Ailey gets boisterous at the corner diner

The sense of abject isolation in an Edward Hopper painting would seem to have little in common with the joy and camaraderie expressed by the buoyant dancers who populate “Reminiscin’,” Judith Jamison’s most recent choreography. Given its West Coast premiere Thursday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, this 2005 work was inspired by Hopper’s famed diner painting, “Nighthawks,” plus a host of female jazz artists.

Without the bravura performances it received from Jamison’s charges, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, “Reminiscin’ ” would not pack the emotional wallop necessary for instant classic status -- unlike, say, Paul Taylor’s 1991 “Company B.” No matter, though. The moments of heart, personality and longing it has help cut the sentimentality in its muscular strut down memory lane.

Performed on a sleek set by Michael Fagin and bookended by two versions of “Love Me or Leave Me,” by Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone, the 34-minute piece -- more barroom revel than malt shop reverie -- featured Clifton Brown in two potent duets. The first, with Hope Boykin, set to Diana Krall’s burnished rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” portrays obsessive, melancholic need, as the couple play out a mini-drama made up of passionate lifts, turns and a gasp-inducing gambit in which she runs to him and lands on his thighs, sticking like Super Glue.

The other pas de deux, which paired Brown with Kirven J. Boyd, is gloriously edgy male bonding. Smooth as Hermes silk, with Roberta Flack crooning “Always” in the background, this erotically charged matchup bleeds into a group finale, as the other nine dancers bound onstage in head-shaking, shoulder-shimmying, leg-lifting mode. Also notable Thursday: veteran Renee Robinson, ebullient alone and with an equally adrenaline-oozing Matthew Rushing.

David Parsons’ 2004 “Shining Star,” another suite of dances set to a song medley -- in this case, by Earth, Wind & Fire -- proved hollow, its “Saturday Night Fever”-like appeal working best in a smoldering duet between Linda Celeste Sims and husband Glenn Allen Sims. Completing the program was “Revelations,” still awesome after 46 years. By the coda, the near-capacity audience was on its feet.

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 2 and 7:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday

Price: $25 to $95

Contact: (213) 972-0711, (213) 365-3500 or www.ticketmaster.com