Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2025 coast-to-coast U.S. tour reaches Detroit March 14–16 during season celebrating the life and legacy of Judith Jamison

Inspiring performances at Opera House feature the Company’s extraordinary dancers in season world premieres: Sacred Songs by Matthew Rushing, Finding Free by Hope Boykin, and Many Angels by Lar Lubovitch

Additional highlights include the 25th-anniversary staging of Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, a new production of Elisa Monte’s Treading, and Alvin Ailey’s timeless Revelations

After a much-anticipated winter season in New York City, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater—beloved as one of the world’s most popular dance companies—will continue its 2024–2025 season celebrating the life and legacy of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison with an 18-city United States tour starting January 31 in Cleveland and continuing coast-to-coast to cities including Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Boston; Chicago; and Los Angeles; before culminating with a Mother’s Day performance in Newark on May 11. The passionate spirit and extraordinary technique of AILEY’s dancers will be showcased in a diverse repertory of new works, repertory favorites, and AILEY classics, including Alvin Ailey’s must-see masterpiece Revelations. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will offer four exciting performances at the Detroit Opera House on March 14, 15, and 16.   

Alvin Ailey dancers

The Detroit engagement will include three specially commissioned season premieres: Sacred Songs by Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing; former Company member Hope Boykin’s Finding Free; and Many Angels, the first world premiere for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater by Lar Lubovitch.  

Sacred Songs features music used in the original 1960 premiere of Alvin Ailey’s seminal Revelations but later omitted, resurrecting and reimagining those spirituals—with the collaboration of creative associate and musical director Du’Bois A’Keen—as an offering to our present need for lamentation, faith, and joy. To coincide with the tour, A’Keen has released a Sacred Songs Suite album featuring his brilliant team of musicians in a live recording of the soundtrack, along with some bonus songs. The spirituals, influenced by the sounds of jazz, West African drums, gospel, hip hop, and calypso, are available to purchase as an album or individually and on all streaming platforms for free.

Finding Free is an insightful collaboration with pianist Matthew Whitaker’s original score, examining the challenges and restrictions throughout life’s peaks and valleys. Many Angels  features Lar Lubovitch’s renowned lush choreography and musicality set to the Adagietto movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, meditating on the question by 13th-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”

Additional productions this season include a special 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, Grace 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. In addition to Grace, another favorite returning to the AILEY stage is Elisa Monte’s Treading, a sculptural, mesmerizing duet featuring fluid, intricate movements that combine with Steve Reich's evocative music to create an aura of mystery and sensuality.

Alvin Ailey’s must-see American masterpiece Revelations will again inspire Detroit audiences, as it has around the world since its 1960 creation, with its powerful storytelling and soul-stirring music evoking timeless themes of determination, hope, and transcendence. Springing from 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.

The compelling story of the life, work, and legacy of Alvin Ailey is also the subject of Portrait of Ailey, a new eight-part documentary series available for free on PBS LearningMedia. Created by Ailey II Artistic Director Emerita Sylvia Waters, Portrait of Ailey uses rare historical film and still images as well as contemporary footage to create a sweeping narrative of Mr. Ailey as a performer, choreographer, celebrity, teacher, social activist, arts advocate, and the creator of an enduring institution. All eight chapters are available online.

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, his 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.

For more information on AILEY’s upcoming performances, visit www.ailey.org. For additional press materials, including bios, b-roll, and photos, members of the media may visit pressroom.alvinailey.org.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Detroit Opera House

Friday, March 14, 2025, 7:30pm (program A)

Saturday, March 15, 2025, 2:30pm (program A)

Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7:30pm (program B)

Sunday, March 16, 2025, 2:30pm (program B)

Tickets start at $30, available at detroitopera.org or 313.237.7464.

Program A: Sacred Songs /(intermission)/ Treading, (pause), Grace 

Sacred Songs (2024) (World Premiere)

Choreography by Matthew Rushing. Music: Du’Bois A’Keen

Featuring songs used in the original 1960 version of Alvin Ailey’s seminal Revelations but later omitted when the piece was edited into the current version that has captivated audiences for decades. Drawing inspiration from the roots of Mr. Ailey’s most venerated and consummate creation, this stirring new work will resurrect and reimagine those spirits —with the collaboration of musical director Du’Bois A’Keen—as an offering to our present need for lamentation, faith, and joy.

Treading (1981) (New Production)

Choreography by Elisa Monte. Music: Steve Reich

The two dancers in this sculptural, mesmerizing duet come together in fluid, intricate movements that combine with Steve Reich’s meditative music to create an aura of mystery and sensuality.

Grace (1999) (New Production)

Choreography by Ronald K. Brown. Music: Duke Ellington, Roy Davis, Fela Anikulapo Kuti

This new production marks the 25th anniversary of Brown’s rapturous work connecting African and American dance, fueled by Duke Ellington's classic "Come Sunday," Peven Everett’s hit "Gabriel," and the irresistible pulse of Fela Kuti's Afro-Pop. Here, the secular and sacred meet in a tour-de-force featuring 12 dancers on a journey to the Promised Land.

Program B: Finding Free /(intermission)/ Many Angels, (pause), Revelations

Finding Free (2024) (World Premiere)

Choreography by Hope Boykin. Music: Matthew Whitaker

Hope Boykin's collaboration with composer and pianist Matthew Whitaker examines the challenges and restrictions throughout life’s peaks and valleys that propel the journey forward. This insightful work uses. Boykin’s movement language and Whitaker’s jazz- and gospel-influenced score to explore notions of personal freedoms.

Many Angels (2024) (World Premiere)

Choreography by Lar Lubovitch. Music: Gustav Mahler

After 60 years as a choreographer, Lar Lubovitch has frequently been asked: "Why do you make dances?”. The 13th-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas posed several theoretical questions about the behavior of angels to which no real answers are possible or necessary. “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” illustrates that some questions have no logical response but are understood as a question of faith. Something may exist in the world simply for the sake of itself. For example, a dance. Many Angels is a dance to music by Gustav Mahler. it is not really about angels (well, maybe a little).

Revelations (1960)

Choreography by Alvin Ailey. Music: Traditional spirituals

More than just a popular dance work, Revelations has become a cultural treasure, beloved by generations of fans and acclaimed as a must- see for all. Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece is a tribute to his heritage. Using African American spirituals, the work fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. Seeing Revelations for the first time or the hundredth can be a transcendent experience. Audiences cheer, sing along, and dance in their seats from the opening notes of the plaintive “I Been ’Buked” to the rousing “Wade in the Water” and the triumphant finale, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”

*All Programming – Subject to Change

Alvin Ailey dancers

Additional special activities in Detroit

In addition to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s live performances, the AILEY Organization continues its mission of using dance to educate young people throughout the tour with special activities, including free workshops, master classes, innovative curriculum-based residencies for public school students, and  workshops for adults 50+. Pre-registration is recommended for all Detroit workshops, due to limited space.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company members will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on March 15 at 11am. The class will include modern technique and movement from Mr. Ailey’s signature works and is most suitable for intermediate/advanced dancers ages 13 and up; pre-registration is required due to space limitations. To reserve a space, visit https://detroitopera.org/show/alvin-ailey-masterclass/, contact the box office at 313.237.7464, or email tickets@detroitopera.org.

Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs offers a Revelations Celebration Community Workshop, free to the public in Detroit (Second Ebenezer Church, March 2, 2pm), presented in association with the Fisher Foundation. Led by Master Teacher and former AILEY star Nasha Thomas and Teaching Artist Darius “Damazi” Williams, this all-ages workshop invites participants to celebrate movement and Alvin Ailey’s must-see signature work. Email dance@detroitopera.org for more information.

Detroit’s free AileyDance for Active Aging Workshop is open to the public and will be offered at the Detroit Opera House Dance Center, Monday, March 3, 11am–12pm (RSVP suggested). For more information, email dance@detroitopera.org.

Revelations: An Interdisciplinary Approach residency will be offered to Detroit public school students (open to the media) from Tuesday, March 4 to Friday, March 7, at Amelia Earhart Elementary-Middle School and Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School. The popular curriculum-based program uses Alvin Ailey's signature work as the inspirational framework for a comprehensive study of language arts, social studies, and dance. The residency actively engages youth in a process of reflecting, discussing, creating, performing, and assessing, while exploring dance and the life story of Alvin Ailey and Revelations.

Ailey Arts In Education artists will participate in a “History in the House” event at Detroit’s Wright Museum of African American History on March 8 from 11am to 3pm, to include a masterclass for middle-school students and a “Women of Ailey” panel discussion among Ailey artists and administrators, followed by a post-discussion Q&A. Email info@thewright.org for more information.

The Ailey Experience Tour provides dancers of all levels the opportunity to study with prominent Ailey instructors including former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancers in their hometown. Ailey Experience Detroit workshops will be offered March 8 and 9 at Wayne State University’s Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance (4841 Cass Avenue) for dancers ages 11 and up (no dance experience required). Workshops will be taught by Lisa Johnson-Willingham (Horton Technique and Ailey Repertory), Shaina McGregor (Contemporary) , and Judith McCarty (Afro’Dance). Students who participate in both days are eligible to be considered for a scholarship to attend the Ailey Experience NYC workshops in Summer 2025. Visit https://ailey.org/series/ailey-experience-detroit for more information.

Alvin Ailey dancers

Calendar Listing Information

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world’s most beloved dance companies, performs at Detroit’s Opera House March 14-16 as part of a coast-to-coast U.S. tour January 31–May 11, 2025 during a season celebrating Legacy in Motion and the life of beloved Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison (1943–2024). AILEY’s extraordinary dancers will move audiences with world premieres, new productions, repertory favorites, and classics like the American masterpiece Revelations, acclaimed as a must-see for all. For more information, visit www.ailey.org/tour.

Bank of America is Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Tour Sponsor.

The 2024 National Tour is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.

All performances of Revelations are permanently endowed by a generous gift from Donald L. Jonas in celebration of the birthday of his wife, Barbara, and her deep commitment to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

 

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. Forged during a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, the Company was established to uplift the African American experience while transcending boundaries of race, faith, and nationality with its universal humanity. Founded by Alvin Ailey, the posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor. Before his untimely death in 1989, Mr. Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and for 21 years she led the Company to unprecedented success. 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.ailey.org.

About Detroit Opera

Detroit Opera, one of the nation's most vibrant nonprofit arts organizations, aspires to influence the future of opera and dance with a goal of invigorating audiences through new and re-imagined productions, relevant to current times. It is creating an ambitious standard for American opera and dance that emphasizes community, accessibility, artistic risk-taking, and collaboration. Founded in 1971 as Michigan Opera Theatre by Dr. David DiChiera, Detroit Opera is led by President and CEO Patty Isacson Sabee; Yuval Sharon, Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director; Music Director Roberto Kalb; Artistic Advisor for Dance Jon Teeuwissen; and Board Chairman Ethan Davidson. For more information, visit www.detroitopera.org. Follow the company on Facebook and Instagram (@DetroitOpera), and LinkedIn (Detroit Opera).