FULL CIRCLE FOR ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER.

Byline: Vicki Smith Paluch Correspondent

In the beginning, there was the word. Choreographer Robert Battle first thought of the title of his newest work, ``Juba,'' and then the movement flowed.

``I was thinking about the word 'jubilation' in relationship to Alvin Ailey. Jubilation sounds like ``Revelations'' (Ailey's masterpiece). Then I shortened the word to 'Juba,' Battle said of his edgy and ritualistic new work. The 31-year-old choreographer checked the dictionary and found that 'juba' refers to a group dance done by African slaves on plantations in the South during the 1700s, which involved complex rhythmic clapping and foot stomping.

Battle, a Juilliard-trained dancer who performed with the David Parsons Company, notes that he has been labeled as ``angry, angry, angry'' because his dances are ritualistic, dancers beat their legs with clenched fists, and they stomp. ``In a tribal way, you stomp your feet to get it out and release the spirit. You reach that higher place while your foot is on the ground,''he said. ``Juba was the slaves' way of revolting against not being allowed to have their drums,'' Battle noted. ``There is a type of joy that comes out of struggle and pain. It's a great metaphor for the Ailey company.''

Celebrating its 45th anniversary, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Wednesday for a four-day engagement as part of the Music Center's inaugural dance season. The company will present the West Coast premieres of ``Juba'' and of Alonzo King's ``Heart Song,'' along with ``Treading'' by Elisa Monte, ``Rainbow Round My Shoulder'' by Donald McKayle, ``Hymn'' by Judith Jamison and ``Revelations.'' The company will present three programs, including one of Ailey classics.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has earned a reputation as one of the finest and most eclectic dance companies, requiring its performers to move with ease from modern to ballet and from jazz to West African dance styles. Unlike most other modern dance companies, Ailey's purpose was not to create a repository for his own works but to establish a multiracial repertory company, hence, calling his company ``American Dance Theater.''

The company has been led by Ailey's former muse, Judith Jamison, since Ailey's death in 1989. The company will celebrate his legacy with Jamison's ``Hymn,'' her 1993 tribute to Ailey's genius and humanity in a dance work that ranges from quiet solos to explosive company dances.

Jamison conceived ``Hymn'' as a dialogue among herself, the dancers and Ailey, and enlisted playwright Anna Deavere Smith to develop a libretto based on interviews with the dancers. This season, a new generation of dancers will interpret ``Hymn.'' Another new work to be presented is Alonzo King's ``Heart Song.''

``Everybody has a heart song, but it is usually obscured by the brutality of daily life. It's that pining, that melancholy that comes from being incomplete,'' King said. ``The missing thing is spirit.'' For his dance, King turned to musicians Bouchaib Abdelhadi, Yassir Chadly and Hafida Ghanim, who created the Moroccan music and songs. ``I asked them to get the earliest music that they knew. So, they went back to the Arabic music, things that their great-great-grandmothers sang, the lullabies,'' said King, who is the founder of the San Francisco-based dance company LINES. ``I didn't want fusion; I didn't want anything heavy. I wanted it as simple as possible and as heartfelt as possible.''

Donald McKayle's ``Rainbow Round My Shoulder'' was developed in the 1950s when McKayle, who is now at the University of California, Irvine, Dance Department, first met Leon Bibb. They did an improvisation linked together in chains, smashing rocks together. The improvisation grew into McKayle's masterpiece, which was performed first by Ailey in 1972 and features eight dancers depicting life on a chain gang. The one female dancer represents their memories of happiness, love and freedom.

Monte's duet ``Treading'' was performed last year by the company during its Orange County engagement. Monte's own company performed it last year at the Alex Theatre as part of the ``Split: In and Out of Los Angeles'' dance series.

Alvin Ailey was only 29 years old when he created ``Revelations'' in 1960. Inspired by his memories of a Baptist service in Texas when he was a child, Ailey used the gospel music to create a dance that audiences could understand and connect with.

Bringing real life to his dances, Ailey required his dancers to be real. He is quoted as castigating his dancers during rehearsals, ``You're boring everybody to death, dear. You're dancing about dance, not about life. Don't go out there and be a ballerina - reveal yourself. That's what's unique. Show us what you're feeling!''

That's what Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is all about.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. matinee Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets: $25 to $75. [phone]; www.musiccenter.org

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The 45-year-old Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrates its founder by performing his ``Revelations,'' along with ``Juba,'' a new work by Robert Battle inspired by Ailey. The word ``juba'' refers to a complex dance done by 18th-century African slaves.