Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
  at The Auditorium
​ Chicago’s landmark stage at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive    

   The passionate spirit and extraordinary technique of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will be on full display in two programs  Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, featuring Chicago premieres alongside compelling new productions and beloved Ailey Classics including Alvin Ailey’s must-see signature masterpiece Revelations.
    The opening night program:
·         Grace (1999, Chicago Premiere of 25th anniversary production) Set to Duke Ellington's classic "Come Sunday," Peven Everett’s hit "Gabriel," and the irresistible pulse of Fela Kuti's Afro-Pop, Ronald K. Brown’s spellbinding work depicts individuals on a journey to the promised land, expanding from a single angel-like figure in white to the fireball intensity of 12 powerful dancers.
·         Finding Free (2024, Chicago Premiere) by former Company member Hope Boykin who returns to explore personal freedoms in this collaboration with pianist Matthew Whitaker who is composing an original score. This insightful work uses Boykin’s movement-language and Whitaker’s jazz- and gospel-influenced music to examine the challenges and restrictions throughout life’s peaks and valleys that propel the journey forward

       Cry excerpt (1971) Alvin Ailey choreographed the solo ballet, Cry, as a birthday present for his mother; it went on to become an enduring work of American art. First danced by the legendary Judith Jamison, an excerpt of this powerful work dedicated to "all black women everywhere - especially our mothers" will be performed on the opening night program (Friday, March 7) as a tribute to Ms. Judith Jamison, the beloved Company dancer and Artistic Director Emerita who passed away in late 2024.
    Culminating each program will be Alvin Ailey’s must-see American masterpiece Revelations (1960), an intimate reflection of Mr. Ailey’s childhood memories of growing up in the South and attending services at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Texas; paying homage to the rich cultural heritage of the African American community and exploring the emotional spectrum of the human condition. 
   This program will be repeated Sunday, March 9, at 3pm.
    A second program featuring Sacred Songs (2024, Chicago Premiere) by Matthew Rushing, Treading (1979, Chicago Premiere of new production) by Elisa Monte, Many Angels (2024, Chicago Premiere) by Lar Lubovitch,  and Revelations will be performed on Saturday, March 8, at 1 and 7:30pm. Limited press tickets are available for those performances as well.