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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

At the Sony Centre in Toronto on Friday

That Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has stupendous dancers is a given.

That, unfortunately, artistic director Judith Jamison's programming is questionable is becoming another given. The opening night bill of fare certainly left a lot to be desired, and the slick and self-serving film promo that opened the show didn't help.

This season is AAADT's 50th anniversary, but Jamison can't or won't let the company grow up. Ailey (1931-1989) created 79 works but she puts Revelations (1960) on every Toronto performance. One wonders how the legendary choreographer would have like to be regarded as a one-hit wonder.

Granted, Revelations is Ailey's signature. It is a moving chronicle of the black experience that was made more resonant by the civil rights movement swirling around its creation. Set to traditional gospel music, the episodes depict the sorrows of slavery and the joyous fervour of black liberation theology.

Too much of a good thing, however, can make it less desirable. Sadly, Revelations has grown tired because it is done so often. This time the Ailey dancers connected to the heart and soul behind the piece, but I have, on more than one occasion, seen them sleepwalk through it.

A troubling thing is happening in the audience as well. There is clapping at showy dance tricks, for example, the rapid fire turns of the three male dancers in Sinner Man. This negates the power of the theme. These are men in fear of losing salvation, not dance tricksters. One wonders if the audience truly understands Ailey's heartfelt choreography.

The bigger question is, when will the Ailey company be able to function without Revelations? Doesn't Jamison realize that the very name Ailey has such cachet that audiences will buy tickets regardless of the repertoire? Ailey works should certainly be included on the program, but the company should present the choreographer as a man of many creations, not just one.

The strongest work was Robert Battle's Unfold set to diva Leontyne Price singing the famous aria Depuis le jour from Gustave Charpentier's opera Louise. Battle actually goes against the text of the song. Instead of rejoicing in love, he depicts a couple in crisis, and Linda Celeste Sims and Clifton Brown beautifully portrayed their shattered relationship.

Maurice Béjart's Firebird (1970) is one of my favourite contemporary ballet classics. Unfortunately it was a paint-by-numbers performance. Béjart took Stravinsky's iconic music and turned it into a revolutionary theme — a work inspired by the protest upheavals that occurred across Europe in 1968.

His firebird is the leader of a band of Mao-jacketed comrades, but Brown and Jamar Roberts were just body beautifuls as the leader and his revolutionary spirit respectively. Worse still, the eight-member unisex cadre gave them nothing to feed off except technique. In a word, the company rendered a powerful piece boring.

The less said about The Groove to Nobody's Business (2007) by Camille A. Brown, the better. Ray Charles's hits, and a percussive piece by Brandon McCune are the backdrop for diverse people at a subway stop. The usual subjects are there — the businessman with his paper, a drunk, two lovers, the bossy lady and so forth. Brown has given them highly physical choreography that is all show and no substance. They may groove, but they say nothing.