Venue: Auditorium Theatre Dates: Friday, March 8 - Sunday, March 17, 2013 Times: Times vary, see below Price: $92-$32
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s “sleek, athletic masters of the universe” (The New York Times) return to the Auditorium for an unprecedented 10-performance run with programs that blend their newest and boldest season premieres with the classics you want to see, including the timeless masterpiece Revelations.
Box Office: 50 E. Congress Pkwy. | Phone: 800.982.ARTS (2787) | Groups of 10+ 312.341.2357
Artistic Director Robert Battle chats with Windy City Live and the company performs "Wade in the Water" Click here to watch
Please note that there is NO LATE SEATING for Ailey performances. Anyone arriving late will not be seated until intermission.
Performances: Friday, March 15 at 7:30 pm Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm
Programs
Another Night*, Strange Humors**/Petite Mort**/Revelations Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 pm
From Before**, Pas de Duke/Home/Revelations Friday, March 15 at 7:30 pm
Grace***/Minus 16/Revelations Saturday, March 16 at 8:00 pm
Grace***/From Before**, Pas de Duke/Revelations Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm
* Chicago Premiere ** Company Premiere *** New Produciton
Another Night (Chicago Premiere): Choreographed by Kyle Abraham Although Another Night marks his first work for the main Company, Abraham first lent his creative voice to the Ailey organization in 2010 with The Corner, an acclaimed work commissioned by Ailey II that depicts urban social interactions through the use of contemporary and post-modern movement
From Before(Company Premiere): Choreographed by Garth Fagan Mr. Fagan said of his work: “From Before was looking back at my origins in the West Indies and seeing how I could take away all the trimmings and the costumes of African or Caribbean dance and strip it right down to the bare bones.” He attributed its popularity with audiences all across the world to “the fluidity of Caribbean dance, the polyrhythms of African, the precision of ballet and the strength and weight of modern dance.”
Grace (New Production): Choreographed by Ronald K. Brown One of the most popular works in the Ailey repertory, Ronald K. Brown’s spellbinding Grace is a fervent tour-de-force depicting individuals on a journey to the promised land. Described by The New York Times as “astounding, something to be sensed as well as seen,” this spiritually-charged work is a rapturous blend of modern dance and West African idioms.
Home: Choreographed by Rennie Harris Home, returning to Auditorium Theatre again for the second year, is choreographed by bold hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris and is inspired by the stories of people living with or affected by HIV. Drawing upon poems and images submitted in 2011 to the Fight HIV Your Way contest, an initiative of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Harris created a compelling work that conveys both the chilling isolation and uplifting sense of community many experience.
Minus 16: Choreographed by Ohad Naharin A fan-favorite from last year’s programming, Minus 16 features a delightfully eclectic score ranging from Dean Martin to mambo, techno to traditional Israeli music propels Ohad Naharin’s phenomenally inventive piece. Breaking down the barrier between audience and performer, this work, unlike any other in the Ailey repertory, challenges the dancers to improvise and invite the audience to participate in the experience by joining the dancers onstage.
Pas de Duke: Choreographed by Alvin Ailey Originally created as a showcase for Judith Jamison and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Pas de Duke is Alvin Ailey’s modern-dance translation of a classical pas de deux, celebrating the musical genius of Duke Ellington. Ailey’s choreography brilliantly captures the exuberance of the dancers’ star qualities and techniques as the duo mirror each other toe-to-toe and line-for-line in this playful, jazzy dance. The New York Times praised the work as “one of those special dances that lives in new ways with each new set of performers.”
Petit Mort (Company Premiere): Choreographed by Jiøí Kylián Visual surprises abound in this tantalizing contemporary ballet, which blends a classical sensibility with a bold, modern wit. The choreography includes six men, six women, and six fencing foils. The foils are, in many ways, the men's real dancing partners and sometimes turn out to be more stubborn and willful than a human partner.
Revelations: Choreographed by Alvin Ailey Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. More than just a popular dance work, it has become a cultural treasure, beloved by generations of fans. Seeing Revelations for the first time or the hundredth can be a transcendent experience, with audiences cheering, singing along and dancing in their seats from the opening notes of the plaintive “I Been ’Buked” to the rousing “Wade in the Water” and the triumphant finale, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”
Strange Humors (Company Premiere): Choreographed by Robert Battle Artistic Director Robert Battle’s Strange Humors is an eccentric, jocular display for two dancers. Composer John Mackey, with whom Battle is a frequent collaborator, provides a fiery score propelled by elements of African hand drumming and Middle Eastern folk music. Stationed far apart along a narrow shaft of light, the dancers ultimately meet for an explosive confrontation of wits and prowess, as though “possessed by the force of feelings beyond their control” (The New York Times).
This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund, a program of Arts Midwest, which is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council.
