Auditorium Theatre to Present Return Of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in April 2024

World renowned ambassadors of Dance and Culture, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to its Chicago home – the landmark Auditorium Theatre at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive – for its 55th engagement here, with six dynamic performances only, April 17-21, 2024.  Celebrating its 65th Anniversary season in 2023-24, the company will perform three distinct programs certain to appeal to both longtime Ailey fans and new ones discovering this joyous company for the first time: AUDIENCE FAVORITES, ALL NEW, and AILEY CLASSICS.  Tickets, starting at $40, are now on sale at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater | Auditorium Theatre.

In 1958, Alvin Ailey and a small group of dancers took the stage in New York and forever changed American dance and culture. One of the country's groundbreaking greats, Ailey's Company earned a reputation as one of the finest international ambassadors of American culture, promoting the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of American modern dance in a universal celebration of the human spirit.

Led by longtime Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, the acclaimed Ailey dancers will showcase their passionate spirit and extraordinary technique in three specially themed programs: AUDIENCE FAVORITES features  Kyle Abraham's Are You in Your Feelings? and Ronald K. Brown's Dancing Spirit along with the Company's traditional program closer, Alvin Ailey's beloved Revelations; ALL NEW presents a pair of exciting new works commissioned especially for Ailey: Amy Hall Garner's rousing, high-spirited tribute to her grandfather, CENTURY, and Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish's dreamlike reminiscence of romance, Me, Myself and You, in addition to updated productions of Following the Subtle Current Upstream by Alonzo King and Solo by Hans van Manen; and AILEY CLASSICS offers a newly curated two-act program sampling a variety of classic works by Alvin Ailey, himself.

Full programming details will be announced in the new year.

“Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's annual engagement at the Auditorium Theatre is a recognized highlight of the Spring arts season, and we're pleased to be able to announce the exceptional program lineup so far in advance to help the Company's legion of Midwest fans plan their schedules,” said Auditorium Theatre CEO Rich Regan. “We look forward to welcoming back Matthew Rushing, with whom we've had the pleasure to work for many years, as he and the company share this diverse program with Chicago audiences.”

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKETS

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs at the Auditorium Theatre: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, April 17-19 at 7:30pm; Saturday, April 20 at 1pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, April 21 at 3pm.  Tickets start at $40 and are now  available at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater | Auditorium Theatre, by calling 312.341.2300, or at the Box Office at 50 E Ida B Wells Drive in Chicago, IL. Click here for phone and in-person hours.

About Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, recognized by U.S. Congressional resolution as a vital American “Cultural Ambassador to the World,” grew from a now‐fabled March 1958 performance in New York that changed forever the perception of American dance. Founded by Alvin Ailey, recent posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation's highest civilian honor—and guided by Judith Jamison beginning in 1989, the Company was led until 2023 by Robert Battle, whom Judith Jamison chose to succeed her on July 1, 2011. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed for an estimated 25 million people in 71 countries on 6 continents—as well as millions more through television broadcasts, film screenings, and online platforms—promoting the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance tradition. In addition to being the Principal Dance Company of New York City Center, where its performances have become a year‐end tradition, the Ailey company performs annually at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago; The Fox Theatre in Atlanta; Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA, and at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark where it is the Principal Resident Affiliate, and appears frequently in other major theaters throughout the United States and the world during extensive yearly tours. The Ailey organization also includes Ailey II (1974), a second performing company of emerging young dancers and innovative choreographers; The Ailey School (1969), one of the most extensive dance training programs in the world; Ailey Arts in Education & Community Programs, which brings dance into the classrooms, communities, and lives of people of all ages; and Ailey Extension (2005), a program offering dance and fitness classes to the general public, which began with the opening of Ailey's permanent home—the largest building dedicated to dance in New York City, the dance capital of the world—named The Joan Weill Center for Dance, at 55th Street at 9th Avenue in New York City. For more information, visit www.alvinailey.org.

Bank of America is Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's North American Tour Sponsor. The 2023 National Tour is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.

About The Auditorium Theatre

The Auditorium Theatre, located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive at Roosevelt University in Chicago, is an Illinois not-for-profit organization committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community, and educational programming to all of Chicago and beyond as The Theatre for the People. The organization also is committed to the continued restoration and preservation of this National Historic Landmark that originally opened in 1889. 

The Auditorium Theatre is grateful for the support of the 2023-24 Season Global and Made in Chicago Dance Series Sponsor: The Florian Fund; and Made In Chicago Dance Series sponsors: Joyce Chelberg, Pamela Crutchfield and Patti Eylar and Charlie Gardner. The Auditorium Theatre 2023-24 Season is made possible in part by support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The Auditorium's official hotel partner is the Palmer House Hilton.

This Auditorium Theatre's 2023-24 performance season features a dynamic mix of cultural events from ballet to rock and roll and everything in between. For more information on the Auditorium Theatre and a complete listing of events at the Auditorium Theatre, please visit AuditoriumTheatre.org.

Photo credit: Dario Calmese

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