Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Programming

March 7-9, 2025

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2024-25 season celebrates the life and legacy of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison.

• Friday, March 7 at 7:30pm & Sunday, March 9, at 3pm
  Grace, Finding Free, Cry*, Revelations*Friday only: Special Opening Night version of Cry as a tribute to Ms. Jamison.

• Saturday, March 8 at 1pm & 7:30pm
  Sacred Songs, Treading, Many Angels, Revelations

Learn More About Each Piece

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. Here, the secular and sacred meet in a tour-de-force connecting African and American dance.

Finding Free (2024, Chicago Premiere)

Choreographed 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. Jamison, the beloved Company dancer and Artistic Director Emerita who passed away in late 2024.

Sacred Songs (2024, Chicago Premiere)

Featuring songs used in the original 1960 version of Alvin Ailey’s seminal Revelations but later omitted, this stirring work will resurrect and reimagine those spirituals as an offering to our present need for lamentation, faith, and joy.

Treading (1979, new production 2024)

Choreographed by Elisa Monte is a sculptural, mesmerizing duet featuring fluid, intricate movements that combine with Steve Reich's evocative music to create an aura of mystery and sensuality.

Many Angels (2024), Lar Lubovitch

Choreographed by Lar Lubovitch in his first premiere for the Company, features the native Chicago choreographer’s renowned lush choreography and musicality set to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.  Many Angels is inspired by a question posed by 13th century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?,” illustrating that some questions have no logical response but are understood as a question of faith.

Revelations (1960)

Culminating each program will be Alvin Ailey’s must-see American masterpiece Revelations, acclaimed around the world for sending hearts soaring and lifting audiences to their feet with its perfect blend of reverent grace and spiritual elation. Since its debut in 1960, Revelations has been moving audiences with its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring music, evoking timeless themes of determination, hope, and transcendence. 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, Revelations pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of the African American community and explores the emotional spectrum of the human condition.