Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Only a pandemic could keep the Ailey company away from the UC Berkeley campus, where it has been performing regularly for more than half a century—appearing at Zellerbach Hall more than any other place in the world outside of New York City. Following the smashing success of its video presentation for Cal Performances at Home this June, the peerless Ailey dancers return—in person again after two long years!—as the company resumes its annual residency with programs that uplift and inspire. Under the leadership of Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues to embody the legacy of its founder by celebrating artistic excellence, unbounded creativity, and the power of art to transform and engage. Expect daring new works placed in fascinating conversation with timeless classics like Ailey’s own Revelations. “The Ailey company has always told stories about the black

experience…but now the subject matter, imagery and idiom are sharper, more affecting and memorable. Ailey is doing what few major dance organizations do: It is keeping pace with the times, and the conversation” (The Washington