. It will open a lot of doors because other schools will see us there,” at the beginning of the young dancers’ careers.

“I’ve worked my butt off at this point and it’s really paid off,” he added.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater virtually exploded onto the modern dance scene in 1958 when Ailey and a company of young African-American male dancers gave an electrified performance at the 92nd Street Young Men’s Hebrew Association in New York. From there the company grew in notoriety due in large part to Ailey’s famous choreographed piece “Revelations,” part of which will be performed during the 50th anniversary show at the Paramount.

In five decades, AAADT has performed for an estimated 21 million people in 48 states, as well as 71 countries on six continents, gaining the company recognition as America’s cultural ambassador to the world. After creating 79 ballets in his lifetime, in 1989 Ailey died from AIDS complications. His friend and student Judith Jamison took the helm as artistic director upon his request and the company has reached new heights under her leadership.

For his part, Sumler will be dancing in Ailey’s touching “Memoria” written in 1979 after Ailey’s dear friend, lauded choreographer Joyce Trisler, died prematurely that same year. The ballet, featuring the sublime music of Keith Jarrett, is structured in two parts: “In Memory,” honoring Trisler and her achievements, and “In Celebration” where the dancers lead her to her new “life” through dance. As Ailey once commented, “Although these are very abstract images, nobody has ever asked me what ‘Memoria’ is about. People everywhere understand it. Making the dance was a very deep and wrenching experience for me.”

Sumler said he has seen parts of  “Memoria” performed and is quite excited to learn the dance that showcases this magnificent woman’s life. “She was an amazing person,” Sumler said.

Upon graduating from Foss this year, Sumler plans to continue pursuing a career in dance with the full support of his mom and three sisters, who have always been encouraging, the young man said. It was one of his sisters who convinced him to join her ballet company not too many years ago, his first time on the boards. “I hated it,” Sumler laughed, “but then I fell in love with it and never left it since. Free movement and expressing yourself appeals to me.”

Sumler also draws and paints and plays the viola and piano in the Foss High School orchestra. “I love music and I’m a big fan of the arts.” He said his long-term goals are to join Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or Nathoduato Ballet of Spain and to one day open a school of the arts in Tacoma with after-school programs to get more young people involved in the arts.

Tickets to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are $28-$53, available online at www.theparamount.com, by phone at (206) 292-2787 and at all Ticketmaster outlets.

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