Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world’s most popular dance companies and America’s cultural ambassador to the world, returns to the Fox Theatre, February 12–16 for six exciting performances. Celebrating Legacy in Motion and the late, beloved Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, the 2025 Atlanta engagement will feature the world premieres Sacred Songs by Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, Finding Free by Hope Boykin, Many Angels by Lar Lubovitch, and Al-Andalus Blues by Jamar Roberts. The season will also include the 25th anniversary staging of Ronald K. Brown’s rapturous blockbuster Grace and a new production of Elisa Monte’s mesmerizing Treading. The finale of all programs will be Alvin Ailey’s soul-stirring, must-see masterpiece, Revelations, which has captivated audiences globally since 1960.
The Atlanta engagement opens Wednesday, February 12 at 7:30pm with a College Night performance where college students will be able to access $15 tickets or two tickets for $25 plus fees using promo code COLLEGE. The evening begins with the 25th anniversary production of Ronald K. Brown’s spellbinding Grace, set to Duke Ellington’s classic “Come Sunday,” Peven Everett’s hit “Gabriel,” and the irresistible pulse of Fela Kuti’s Afro-Pop. The secular and sacred meet in a tour-de-force connecting African and American dance that depicts individuals on a journey to the promised land, expanding from a single angel-like figure in white to the fireball intensity of 12 powerful dancers. The performance continues with former Company member Hope Boykin’s exploration of personal freedoms in the world premiere Finding Free, a collaboration with pianist Matthew Whitaker who composed an original score. This insightful work uses Boykin’s movement language and Whitaker’s jazz- and gospel-influenced contemporary music to examine the challenges and restrictions throughout life’s peaks and valleys that propel our journey forward.
The performance on Thursday, February 13 at 7:30pm kicks off with Grace followed by the world premiere Al-Andalus Blues by former Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts. Featuring music from Roberta Flack and Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain, the abstract ensemble piece journeys back in time to the golden age of Al-Andalus, evoking the northern African Moors who flourished in the south of present-day Spain prior to the Christian Reconquista. Following Al-Andalus Blues will be a performance of an excerpt of Alvin Ailey’s Cry, to pay tribute to Judith Jamison, who originated the role and ignited the ballet with her unparalleled grace and power. Thursday evening’s performance is also WSB-TV’s Family 2 Family Night. This program repeats on Saturday, February 15 at 7:30pm without Cry…