Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Starts Black History Month Tour

The esteemed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has launched a nationwide tour celebrating Black History Month.

Forbes reports that the 18-city tour will honor the life and legacy of artistic director Emerita Judith Jamison, who died in November 2024. The tour will celebrate Black heritage and ancestry through dance.

Performances are scheduled at prestigious venues such as Washington, D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Atlanta’s Fox Theatre.

New productions feature the 25th-anniversary return of Ronald K. Brown’s Grace

forwp-incontent-custom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad1"> and Elisa Monte’s captivating, sculptural duet, Treading. World premieres include Jamar Roberts’s Al-Andalus Blues, Hope Boykin’s Finding Free, and Lar Lubovitch’s Many Angels, his debut work for the company. Additionally, interim artistic director Matthew Rushing will present Sacred Songs.

“Audiences in every city will be inspired by the power of Alvin Ailey’s must-see American masterpiece Revelations,” the theater said in a statement. “World-renowned for sending hearts soaring and lifting audiences to their feet with its perfect blend of reverent grace and spiritual elation.”

“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.”

Ailey II (1974), the second performing company

showcasing emerging young dancers and innovative choreographers, will continue the second leg of its 28-city tour from February 2 to May 1. The tour will stop in Albuquerque, NM, Kansas City, and Miami, before returning to New York City for its annual season at the Ailey Citigroup Theater from March 26 to April 6, 2025.

Along with the tour, Portrait of Ailey, an eight-part documentary series featuring rare archival footage, will explore Ailey as a performer, choreographer, celebrity, teacher, social activist, arts advocate, and creator of a lasting institution.

The series will be available for free on PBS LearningMedia next month.

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