By Steve Sucato 

Cleveland favorite Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Playhouse Square this weekend to kick off its coast-to-coast 2025 nationwide tour celebrating the life and legacy of late company star and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison (1943-2024).

Presented by Playhouse Square and DANCECleveland, Ailey’s performances will also be an area homecoming for first-year company dancer Kali Marie Oliver of Akron. The daughter of Jimmy Oliver, a former shooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 26-year-old Oliver is making her Northeast Ohio debut with the main company, having spent three years as a member of Ailey II. 

“A lot of people have been reaching out to me, and I’m really excited to see family, friends, former dance teachers, and their students at the performances,” said Oliver by phone from New York City. “Having moved to New York on my own, I find it can sometimes feel a little isolating. Moments like this remind me of my strong hometown roots and the love and support I have there.” 

Oliver says dancing with the Ailey company was always a dream. “My mom was my first dance teacher, and she introduced me to the company on video when I was a child. She took me to see them every year as my Christmas gift. I was drawn to them because of how the dancers moved and because I had never seen a dance company with as many people who looked like me on stage.”

Oliver, who also received early dance training at Nan Klinger Excellence in Dance in Cuyahoga Falls, says her dream of dancing with Ailey was cemented while attending the Chautauqua Institution’s School of Dance in Chautauqua, New York, for several summers. There, she saw photos and bios of former School of Dance students who went on to professional dance careers. One of them was former Ailey dancer Jacqueline Green. 

“Reading her bio and the steps she took leading to her dancing with the Ailey drove home that it was possible for me to do the same,” says Oliver. “I zeroed in on those steps and ended up going to Ailey’s summer intensive, then I did the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance [graduating magna cum laude] and was lucky enough to dance for Ailey II. Now I am about to return home and perform with the company, which is surreal.”

A globally touring company, Oliver says life on the road with Ailey comes with both benefits and challenges.

“I love getting to experience new places, perform at different venues, and eat at new restaurants. That part of touring is great,” says Oliver. “Trying to figure out how to live out a suitcase for months has taken some getting used to.  I am on the high-maintenance side, so figuring out how to pack my whole life in a suitcase was trial and error. Bouncing around from place to place during our touring schedule also made it hard to settle into a consistent routine,” she says. 

One area Oliver says she has figured out is her pre-show ritual.

“I like to sit on my heating pad while I do my makeup and then do a company class or warm-up in my favorite scarf,” says Oliver. “Before performing some pieces, I will sit and meditate. For others, I listen to certain playlists on my phone to get me hyped up.”

The only dancer superstition Oliver says she has is she always eats a ginger chew before going onstage. 

Oliver and company will perform three shows of two triple-bill programs in Cleveland. On Friday, January 31, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 1, at 2:00 p.m., at KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square, the company will present choreographer and former Ailey dancer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish’s “Me, Myself & You”(2023). A duet about reminiscence set to music by Duke Ellington, “the work conjures the memories of love and passion for a woman asking herself if she should let go or forge ahead,” says Roxas-Dobrish.

Joining that duet on the program will be former Ailey star and interim artistic director Matthew Rushing’s new work, “Sacred Songs.” The piece takes inspiration from and is danced to songs that were used in the original 1960 version of Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” but were later omitted. Says Rushing: “This stirring work will resurrect and reimagine those spirituals as an offering to our present need for lamentation, faith, and joy.” 

“Matthew reimagined and turned those omitted songs into something so magical,” says Oliver. “The piece takes you through grief, hopelessness, and hope, and it has that same energy and spiritual journey ‘Revelations’ has.”  

Per usual, all of the company’s performances will close with Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations.” The seminal work blends reverent grace and spiritual elation and has touched the hearts of countless audience members worldwide for over six decades.

“Even though it is five weeks into our season, and it’s like the 40th time I am performing ‘Revelations,’ for me, it is still an honor to do so,” says Oliver. “Every night is a new experience. It’s one of my favorite pieces.”

A self-described “very tall, broad woman,” look for the statuesque Oliver in Rushing’s “Sacred Songs” on January 31 at 7:30 p.m. and February 1 at 2 p.m. and in all three performances of “Revelations.” 

For the company’s final performance on February 1 at 7:30 p.m., in addition to “Revelations,” the company will present Lar Lubovitch’s new work for the company “Many Angels” (2024). Danced to music by Gustav Mahler, the piece, says Lubovich, exists for the sake of itself and is only a little about angels. Also on that program will be a refreshed version of choreographer Ronald K. Brown’s “Grace” (1999). Set to music by Duke Ellington and Nigerian Afrobeat innovator Fela Kuti, the work for 12 dancers is described as “a moving journey illustrating Brown’s idea of individuals going through everyday life without acknowledging the ‘grace’ surrounding us all.”

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 31, and at 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 1; Playhouse Square’s KeyBank State Theatre, 1519 Euclid Ave, Cleveland. Ticket prices range between $29 – $99 each and can be purchased at playhousesquare.org or by calling (216) 241-6000.