this is "nightline." >> tonight, "me to's" house of cards moment. >> i know what you want. you want me back. >> kevin spacey's cryptic video and how new audio revealing a possible defense against charges he sexually assaulted a young man. >> shame on you for what you did to my son. >> and "me too" movie ing forwa. revelations, reckoning, repercussi repercussions. an american dance troupe triumph. a cultural movement breaking barriers on the global stage. >> to understand the dance you have to understand what was happening politically, economically, socially. >> all the right moves at 60. but first the "nightline 5."

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♪ ♪ start the car! start the car! the ikea winter sale. wooooooo! save up to 50% off select items in store only december 26th to january 6th. ikea. good evening. thank you for joining us. actor kevin spacey is set to face a judge and sexual assault charges next month. tonight his lawyers are launching legal maneuvers to get him out of that arraignment and avoid a perp walk.

we're learning telltale tapes may be key in the case. juju chang on the spacey case and what it might signal for the "me too" movement. >> i know what you want. you want me back. >> reporter: kevin spacey closing out 2018 in dramatic, if not bizarre, fashion. >> oh, sure, they may have tried to separate us. but what we have is too strong, it's too powerful. >> reporter: after nearly a year of silence following accusations of sexual misconduct, spacey putting himself center stage on social media in a video entitled "let me be frank." >> you're just trying to have me declare everything i said was true and i got what i deserved. >> reporter: the actor appearing to channel his famous character from "house of cards," frank underwood. netflix says it had nothing to do with the video which spacey released on christmas eve, racking up millions of views. >> i'm certainly not going to pay the price for the things i didn't do. >> reporter: the video appeared

the same day a massachusetts court issued criminal charges against him for allegedly sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man back in 2016. >> here's the interesting thing to note about this case. clearly the state feels they have enough evidence to proceed. just because they feel that they have enough to issue and file a criminal complaint doesn't necessarily mean that kevin spacey will be found guilty. >> reporter: a two-time oscar winner, golden globe winner, multiple emmy nominee, spacey occupied rarefied air in the hierarchy of who's who in hollywood. known as an actor's actor. not much was public about his private life. >> his discussions were traditionally about the work and nothing else. he was a guy who would take his mother to the academy awards. he didn't add to understanding of his personal life by design, clearly. >> reporter: it started to crumble in the fall of 2017 with multiple accusations of si s o

misconduct. by november the accusations surfaced. the accuser's mother speaking out in a tearful press conference last year. >> shame on you for what you did to my son. >> reporter: but now in new audio recordings, abc news obtained from a hearing last week, spacey's lawyers pressed weaknesses about the allegations. >> you ask [ bleep ] did he walk away, correct? >> correct. >> you indicated he did not walk away? >> that's correct. >> the audio was a recording of spacey's defense attorneys outlining some of their strategy for how they plan to defend him. >> reporter: the accuser alleges the actor bought him multiple drinks at the bar. spacey's defense attorney is heard pointing out what he says are inconsistencies in the alleged victim's story, such as the clothing he wore, and even lying about his age. >> he indicated that he was 23 years old, correct? >> that's correct. >> was that a correct or incorrect or false statement? >> that was an incorrect statement. >> reporter: questions about a snapchat video which the accuser claims captures spacey groping

him. >> the video shows is a person's hand make contact with the shirt, correct? >> yes. >> okay. not any body part? >> correct, you don't see any body parts. >> the video is very brief, it's only about a second long. and the defense attorneys described it as showing someone's hand touching a person's shirt, not touching them in any way which was inappropriate. >> it really doesn't matter whether or not he's found guilty or not guilty. the really important thing is that he's being forced to answer for something. and i think that this is just the beginning of a new chapter in the "me too" movement. >> you are -- >> reporter: it's been a year of reckoning and division. the "me too" movement at the heart of a bitter national flash point. 2018 began with solidarity among hollywood's biggest stars. wearing black at the golden globes. a fashion statement protesting the power structure that

allegedly allowed sexual misconduct to fester for decades. the poster child for that system, harvey weinstein. the movie mogul handcuffed and humiliated in may. >> mr. weinstein has vehemently denied any of the allegations which suggest he engaged in nonconsensual sexual activity. >> reporter: back in january, i sat down with one of weinstein's first accusers, rose mcgowan. >> i thought he was a wart hog from hell. i thought he was terrifying looking. >> reporter: as a result of investigations by "the new york times" and "the new yorker," including accounts from mcgowan, weinstein lost his studio and his status within hollywood. >> what does justice look like to you? >> bars. this man should be behind bars. for the rest of his life. >> reporter: while the criminal case against weinstein continues, elsewhere some women are seeing justice served after decades. bill cosby, once beloved as

america's dad, now disgraced. >> icon bill cosby is now a convicted sex offender. >> reporter: his sentence, three to ten years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting andrea constand in 2004. it was a resounding victory for the more than 60 women who lege of sexual misconduct. >> today this jury has shown that women are worthy of being believed. >> reporter: dr. larry nassar is also finally paying a price. his sentence, 40 to 175 years in prison. after the former doctor for team usa gymnastics and michigan state pled guilty to sexually assaulting young gymnasts over several decades, more than 200 athletes in all. >> may you never hurt or abuse another person again. >> you are pure evil. >> i can't even putch i [ bleep. >> reporter: among them members of the fierce five, including simone biles, aly raisman, gabby

douglas, mckayla maroney. >> we may suffer survive together. >> reporter: at the espys this year, raisman led a group of more than 100 athletes who say they suffered under the care of nassar as the group received the arthur ashe courage award. >> all we needed was one adult to have the integrity to stand between us and larry nassar. >> reporter: institutions also being held accountable. usa gymnastics recently filed for bankruptcy. michigan state paid $500 million to settle lawsuits brought by the victims. >> you wouldn't believe the worst without evidence, would you? >> reporter: for spacey the next step will likely be into a massachusetts courtroom, facing charges of sexual assault, including one felony. we still haven't heard directly from spacey or his lawyers. so far more than 30 people have accused the actor of sexual misconduct, and he faces

additional investigations in los angeles and london. >> i would put kevin's case in the category of the harvey weinstein is, the bill cosbys. kind of the worst of the worst. and the hardest to ever recover from. >> our thanks to juju. next, 60 years of an american original dancing on the cutting edge.

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60 years ago, a historic journey started with a single step. today dance lives on as a new generation takes center stage. here's abc's zachary kiesch. >> reporter: with performances that blend both joy and pain, the alvin ailey american dance theater has become a cultural institution. over the years performing for a diverse audience of more than 25 million people around the globe. in an escapist culture, the ailey company makes you think and feel. with work often inspired by race in american society, sometimes it's heavy. and then as if knowing litsit lifts you up again.

in 1958, dancer and choreographer alvin ailey created a home for dancers to explore identity and self-expression through their art. that legacy continues to this day as america continues to confront its own history with racial violence. >> you go, aahhh. that propels you out of your body. >> reporter: hip-hop choreographer rennie was commissioned for the ballet "lazarus" which celebrates the company's 60th anniversary. it's raw and unapologetic, a reflection of the african-american experience in ailey's life. >> he said, my work is about blood memories. i thought, man, that's crazy. how do you address these complex issues like racial inequality through dance? >> my attempt was to be subtle. to sort of present these sort of sounds and movement that would make you think of a certain time or a moment.

>> water scene for the protest. everybody was at the same level like this. so we lost all shape. >> i thought it was interesting to really delve into the idea of his life as it related to all black and brown folk. then later realizing like, oh, this is not all black and brown folk, this is all folk, all humans, right? >> reporter: at times you see hands clasped as if praying. then for a moment dancers crawl on hands and knees, a reference to the great migration. heads hang as if lynched. then there are scenes that reflect riots. then bloom into vibrant moves, perhaps suggesting the unbreakable spirit within. >> to understand the dance you have to understand what was happening politically, economically, socially. because movement is the last manifestation of your reality. it's what you do that confirms who you are.n

upuelineri energy exists here t special. >> it's really magical. i feel mr. ailey cultivated a community that's so hopeful and diverse and inclusive. that's something that people love and that's something that people celebrate. >> what does it mean to be a black woman and be empowered to live that truth on the stage? >> mr. ailey had a special place in his heart for black women. to be able to be a black woman and share that story with every audience that we encounter around the world so i can show my strength and i can show my beauty and i can show that i am not to be put in a box and i'm not to be labeled. so empowering. >> our audiences expect excellence. that's what we deliver. >> reporter: robert battle is the company's artistic director. >> alvin ailey started this company at a time of dco >> reporter: one of the

company's signature pieces, "revelations," created in 1960 by ailey during the height of the civil rights movement. >> when he created "revelations" in 1960, his masterpiece that's the sweetest spiritual is expressing experiences of african-americans in this country and how we overcame a lot of the atrocities of hate through faith, which turned out to be a universal message of hope. ♪ >> this program belongs to alvin ailey. >> reporter: mr. ailey used his talents and intention to create opportunities for dancers and promote arts and education. >> we're moving toward becoming, i hope, an institution that our younger people have to know where they've been in this country in order to know where they're going. ♪ >> reporter: some of those truths shine through in pieces like "rainbow round my shoulder." >> it's a ballet about seven guys on a chain gang. ♪ >> reporter: ailey choreographed his signature solo "cry."

as a birthday present for his mother. >> it was just a little tribute to the tenacity and the strength and the beauty and the poetry and the power of black women. >> reporter: in 1989, at just 58 years old, ailey died of aids. but nearly three decades later, he's still revered by the black community and beyond. if you spend enough time at the company, you're bound to meet veteran jamar roberts. >> word on the street is you're the old man around here, man. >> i'm one of the older men, yes. there's some older ones. but i got a couple grays. ♪ >> reporter: blending size and grace, robert's style has been described as poetry in motion. >> i do this until 11:00 at the latest.

>> tug. >> it gives me an hour to kind of be myself, feel out the space. ♪ >> reporter: jamar plays a prominent role in "lazarus." >> i want to know about "lazarus." a big deal, a big project. one of those things where you sit in it and you sit in it and you let it take you all the way through to the end. sometimes it's -- sometimes it's good, sometimes it's really intense. most of the time it's intense because of the subject matter, because of what it deals with. ♪ i'm a black man in a white world ♪ >> dance is storytelling,storyt. in this work there's a lot being communicated. >> reporter: it's in these times a new generation of dancers bring their own stories and the

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on our last "nightline" of the year we thank the journalists who make this broadcast possible. thanks for the company, america. happy new year. ♪ ♪