Ailey II, the acclaimed second company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, returns to the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. This engagement is part of the company’s 39-city world tour running Sept. 26, 2025 - April 11, 2026, with performances spanning from Kingston, Jamaica to Miami to Baltimore. The tour repertory features four new works by emerging and established choreographers including former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II member MonteiroMcDonald and My’Kal Stromil, plus selections from the Ailey II established repertoire. Chicago’s Carley Cruzat Brooks is among the company members who will be performing.
Ailey II in Rena Butler's "In Session." Photo by Nir Arieli
The specific program for the MAC engagement is scheduled to include the following:
• “Berry Dreamin’” (2025). Former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II member Chalvar Monteiro’s work for six dancers centers on the music, personality and soul-stirring lyricism of Chuck Berry, the father of rock 'n' roll. The creation of “Berry Dreamin'” was commissioned by Dance St. Louis in celebration of Chuck Berry’s centennial.
• A solo from Judith Jamison’s “Divining” (1984) restaged by Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish.
“Divining” was Jemison’s first choreographic work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
African polyrhythms lend the work an air of mystery and mysticism, while the title suggests a search or quest. The piece is set to the music of Kimati Dinizulu and Monti Ellison and builds on a variety of dance idioms from throughout Africa to create a pulsating, strikingly modern work.
• “Likes vs Life” (2025). Social media can contribute to anxiety, depression, comparison, pressure to be perfect, external validation, loneliness, bullying, and finding joy in the downfall of others. In Renée I. McDonald’s work, three dancers wrestle with these powerful forces, the need to connect and the desire to escape.
• “In Session” (2025). Native Chicagoan Rena Butler’s full company work is a collective portrait of coming of age, where the tension between conformity and rebellion shapes the action of maturation. It explores how individuals navigate the process of finding themselves while moving within—and against—the collective, challenging the notion that growth requires uniformity and asserting instead that no student needs to be the same. Through layered physicality and communal rhythm, “In Session” reveals the nuanced journey of self-discovery within a community.
In this tour, Ailey II showcases four new dancers: Kamani Abu, Jada Ammons, Christian Butts, and Adanna Smalls; and eight returning members: Chicago’s Carley Cruzat Brooks, plus Meredith Brown, Jennifer M. Gerken, Xavier Logan, Xhosa Scott, Darion Tuner, Eric J. Vidaña, and Jordyn White.
About Ailey II
Founded in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II has advanced Alvin Ailey’s vision by giving early-career dancers the vital experience of transitioning from training as a student to becoming a professional dancer. Ailey II dancers bring their technical mastery and emotional depth to works by the most daring established and emerging choreographers. Just as Mr. Ailey envisioned, the company continues to expand the audience for dance through global touring and community-based performances.
Sylvia Waters, the company’s first artistic director, was personally chosen by Mr. Ailey and led the company for 38 seasons. In September 2021, Francesca Harper became artistic director. Harper—a former student at The Ailey School who has choreographed for both AILEY companies—guides Ailey II with her unique perspective, paying homage to Mr. Ailey’s legacy while taking the company in bold, new directions. Under Harper’s direction, Ailey II is forging a new path for modern dance—one that’s inclusive, experimental, and transformative.
Tickets
The McAninch Arts Center, located at 425 Fawell Blvd., presents Ailey II at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Tickets are $58-$62. Tickets are available online at www.AtTheMAC.org, by phone 630.942.4000 or by visiting the MAC Box Office. Box Office hours are noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and two hours prior to performance.
About the MAC
McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and a versatile black box Studio Theatre), outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit www.AtTheMAC.org or @AtTheMAC on Facebook and Instagram.
Support for the McAninch Arts Center is provided in part by Enjoy Illinois, DuPage County Board, Illinois Arts Council, Ball Horticultural, Wight & Company, Anonymous, The DuPage Foundation, the Les and Mary Wiberg fund of the DuPage Foundation, Arts DuPage, JCS Arts Health & Education Fund, Capstone Financial Advisors Molex, Brookdale Senior Living Glen Ellyn, Frank Modruson & Lynne Shigley, Sullivan Taylor Family Trust, The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago, DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle/Naperville, DuMore DuPage, WDCB 90.9 FM, and College of DuPage Foundation
Established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit www.foundation.cod.edu or call 630.942.2462.
Choreographer Bios
Rena Butler, a Chicago native, trained at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, and SUNY Purchase (BFA). She performed with Hubbard Street, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and Gibney. A Princess Grace, Isadora Duncan, and Ferradini Grander Award recipient, Butler has choreographed for Het Nationale Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Opera, Hubbard Street, and more. Her works span opera, ballet, film, and museums across the U.S. and Europe. Her practice weaves storytelling, identity, and the reclamation of traditional narratives through interdisciplinary performance and film.
Judith Jamison joined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965 and quickly became an international star for whom Alvin Ailey created some of his most enduring roles, most notably the tour-de-force solo “Cry.” During the 70s and 80s she appeared as a guest artist with ballet companies all over the world, starred in the hit Broadway musical “Sophisticated Ladies,” and formed her own company, The Jamison Project. She returned to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1989 when Mr. Ailey asked her to succeed him as Artistic Director. In the 21 years that followed, she brought the Company to unprecedented heights. Jamison was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a primetime Emmy Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a National Medal of Arts.
As a highly regarded choreographer, she had created many celebrated works. Her autobiography, “Dancing Spirit,” was published in 1993. In 2004, under Jamison’s artistic directorship, her idea of a permanent home for the AILEY company was realized. Jamison continued to dedicate herself to asserting the prominence of the arts in our culture, and she remained committed to promoting the significance of the AILEY legacy. Her death on Nov. 9, 2024, prompted an outpouring of love and admiration around the world from those who were touched by her magnificent artistry and extraordinary spirit.
Renée I. McDonald is a Jamaican choreographer, dancer, photographer, and attorney-at-law. She trained at the Tony Wilson School of Modern Dance in Kingston and danced with the Company Dance Theatre for 12 years, serving 5 years as Rehearsal Director. Since beginning her journey with choreography in 2008, she has become one of Jamaica’s most in-demand choreographers, creating critically acclaimed and award-winning works for companies, schools, artistes, and major events. McDonald is the first choreographer from Jamaica to set a piece (Breaking Point) on Ailey II. She is currently the Associate Artistic Director of CDT Jamaica and practices law full-time.
Chalvar Monteiro hails from Montclair, N.J. and received his BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase. Monteiro has worked with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Elisa Monte Dance, Keigwin+Company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, BODYTRAFFIC, GALLIM, Ailey II and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 2019, Monteiro performed in Merce Cunningham Trust’s “Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event,” and later joined the faculty at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU in 2020. His choreography has been presented at the Fire Island Dance Festival, Lincoln Center, Fordham University, the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, and worked alongside Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Samantha Figgins on “The Holy Blues” for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.