Review: TU Dance marks its 20th anniversary with joy, grief and transcendence

For its 20th anniversary, TU Dance celebrated five important Black choreographers, beginning with 20th-century giant Alvin Ailey.

The artists all have established a relationship with the St. Paul company over the years, and have some connection to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, where TU's artistic director Toni Pierce-Sands had been a soloist earlier in her career.

Ailey's "Witness," first choreographed in 1986, kicked off things at the O'Shaughnessy in St. Paul Friday. Sa'Nah Britt captured the elegant grace of Ailey's last solo, set to a series of spirituals sung by opera singer Jessye Norman. With tremendous clarity of line and deep connection to breath, Britt soared through piece's emotional arc.

Actor T. Mychael Rambo provided an interlude after the first piece, offering his singing voice to the song "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round," and sharing a bit of history of TU and its wife-and-husband founders, Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands.

"They decided to create this tenacious, triumphant, talented group of unique, unstoppable, unbelievably, talented people," Rambo said.

In addition to Rambo's speech, TU celebrated its milestone anniversary also by sharing a video of past works. The program acknowledged the many choreographers who contributed to TU's history, though notably the list did not include Uri's name. Toni has been leading the company since Uri left in 2019 after he was accused of sexual assault. (The case was settled out of court.)

Toni's legacy of producing dance of extremely high artistic quality was on view in the anniversary show, as world-class dancers, trainees, veterans and students took the stage at the O'Shaughnessy.

With styles that incorporated ballet, modern traditions and West African movement vocabulary, the dances sparkled.

For instance, in Camille A. Brown's 2006 work, "New Second Line," a group of dancers nodded to second lines in New Orleans jazz parades, which revel in a celebratory mix of singing and dancing through the streets. The work felt like a party and had a mischievous air to it, with jamming music by Los Hombres Calientes and Kermit Ruffins.

Two former company members of Alonzo King's Lines Ballet — Laurel Keen and Brett Conway — performed "MA," an excerpt from King's "Who Dressed You Like a Foreigner," from 1998, with tabla music by the late Zakir Hussain.

The two dancers began in a pieta pose, with Keen's character appearing as if in grief over a dead or dying body. Soon Conway began to emerge into life as Keen prodded and cajoled his floppy body. Wobbling on his feet, Conway heavily dependent on Keen's weight. There was a Frankenstein element to the work, with an emphasis on grief. The piece perhaps referenced how the AIDS crisis took so many young lives, including Ailey's, in the 1980s and 90s.

Choreographer Yusha-Marie Sorzano's 2024 piece, "This World Anew," brought together a stunning set design by Stephanie Karr Smith and an enveloping score by jazz composer and trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah. The work featured a giant egg made of natural materials hanging from the ceiling, and had trees growing out of it. A nest sat below the egg, acting as a metaphorical place of birth for a trio of dancers. Sorzano's choreography was captivating and, at times, chilling.

Closing out the program, TU Dance's students joined the professional dancers and trainees for Ronald K. Brown's "Four Corners" from 2013. Costumes evoked a past era — with a gray color palette and long skirts — and gestures within the piece recalled labor and farm work. Brown's choreography employed an orchestration of different groups moving independently of one another, some synchronicity and a ritualistic feeling.

The piece had a rousing feeling, and the audience vocally called out to the performers on opening night with enthusiastic approval.

As it marks its 20th anniversary, TU looks to a future that isn't centered around one choreographer, but rather expresses a vision rooted in the legacy of Black American dance. The performance at the O'Shaughnessy indicated this path forward has a luminous future.