Ailey Women Find Bond in `Love'.

IN THE ALVIN AILEY COMPANY, with its rich legacy of strong women, Carmen de Lavallade and Renee Robinson by any measure are standouts. Now de Lavallade, 69, a member of the original company, has created a work that will showcase Robinson, who joined the troupe in 1981.

Sweet Bitter Love, expanded from a 1985 solo de Lavallade created for herself, is now a duet--a sensual exploration of a love affair gone sour that features Robinson and Glenn A. Sims. Set to ballads by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, the work premieres during the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's City Center season, November 29 to December 31. Other highlights of the season are world premieres by Alonzo King and former company member Dwight Rhoden.

"It's a little one-act play. It's a story about a love affair. I thought about the old movie Brief Encounter, where two people, a couple, are attached to other people," de Lavallade says, referring to the 1946 British film starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, remade in 1974 with Sophia Loren and Richard Burton. "They're very nice people, but they have to break it up and it's very hard to do those things. The solo was from the woman's viewpoint--her hurt and anger. By adding the other person, it tells the story from both viewpoints."

Alvin Ailey first saw de Lavallade dance when they were classmates at Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. In 1947, he followed her to class at Lester Horton's Hollywood studio, and, Jennifer Dunning wrote in her biography, Alvin Ailey, A Life in Dance, watched for six months before getting up the nerve to actually take class. At Horton, de Lavallade thrilled Ailey with her artistry as well as her gifts as a teacher, particularly when she, along with James Truitte and Ailey, became part of the core group that made it possible for Lester Horton's company and technique to continue following his sudden death in 1953. Her performances, from Horton's company to Ailey's (where she was an original member) and continuing as a freelance dancer and actress today, have inspired several generations of dancers.

De Lavallade, who, like Ailey, danced in the movie Carmen Jones and on Broadway in House of Flowers, toured the Far East with Ailey. She appeared as a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and as a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre and seems the person for whom the words "living legend" were invented.

In Robinson, de Lavallade says she sees a dancer whose "maturity and inner involvement with whatever she is performing" connect with her own sense of artistry. "I like her care of detail in her work and how she combines the physical with the internal workings of a piece," says de Lavallade of Robinson. "She is never satisfied and keeps searching so her performances get richer and richer."

Robinson, early in her career, was lauded as one of the Ailey company's technical powerhouses whose sophisticated style and physical beauty matched her beautiful line, honed through years of training at the Jones-Haywood School in her native Washington, D.C. In recent years, she's taken on a new mantle, that of the soulful earth mother. Today, the technique is married with a sense of maturity in a variety of roles--from the proud woman of Ailey's Cry to the powerful high priestess of Ron K. Brown's premiere from last season, Grace.

Now marking her eighteenth season with the Ailey company, Robinson is revered within company circles as a mentor. Her presence onstage and off has been a motivational force for newer members of the company.

De Lavallade's new work in the City Center season is an occasion of special significance for the Ailey family. She is dance royalty--a cousin of the legendary Janet Collins (the first black prima ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet) and the wife of actor/director/choreographer/designer Geoffrey Holder.

Ailey often described de Lavallade as his muse. Her presence was a vital part of the Ailey company during its early days. The company even toured under the name De Lavallade/Ailey Company when traveling in Southeast Asia in the early '60s. "I still place her on a pedestal and admire her greatly," says Judith Jamison, Ailey superstar-turned-artistic director. "I have so much respect for what she's done as a dancer and in theater. Quietly and elegantly, she has made a statement about how exciting and special dance can be." Indeed, de Lavallade continues to perform as a dance soloist and in the theater. (She was a lead actress at Yale Repertory Theater for many years.) Most recently she starred in Debbie Allen's musical Soul Possessed, staged last year in Washington, D.C., and earlier this fall in Atlanta, Georgia. She also appears occasionally as part of Paradigm, a new trio of older dancers with Dance Magazine contributor Gus Solomons jr and Dudley Williams, who has performed with the Ailey company since 1964. In 1966, de Lavallade won the Dance Magazine Award for the sensual and soulful beauty of her dancing. Her continued artistry in dance was recognized this year with a New York Dance and Performance Award, or Bessie.

"You have to grow into your art, and I feel like I'm still growing into mine," she says. "Age is only a number. There's no difference in age when it comes to art. It's just that every age has a different story to tell. I still have lots of stories to tell."

De Lavallade performed Sweet Bitter Love as a solo for many years. She decided to expand it after Jamison asked her to create a work for the Ailey company. "It was ridiculous that she hadn't done one for us," Jamison said. "She hasn't received enough attention as a choreographer." De Lavallade had created a few group works, including one for Dance Theatre of Harlem, but most have been solos for herself. "I work from an emotional point of view, not so much from the dance steps per se. I like what's underneath," she says. "So it's been interesting to me to see the different viewpoints the dancers bring out."

For the Ailey dancers, any appearance--in the studio, backstage or in the audience--by de Lavallade is a special occasion. "When she comes in," Robinson says, "the whispers rumble through the company: `Carmen's here, she's here.' She came in to watch us last season when her husband [Holder] set Prodigal Prince. We were excited; he was excited. There's this elation because of the person she is, the history she holds with the company and her tremendously giving spirit."

Robinson says she was thrilled to be chosen for de Lavallade's ballet. Experiences like these, she said, are precious gifts to be savored. Since she joined the company, after two years with the junior company, Robinson has been tapped for many important parts--from signature roles in Ailey classics like Cry and Revelations to leads in dozens of other works in the repertoire. Robinson's philosophy: Enjoy and learn from each moment.

"There have been many times in the company when wonderful things have happened for me, where I've had the opportunity to work with many wonderful people--Mr. Ailey, Ms. Jamison, Ms. [Mary] Barnett, so many people," she says. "But I don't think I've ever felt like `OK, this is it. I have arrived.' I'm always searching to learn more."

De Lavallade says she selected Robinson for Sweet Bitter Love because of the dancer's gift for seeking out deeper layers in whatever she's dancing. "She's one of those people who, when you give her something, it grows and grows and grows," de Lavallade says. "Each time she comes back to rehearsal, something else is there. The steps are there, but there's something underneath. There's a person under there. It's not just dancing."

Robinson says exploring new levels in even the most familiar ballets is the challenge she enjoys most now.

Growth, she says, is synonymous with learning. Robinson's love of learning has extended to her studies at New York University (where she majored in dance for a year with eventual plans to become a lawyer) and led her to learn to sketch, teach herself French, study Gyrotonics and Pilates and become a certified personal trainer. "Renee is an exquisite artist," Jamison says. "It has been a blessing to have her in the company for so many years, to share her gifts." Behind the scenes in the Ailey company, Robinson is known as the person to go to for guidance and support. In an interview with Dance Magazine last year, fellow company member Matthew Rushing said he felt God had sent Robinson to help him as a dancer and as a person. "If my dancing's changed for the better, I owe it to Renee," he says.

Robinson says it's a role she's evolved into as she learned more about herself. Among the lessons: the power of humor (she laughs a lot) and the importance of appreciating your own gifts and accepting your limitations. "I'm interested in helping dancers realize they have everything they need in their bodies and helping them see all their greatness," she says.

For both Robinson and de Lavallade it's all about spirit. Robinson says the spiritual aspect is what will keep her dancing for the foreseeable future. De Lavallade, reminiscing about the ageless performances of dancers she has known, says, "The lesson they taught was that your performance, your art, has to do with the spirit. If the spirit is there, it will come through no matter what your age is."

Karyn D. Collins is dance critic and entertainment writer for the Asbury Park Press and Gannett-NJ in Neptune, New Jersey.