Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancers: Marusya Madubuko and Babatunj | © RJ Muna
From Pharaoh Sanders to Zakir Hussain, LINES Ballet’s Artistic Director, Alonzo King, has a history of working with brilliant musicians and composers. This Fall Season, he partners with The John & Alice Coltrane Home and the Coltrane Family to celebrate the legacy of American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, singer, and composer Alice Coltrane.
The company will present a world premiere September 26–29 in San Francisco as part of “The Year of Alice,” a nationwide tribute to Coltrane’s life and work that includes programming by LINES Ballet, Impulse! Records, Detroit Jazz Festival, Hammer Museum, and the New-York Historical Society.
"I've been mesmerized by the music of Alice Coltrane since I was a child," says King. He choreographed his very first work to the music of Coltrane, which premiered at the company's inaugural performance in 1982 at San Francisco State University’s McKenna Theater. “Her transcendent music is a world that I dreamed of and had at last found,” King continues. “Its inspiration is unending.”
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Adji Cissoko | © RJ Muna
Coltrane also inspired other prolific artists, including Carlos Santana and Brandee Younger, a Grammy-nominated composer and harpist. “Her musical and spiritual journey helped define and shape a life and an entire musical genre,” says Younger. Coltrane’s iconic creative works include A Monastic Trio, Universal Consciousness, Ptah, the El Daoud, and Journey In Satchidananda—one of Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums. She also continued creating music after starting her ashram in California—music that would later be released to critical acclaim.
“Alice was ahead of her time,” said her son and Grammy-nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, Ravi Coltrane. “She was one of the first people to move outside the mainstream, and certainly one of the first female, Black, American jazz musicians to record her own music in her own studio, and to release music on her own terms.”
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Maël Amatoul | © RJ Muna
In addition to her musical endeavors, Coltrane was a beloved spiritual leader, emphasizing the importance of charitable giving, education, and spiritual guidance—a focus she and King share.
"If we put one-fourth of the time into trying to understand our spirituality that we put into wanting to grow more wealthy," said Coltrane, "we would find some of the incredible things occurring in our universe that we need to be aware of...”
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancers: Shuaib Elhassan and Adji Cissoko | © RJ Muna
With a like-mind, King emphasizes the importance of regular introspection. “Traditionally art has been a way of life and a key into that inner knowledge which has always existed, which always will exist, and to which we all have access,” says King. “Access to that knowledge comes from a contemplative mind that takes periodic dives of focused introspections and regular breaks from the whirl of life’s daily carnival.”
Gia Kourlas from The New York Times wrote, "The choreographer Alonzo King sees ballet differently...His ballets have a way of sailing through sensations, of calming the nervous system, of realigning the body and mind."
LINES Ballet's upcoming Fall Season, featuring a premiere honoring Alice Coltrane, runs for four nights only, September 26–29, 2024, at YBCA in San Francisco. For tickets, visit cityboxoffice.com/LINES.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | linesballet.org | [email protected] | 415.863.3040
Photography by:
