Exquisite Magic: Alonzo King Lines Ballet

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts is a majestic venue that is committed to supporting artistic innovation and bringing new works, world premieres, and bold collaborations to life. On Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 8p.m. Alonzo King LINES Ballet was presented in concert.

For more than four decades Alonzo King and his San Francisco-based ballet company has toured the world presenting unique performances, the result of innovative collaborations with noted composers, musicians, and visual artists. LINES is a company that is clearly visceral in the way they approach movement. This Alonzo King quote from the program sums it up, “When a ballet is done by other dancers, it still holds up as beautiful. But when you have artists who are able to read your every gesture and absorb your consciousness, it is a completely different message.” From the moment each dancer stepped on stage they took my breath away. Their tremendous technical prowess and musicality communicate in a way that is transformative. Their movements are deeply connected to their hearts. Mr. King’s choreography provides the arteries and veins that enable the movements to brilliantly shine.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Adji Cissoko in Alonzo King’s “The Collective Agreement” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Molly O’Keeffe, Luque Photography.

The program opened with Collective Agreement, music composed by pianist Jason Moran, recording by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, lighting design by James F. Ingalls, grid lighting design by Jim Campbell and costume design by Robert Rosenwasser, co-founder and creative director. I don’t ordinarily cite the entire team but the manner in which all these elements worked together could not be ignored. The music sounded as if the pianist was playing somewhere on the stage or in the pit. It was clear, expressive, ethereal and filled with emotion perfectly complementing the movement. I had the opportunity to ask Mr. King, “Which came first, the music or the movement?” His response was quick, “the music”. I was shocked because I envisioned Alonzo and Jason Moran creating music and movement together. Looking at the photo of Mr. Moran in the program, he appears to be looking directly at the reader with a mischievous grin. As I read about his 18-year relationship with Blue Note culminating in the production of 9 “highly acclaimed recordings” and the simple fact that he is an artist creating with a trio for the last 25 years, it no longer seems so far-fetched that the music came first. I’m sure the two artists communicated their vision for the piece in other ways. The lighting and costumes wrapped around the music, choreography, and dancers, to further enhance the message of coming together and wholeness.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Adji Cissoko and Company in Alonzo King’s “The Collective Agreement” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Molly O’Keeffe, Luque Photography.

The piece opens in silence and dramatic lighting that accentuates the long limbs of Shuaib Elhassan. It becomes a stunning pas de deux with the addition of Adji Cissoko. These two artists effortlessly move across the stage with a soft strength and ethereal quality that is exquisite. Their feet and hands reach and caress one another, the floor, and the entire space. The costumes, diaphanous muted colors, appear to be draped over the bodies and contribute to the otherworldly mood of the piece. As the music begins, the movement and music merge into one. The piece evolves with seamless transitions into a pas de trois, pas de six, entire company, a solo, and the entire company. The music changes, the lighting changes but the changes have a melting quality and compliment the transitions. The men’s section is remarkably dynamic and reminiscent of hieroglyphs brought to life. It is amazing to see their fluid, expressive torsos morph into the angular shapes of Egypt. The dancers, each one an exceptional artist, are nuanced individuals reaching away and towards one another, interdependent, from parts to whole, filling the entire stage as the lighting panels lower and rise, tilt, move, and enhance the story being told on the stage. The end came too soon, and I found myself wanting intermission to quickly end so Ode to Alice Coltrane could begin.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Theo Duff-Grant and company in Alonzo King’s “The Collective Agreement” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Molly O’Keeffe, Luque Photography.

According to the program notes Alonzo King joined the 2024-2025 “Year of Alice” celebration at the behest of two of Alice and John Coltrane’s children. Their idea was programming featuring concerts, listening parties, a museum exhibit, educational outreach, a dance collaboration and other activities to be presented from Long Island to Brooklyn to Detroit and to California designed to highlight their mother’s legacy which, in their opinion, lagged behind that of their well-known father, tenor saxophonist, John Coltrane. Alonzo King had been drawn to Coltrane’s work “for much of his life” due to the “marrying of east and west in her music, teachings, and life,” something that resonates in King’s own work. He goes on to say, “I’ve been mesmerized by the transcendental music of the incredible Alice Coltrane since I was a child.”

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – (L-R) Theo Duff-Grant and Shuaib Elhassan in Alonzo King’s “Ode to Alice Coltrane” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Luis Luque, Luque Photography.

Lighting design (Seah Johnson), Costume Design (Robert Rosenwasser), and Prelude Music (Phillip Perkins) are integral to the compositions of Alice Coltrane and Alonzo King. It is in this production you immediately feel the “deeply rooted affinities between Western and Eastern classical form”… that is referred to in the About Alonzo King LINES Ballet program notes. The stage and lighting are stark, and the dancers are striking against a simple, black scrim from time to time. They enter moving in perfect unison with a quality reminiscent of cats. They are crawling but the manner in which they pick up their hands and place them on the floor is like a feline. Their hands seem to be moving through their fingers like a ballerina would move through a flat foot to demi-pointe to relevé back to demi-pointe and finally back to flat. It is almost hypnotic as they move across the stage and then begin a very interesting movement phrase on the floor rolling over, sitting up, stretching out all in perfect unison. The costumes are again sheer but this time they seem to have a glimmering, shimmering, gossamer quality to them that the lighting picks up. They twinkle like stars. Several of the men have long black skirts on and it is interesting to see how this change in costume impacts the movement quality. Solos, trios, duets, large groups, small groups, whirling, twirling, and suddenly stepping into a textbook perfect arabesque. They are in total command of their bodies. It is here that you see truly contemporary ballet at its best. This company epitomizes the definition I like best, “Contemporary ballet and dance can be thought of as a broad term, used to describe dance works freed from the standard conventions of classical ballet.” (taken from Guide to Contemporary Ballet and Dance – rbo.org.uk). Mr. King has assembled a team of artists who are always in control of their ballet and modern technique. They can demonstrate a perfectly turned out demi pointe one minute and a deep turned in plie in the next minute. They can turn in a textbook attitude with a lyrical quality one second and suddenly the movement phrase can become a series of never-ending staccato arms and hands, flexed feet, all moving at breakneck speed. There are those moments in the dance where they seem to just be walking from one place to another on the stage and it is in those moments you see the individuality and the way that a simple walk becomes a dance and makes a statement. The movement is totally unpredictable with jumps, steps, and turns connected in idiosyncratic, unique ways. The power of Alice Coltrane’s music and the choreography of Alonzo King merge to touch the spirit in a profound way.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Marusya Madubuko performs in Alonzo King’s “Ode to Alice Coltrane” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Molly O’Keeffe, Luque Photography.

Mr. King has assembled a formidable group of unique artists from around the world. Maël Amatoul, Adji Cissoko (Associate Artistic Director), Theo Duff-Grant, Lorris Eichinger, Shuaib Elhassan, Joshua Francique, Mikal Gilbert, Anna Joy, and Marusya Madubuko, Amanda Smith, and Tatum Quiñónez make up Alonzo King LINES Ballet. They hale from places such as The French Riviera, Germany, British Columbia, Grenoble, Chicago, New York, Virginia, Arizona, and California. Their training and performing experiences are varied and include, but is not limited to, SUNY Purchase, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Dutch National Ballet, School of American Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and the Washington School of Ballet. These artists with their bodies, continually create straight and curved lines that communicate meaning. It is my opinion that the diverse training, dance experience, and homes all contribute to the truly fascinating work they create on the stage. Alonzo King never stops embracing creative exploration that is born of the human spirit. LINES ballet is exquisite magic in motion.

LINES Ballet + Esperanza Spalding will present a world premiere collaboration uniting Grammy Award-winning bassist, vocalist, and composer Esperanza Spalding and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet , April 11–19, 2026 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Spalding will perform live with LINES Ballet at all performances. This is a company you do not want to miss!

*Includes post-performance Q&A with Alonzo King.

For more information about the Alonzo King LINES Ballet, please visit their website.

To see what is playing at The Soraya, please visit their website.

Written by Leah Bass-Baylis for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Adji Cissoko & Shuaib Elhassan in Alonzo King’s “The Collective Agreement” performed at The Soraya on Feb. 21, 2026 – Luis Luque, Luque Photography.