The Music Center’s exhilarating 2025–2026 Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center season includes the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which continued its exclusive Southern California multi-year residency with The Music Center with seven stupendous performances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend, March 25-29, 2026. This review covers the selections presented as Program B on Thursday, March 26.

Founded by Alvin Ailey in 1958, his company remains one of the most acclaimed dance companies in the world. With a repertory that boasts close to 300 works by more than 100 choreographers, it has been performed in more than 70 countries on six continents. Forged during a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, the company was established to uplift the African American experience while transcending boundaries of race, faith, and nationality. Dancers of all backgrounds were invited to be part of Ailey’s company which has become a “library of dance” for a wide range of choreographers’ works that might otherwise have been lost.

Revelations (photo by Danica Paulos)

Before his death in 1989, Ailey named famed dancer Judith Jamison as his successor, and for 21 years, she lifted the company to unprecedented success. In 2025, former Jamison-mentored Ailey dancer Alicia Graf Mack became the organization’s artistic director, who continues to honor Ailey’s courageous stand for a multi-racial brotherhood, and making sure that his vision echoes throughout his work. Under her direction, Ailey is returning to the Chandler for a third year as part of its exclusive SoCal multi-year annual residency.

Revelations (photo by Danica Paulos)

We were treated to classic works from the Ailey repertory that have inspired and uplifted fans for decades, including the touchstone of inspiration Revelations, the ultimate anthem to resilience and joy. All pieces were performed on an empty stage, enhanced by colorful lighting, music, environmental sounds, with occasional props and platforms. Each piece offered trance-like artistic moments to inspire your own personal emotional reaction to the beauty and challenges being faced the incredibly athletic dancers, each an expert in all styles of dance.

The Holy Blues (photo by Steve Pisano)

The Holy Blues – The Los Angeles premiere of a 2025 piece conceived and directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in collaboration with choreographers Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Monteiro, with assistant director Vincent E. Thomas examines Alvin Ailey’s roots in the Gospel churches of the South where he grew up listening to the Holy Blues, anthems honoring the human spirit. Performed to music by various artists, costumes made from jean material were designed by Jon Taylor, with lighting by Yi-Chung Chen and scenic design by Joseph Anthony Gaito. Whether moving as one or a group, the nine barefoot dancers offered true inspiration to the higher power within us all.

Embrace (Credit Photo Paul Kolnik)

Embrace – The Los Angeles premiere of a 2025 piece with choreography by Frederick Earl Mosley set to the music of various artists, with costumes by Jon Taylor, lighting by Josh Monroe and scenic design by Joseph Anthony Gaito. This piece examines the ups and down of human connections – the messy, beautiful, straight, gay and everything in between. It explores what it takes to love deeply, heal fully, and embrace the journey with open arms. Especially moving was a featured solo dancer in a bright yellow dress who danced her celebration of finding true love and how it lifts her spirit to the realm of heavenly human connection.

Revelations (photo by Danica Paulos)

Revelations – This signature piece in the repertoire of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered in 1960 with Judith Jamison dancing the lead. Most pieces are filled with New Orleans-flavored traditional music, décor, and costumes by Ves Harper, with costumes for Rocka My Soul redesigned by Barbara Forbes, and lighting by Nicola Cernovitch, this brilliant, historical Ailey piece was presented in three parts. I was mesmerized by the sharp movements of each dancer, with each expressing the wide range of human emotion and connection via the slightest twitch of a hand or turn of the head, unlimited in their ability to move all body parts as if free-slowing without bones getting in the way. The dancers often seemed to flow as one, something I can only compare to a flock of many birds twisting and diving as one.

In the Take Me to the Water section, company members created the effect of water by stretching and waving blue, flowing material across the stage, and the audience-pleasing finale Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham which, at the end, had the entire audience on its feet singing and dancing along with the soul-inspiring gospel song which speaks directly to the universal goodness in us all.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will continue to break ground with new works by contemporary choreographers that promise to propel dance in exhilarating new directions, pushing the bounds of what the human body can do and what the human spirit can achieve. For more information, visit

For tickets and information about the 2025–2026 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, visit https://www.musiccenter.org/ or call (213) 972-0711.