The movements on stage for the December 14, 2025, performance of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham were smooth, sharp and exciting, but perhaps one of the most exciting moves was artistic director Kyle Abraham’s decision to sit in the audience, right near me! It is not every day an acclaimed choreographer chooses to mix and mingle with the audience. Perhaps the Carpenter Performing Arts Center holds a special place in his heart. He and his company are definitely held in high esteem by the Carpenter Center, as expressed by its executive director Megan Kline Crockett, who expressed being brought to tears while viewing a New York performance of “Dearest Home.”
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in Abraham’s “The Getting” – Photo by Moving Media.
“The Getting’” (2014) filled the first half of the night, danced by six artists who performed together and apart with perfection. Abraham’s dancers are diverse in every way: height, color and style, making the collective wonderfully stunning to watch. The piece is set to a reimagining of Max Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite” by jazz artist Robert Glasper and his trio. It is at times hypnotic and lulling yet also startling and disturbing. The images, which are often hard to focus on while also watching the dance, depict Eric Garner’s arrest (which happened in 2014) and other provocative scenes. The mood becomes, rightly so, quite somber. The dancers speak volumes with their bodies.
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in Abraham’s “The Getting” – Photo by Moving Media.
The second half after the intermission opens with an excerpt from “Dearest Home,” danced by Destin Morisset and Keturah Stephen. It is playful, frustrating and agonizing. The two bodies—he taller than she—connect with aplomb, pushing and pulling, lifting and swinging. It is another reflection on life’s many ups and downs, filled with emotion, which once again leaves the viewer lost in thought.
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham – Destin Morisset and Keturah Stephen in Abraham’s “Dearest Home” – Photo by Moving Media.
The performance ends with “In the act of undoing” (2025), choreographed by Jermaine Spivey (who was also in attendance) in collaboration with A.I.M and co-commissioned by the Carpenter Center. More upbeat and angular, the dancers leapt, slid and spun like a thrilling symphony to an original sound composition by Spivey.
The three highlighted works were meditative, thought-provoking and absorbing. Every single dancer was mesmerizing and at the top of their game. What stands out above all were the duets, and specifically, the male duets. The male dancers in A.I.M are absolutely breathtaking, and it was not just my opinion: In conversation with a friend post-performance, she commented on the caliber of the male dancers. When they dance together, it is otherworldly. The duets are riveting, in their strength, their precision, their sensuality.
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in Abraham’s “The Getting” – Photo by Moving Media.
Abraham must know the power of his male duets, as he features them quite often: a superpower, of sorts. Each male dances differently, and the duets change, but the effect is the same: The viewer cannot take their eyes off of the mingling bodies as they travel the stage. Of equal effect are the movement of their faces, which are flush with changing emotion. The total package is genuine joy, for the dance, the feeling and the afterthoughts.
Los Angelenos are lucky that we are able to see A.I.M by Kyle Abraham often. I went to this performance at the urging of my mother and aunt who had seen a performance in April at the Wallis. I have seen them in the past at REDCAT. Crockett explained that students had the opportunity to learn from the company. A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, in whatever incarnation you catch it, is our national treasure.
For more information about A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, please visit their website.
To find out the Carpenter Performing Arts Center’s full season, please visit their website.
Written by Jessica Koslow for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: A.I.M by Kyle Abraham – “In the act of undoing”, choreographed by Jermaine Spivey – Photo by Moving Media.
