Alvin Ailey season at City Center.

NEW YORK CITY--Anniversaries, premieres, revivals, and an infusion of new company members will all be on view when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to City Center in New York City for a four-week run, from December 7 to January 1. The troupe's artistic director, Judith Jamison, whose fifth anniversary at the helm will be marked with a gala December 13, has commissioned new works from Elisa Monte and Brenda Way, making this Ailey's "year of the woman," as she half-jokingly telLs it.

Monte, whose Treading remains a mainstay of the Ailey reperloire ("we continually perform it to standing ovations," Jamison reports), and who created Pigs and Fishes for the company in 1982, was planning a work for fifteen dancers at press time. "It will be exciting for this group of dancers to work with her; there's a generation that is quite young and eager," Jamison remarks.

Way, a veteran choreographer and a founder of ODC/San Francisco, has also made works for San Francisco Ballet and Oakland Ballet. "I was very impressed not only by her choreography, but by the commitment of her dancers," notes Jamison, who first met Way at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Lee, Massachusetts. "I found her choreography to have an underlying grit to it, along with a sense of humor and a tongue-in-cheek sensibility."

Jamison's enthusiasm comes through clearly when she mentions the upcoming revival of Carmina Burana, created in 1959 by the late John Butler and absent from the Ailey repertoire since 1973. She had discussed the revival with Butler before his death, and has fond memories of performing the ballet. "It's an important work, and John felt we could do it," she says. "He was a great supporter of the company and a great mentor of mine."

Also returning to the repertoire is Ulysses Dove's 1986 Vespers, a powerful showcase for the company's dynamic women, and the complete four-movement Night Creature (1975) by Ailey. There will be ten performances of Hymn, Jamison's 1993 collaboration with Anna Deavere Smith, who will be on hand to perform the text of this tribute to Ailey's influence and legacy.

The opening-night gala will feature the new production of Carmina Burana, with a live performance of the Carl Orff score that will feature soprano Harolyn Blackwell, baritone Donnie Ray Albert, and tenor Gregory Hopkins. Ailey's Revelations will complete the opening-night program. Another festive evening will take place December 20, when the company will celebrate Dudley Williams's thirtieth anniversary as an Ailey dancer. There will be tributes to this distinctive performer along with a chance to see him in some of his signature roles.

Jamison, who has barely had time to catch her breath since returning from one of the company's international tours, also mentions upcoming television productions of Vespers and of Hymn.

The Ailey company has experienced an influx of new dancers since its last New York season: Richard Witter (formerly with Dance Theatre of Harlem); Mucuy Bolles (who has danced with Feld Ballets/NY and Elisa Monte); Evan Williams (formerly with Birmingham Royal Ballet); Lisa Johnson (who has been a member of Capitol Ballet and Donald Byrd's troupe); and Solange Sandy and Guillermo Asca, who have moved into the main company from the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble. Don Bellamy and Linda-Denise Evans have returned to the Ailey company.