Arts & Culture Alvin Ailey Returns to Chicago

Danielle Sanders CNW Managing Editor

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to the Auditorium Theatre for six performances only March 8-12, 2023, during their 22-city North American tour.

Under the acclaimed artistic direction of Robert Battle, Ailey’s renowned artists will move audiences with three distinct mixed repertory programs highlighting new works from celebrated choreographers along with repertory favorites. Throughout the engagement audiences will witness the Chicago premieres of Kyle Abraham’s Are You in Your Feelings?, a celebration of Black culture scored to a ‘mixtape’ of soul, hip-hop, and R&B, and Jamar Roberts’ In A Sentimental Mood, an intimate duet using an original composition by Duke Ellington. Audiences will also be treated to the recent Company premieres from Alvin Ailey peer choreographers Paul orable works while premiering choreography by Kyle Abraham and Jamar Roberts that explore Black culture and love through soulful and inventive musical journeys,” said Artistic Director Robert Battle. “For decades, we’ve been proud to bring to Chicagoans our vision of resilience, artistry and spirit, using dance to inspire, entertain and share the joy of connections.” was a survival technique. It’s an incredibly emotional piece that leaves me physically and emotionally drained but it’s such a wonderful journey. As an artist, to be able to perform it in the way Ailey crafted it was a beautiful journey for me as an artist.”-Vernard Gilmore

Vernard J. Gilmore began dancing at Curie Performing and Creative Arts High School in Chicago under Diane Holda. He later studied at the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre with Harriet Ross, Marquita Levy, and Emily Stein. After college, he then studied at The Ailey School and was a member of Ailey II. Mr. Gilmore joined the Company in 1997. The Chicago native will dance the lead role of Nelson Mandela in remounted production of Ailey’s moving work, ‘Survivors’ which pays tribute to Nelson and Winnie Mandela, among other roles.

The production features seven dancers, with two representing the anti-apartheid activist duo. Physical bars separate the cast from one male dancer, embodying the heaviness of Nelson Mandela’s 27 years as a political prisoner. “It’s real jail bars, not circles of light that are supposed to imprison,” Mr. Ailey stressed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1987. “Part of the memory, the experience, is in its physical headiness, its heat, its texture, its agony, its abstraction, its sound.” After its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri in 1986, the Company took Survivors on tour—four years before Mandela would finally be freed from prison.

Taylor, with the simplicity and beauty of DUET; and Twyla Tharp, seen in her rollicking best in Roy’s Joys;, as well as a new production of Ailey’s 1986 impassioned tribute to Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Survivors. As is tradition, Alvin Ailey’s American masterpiece Revelations, which has inspired generations through its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring spirituals since its creation in 1960, will serve as the finale for all performances.

“For over five decades, the Auditorium Theatre has proudly presented the iconic Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as one of its Visiting Resident Companies,” said Auditorium Theatre CEO Rich Regan. “This annual Spring visit has become a highly anticipated tradition and treasure on Chicago’s arts calendar. Count us among Ailey’s many fans looking forward to welcoming back the company.”

“I am excited to see the brilliance of Ailey’s dancers back on the Auditorium Theatre stage in this season’s repertory filled with some of Alvin Ailey’s most mem-

Gilmore says tackling the lead dance role for “Survivors” was challenging but transformative. “It really helped me understand what injustice does to a relationship and what it does to you as a human being. As I was doing my research, I began to understand the nuances of their personalities and wanted to bring that to the dance as well.”, Gilmore said.

The dance theatre describes “Survivors: as an “impassioned tribute to the profound courage and terrible anguish of Nelson and Winnie Mandela is, more broadly, a portrait of people transformed by injustice. Max Roach’s richly varied drumming and Abbey Lincoln’s vocals set the emotional tone for this powerful work that lifts up those who resist oppression in any form.”

“Because Mandela was in jail, he started to look at things a tad harsher and began to understand the way forward was with everyone and that’s what his agenda became. It’s also understanding the pain that Winnie endured. She also hardened herself as so many black women have had to do to maintain their strength. It

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is known for drawing audiences into the story. Through the art form of dance and music, the company and its team of dancers visually illustrate black stories of joy, sadness, triumph, strength, survival and faith through their many works. Gilmore says working with the Ailey company involves more than training and rehearsals but researching the story. “If you are going to represent our icons and legends, you have to do your research. You have to understand who you are portraying and apply yourself to it. I always tell younger dancers that they understand pain, and oppression because we are all living it right now. If you can transcend that feeling, then the audience will have a great experience as well because they can feel your humanity. That’s what you want. It’s about reaching people and the best way to do that is to be real and authentic in who you are as a person first. Dance is one of the universal languages that everyone can understand. They know what the feeling is. That’s the beauty of dance, it creates emotions without words.