Dance Review: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago)

THE PERPETUATION OF LEGACY

Once a year we’re reminded of the unique space Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) occupies in the global dance sphere. And every year we’re also reminded how the venerable dance company remains as relentlessly intent on stretching its horizons as it is in honoring and maintaining the legacy of its illustrious founder. That two-edged drive, now aged, matured and refined for over 60 years, made AAADT’s opening night performance at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre Friday night as wonderfully revelatory as it was blindingly dynamic. The second stop of a 14-city tour that kicked off in Philadelphia March 1, its three-day Auditorium run also brought with it grateful remembrances and a sense of the vitality that comes with the infusion of new dance blood.

For a good number of the 28 years Chicago’s own Vernard Gilmore has been an Ailey dancer, mostly as a principal, he’s been returning home a favorite son as part of the company’s annual national tour. Alerting the audience that this tour would be his last before moving on to pursue other endeavors, the pre-show announcement instigated a sudden rush of melancholy. One that would be beautifully and lovingly entrenched further into the program. But first, when the curtain rose, it was time to get reacquainted with the intoxicating mystique that only this dance company can inspire.

  Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Ronald K. Brown's Grace (photo Danica Paulos)

Grace, originally choreographed by Ronald K. Brown in 1999 and adapted as a new production last year, opened the show with radiant visual beauty and epic intensity. The first was felt immediately as a single dancer dressed in sensuous white danced in front of a panel of ocean blue light. Moving to the devotional sweetness of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday,” she instilled a mood filled with striving and determination. They way her dancing wove contemporary influences with West African idioms, along with the appeal of her virtuosity, made her movements entrancing. Hers was a journey to a place of redemption, and she would be joined by a band of others who’d match her will, dexterity and dance acumen to a tee. Propelled first by the beats of vintage house, and then the irresistible Afro-Pop rhythms of Fela (Anikulapo) Kuti, this pilgrimage to a better place would become so enlivened in its second half it exploded with the joy only spectacular dance can rouse.

Omatayo Wunmi Olaiya’s brilliant costumes, Tsubasa Kamei’s stark but dramatic lighting and the richness of the dance’s complexity created a panorama of synchronized wonder before it came full circle and returned to its foundational touchstone, the reassuring melodies of Ellington.

 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Hope Boykin's Finding Free (photo Paul Konik)

A newer work, Finding Free, choreographed last year by Ailey alum, Hope Boykin, takes its cue from a spate of contemporary dances being performed today. Those that seem to be set in some distant and often dark future. The costumes she designed with Jon Taylor initially have the dancers shrouded in dark hooded garments moving in stoic lock step. As it progresses, it’s clear her take is far different from the norm. The darkness represents difficulties and challenges, and the dance becomes a treatise on overcoming both to achieve personal fulfillment. Working in collaboration with composer and pianist Matthew Whitaker, Boykin’s piece seems to redefine the capabilities of dance to simultaneously surprise and enthrall. Her synchronized movements look completely new in the way it startles the imagination and excites the eye. Whitaker’s score, influenced by jazz and gospel, possesses an impact and sublimity that touches on the metaphysical. It’s also incredibly arresting; providing sturdy and opulent underpinning to a work that’s as beautifully intricate as fine filigree.

AAADT's Constance Stamatiou in Alvin Ailey's Cry (photo Paul Konik)

C. Stamatiou, J. Harris, S. Figgins, C. Dartey in Alvin Ailey's Cry (photo Danica Paulos)

Far too brief, Cry, the masterpiece Ailey created as a birthday present to his mother and the vehicle that launched his muse, Judith Jamison, to international stardom, would only be danced opening night. An excerpt rather than the complete work, four dancers performing solo and together recalled the elegance and revived the spirit Jamison brought to a dance that would make her and it so memorable. As a tribute to a defining figure of the company, the night’s performance of Cry was the second source of pensive appreciative reflection. Jamison passed away four months ago and her loss is still felt keenly within the organization and throughout the dance world. Like any organization marching through time, personnel loss and change are ultimately indicators of continued growth. Every dance season is marked with momentous departures and arrivals. It’s something you notice every year in the dancers’ faces and skill sets when the company brings its singular artistry to town. What doesn’t change are the company’s commitment to perfection and the appeal of its irreproachable and glowing tour de force, Revelations.

Corrin Rachelle Mitchell and Michael Jackson Jr, Alvin Ailey's Revelations (photo Paul Kolnik)

 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey's Revelations (photo Paul Kolnik)

Closing the program as it always does, there was an added dimension of gravity in Revelations’ overriding message of renewal drawn from a sacred spring. From brooding opening “I Been ‘Buked” to joyful finale “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham”, the 65-year-old dance triumph remains as fresh and moving as ever. And as it ages, the conviction of its through-line seems only to intensify. Each pivotal highpoint is conquered with flawless ease. With its demands for consummate strength and grace, the duet of Sarah Daley-Perdomo and Michael Jackson, Jr. in “Fix Me, Jesus” was so sublimely rapturous it could induce tears. And Isaiah Day’s performance in “Sinner Man” proved once again that when speed and virtuosity merge, bliss is the inevitable outcome. The anticipated and usual outcome whenever AAADT takes the stage.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Program A (reviewed on March 7, 2025; also plays Sunday, March 9 at 3)
Grace, Finding Free, Cry, Revelations
The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive
for tickets (starting at $39), visit Auditorium Theatre

Program B, Saturday, March 8, at 1 and 7:30
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
Revelations

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

Matthew Rushing’s Sacred Songs. Photo by Paul Kolnik