Ronald K. Brown

Created for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1999, Ronald K. Brown’s “Grace” was a revelation. The music might have seemed somewhat miscellaneous: a Duke Ellington spiritual, the chill-out club-dance groove “Gabriel,” Afrobeat by Fela Kuti. But Brown’s supple choreography, mixing African steps with American compositional methods, threaded through it all a connecting line, a credible path to higher ground. What could be more heavenly? How about “Grace” as never before performed—with live accompaniment and a cast that supplements Brown’s excellent company, Evidence, with ringers like the great Ailey dancer Matthew Rushing? And how about pairing that with a new companion piece, “Mercy,” which boasts a score composed and performed by the equally funky and religious-minded Meshell Ndegeocello? Brown is bringing all of that to Bard SummerScape, at Fisher Center, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, July 5-7.