La Jolla Music Society Presents: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

La Jolla Music Society presents
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Tuesday, April 4–Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Part of Dance Series
Venue: San Diego Civic Theatre
Tickets: $25–$83

Group discounts, Military and Student discounts available! Box office: 858.459.3728 www.TheConrad.org

You don’t just see an Alvin Ailey performance—you feel it. Since its now-fabled performance in 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has grown from a small group of African American dancers to a revolutionary company that transcends barriers and celebrates the African American cultural experience. In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.” Under the decade-long leadership of its visionary artistic director, Robert Battle, the company continues to honor the monumental legacy of its founder, while expanding the Ailey repertory and developing the next generation of choreographers. Presented by La Jolla Music Society at the Civic Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will perform a program including Ailey’s masterpiece Revelations.

Alvin Ailey envisioned a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience. He became one of the trailblazers of modern dance, and the work of his Company grew to encompass education, community outreach, and cultural diplomacy. To date, the Company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents—as well as millions more through television, film, and online. More than 270 works by over 100 choreographers have been part of the Ailey repertory. Before his untimely death in 1989, Mr. Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Ms. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”

When Alvin Ailey and a small group of African-American dancers took the stage on March 30, 1958, at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, the engagement was for one night only, but it turned out to be the start of a new era in the arts. Ailey envisioned a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience. He became one of the trailblazers of modern dance, and the work of his Company grew to encompass education, community outreach, and cultural diplomacy. To date, the Company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents—as well as millions more through television, film, and online. More than 270 works by over 100 choreographers have been part of the Ailey repertory. In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.” Before his untimely death in 1989, Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”

Robert Battle, Artistic Director

Robert Battle became Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in July 2011 after being personally selected by Judith Jamison, making him only the third person to head the Company since it was founded in 1958. A frequent choreographer and artist-in-residence at Ailey since 1999, he has set many of his works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II, and at The Ailey School. The Company’s current repertory includes his ballets Ella, For Four, In/Side, Love Stories finale, Mass, and Unfold. In addition to expanding the Ailey repertory with works by artists as diverse as Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, Jessica Lang, and Wayne McGregor, Battle has also instituted the New Directions Choreography Lab to help develop the next generation of choreographers. Battle studied at Miami’s New World School of the Arts and the dance program at The Juilliard School. He danced with The Parsons Dance Company from 1994 to 2001, then founded his own Battleworks Dance Company, which made its debut in 2002 and went on to perform extensively at venues including the Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, American Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Battle was honored as one of the “Masters of African-American Choreography” by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005, and he received the prestigious Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation USA in 2007.