Ailey II to Launch 27-City Tour Featuring World Premiere by Francesca Harper

Ailey II will embark on a 27-city tour across the country, September 22, 2026–April 11, 2027. The next generation of dance will present a riveting repertory featuring a world premiere by Ailey II's very own Artistic Director Francesca Harper in collaboration with Jermaine Spivey, mesmerizing new productions by Alvin Ailey and Ronald K. Brown, and cherished classics that showcase the company's virtuosity. The season concludes with a New York City spring engagement at the Ailey Citigroup Theater from March 31 to April 11.

Founded as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble in 1974, Ailey II serves as a bridge between The Ailey School and the professional dance world. The company embodies Alvin Ailey's pioneering mission of cultivating the next generation of emerging artists and inspiring audiences of all backgrounds. Under the artistic direction of Francesca Harper, Ailey II features some of the most promising rising stars redefining modern dance today.

“This season, Ailey II continues to embody the bold and fearless spirit of the next generation of dance while honoring the legacy that brought us here,” Francesca Harper said. “I am thrilled for audiences across the country to experience the passion and artistry of these twelve extraordinary artists on stage, and to close out the season at home in New York City.”

Francesca Harper's In the Moment is a meditation on presence, transformation, and the profound impact of being truly seen. The work is inspired by a small but powerful gesture of recognition and enduring friendship. Through movement and text, the work explores the ways empathy can become action and how one generation can affirm, guide, and empower the next.

Renowned for his fusion of African and modern dance, Ronald K. Brown added new flavor to his signature style in Open Door, an enlivening work set to recordings by Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. With co-choreographer Arcell Cabuag, Brown combines the impassive swagger of club dance with the undulant torso, winging arms and rhythmic feet of West African dance.

Alvin Ailey's Night Creature is a bubbly champagne cocktail of a dance, a perfect fusion of Mr. Ailey's buoyant choreography and Duke Ellington's sparkling music. At once wistful and sassy, it beckons viewers into a nocturnal world populated by jazz babies and night owls. Ellington said that “night creatures, unlike stars, do not come OUT at night—they come ON, each thinking that, before the night is out, he or she will be the star.” This ensemble work is full of such stars—strutting, leaping, and slinking through a variety of dance idioms as they flaunt and flirt with each other and the audience. It's the definitive dance homage to the exuberance of The Duke's sophisticated symphonic work.

Flight Time is an excerpt from Alvin Ailey's work Phases, choreographed in 1980 at the height of his artistry. Phases is a startling, classic jazz dance that is divided into five sections, each composed by a significant African American jazz musician. This excerpt, Flight Time, features music composed by L. Mizell, performed by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd.

The 2026-27 tour repertory includes a solo excerpted from Judith Jamison's Divining, her first choreographic work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1984; Houston Thomas' Down the Rabbit Hole, a work inspired by The Matrix film series exploring how technology weaves into the fabric of daily life; Rena Butler's In Session, a collective portrait of coming of age within a community; Renée I. McDonald's Likes vs Life, a binding trio battling through the effects of social media; and My'Kal Stromile's Third Person Point of View, a ballet inviting the audience to witness from the outside, observing a relationship as it unfolds without ever being directly addressed. In addition to the two company premieres by Mr. Ailey, the audience's enduring favorite, Revelations, will also be performed throughout the tour.

Ailey II welcomes back—Kamani Abu, Jada Ammons, Christian Butts, Adanna Smalls, and Eric J. Vidaña—along with seven new dancers: Julie Colotroc, Daijia Monaé, Vic E. Davis, Jaydin Javier De Jesús, Michelle Osanya, Jalyn Postadan, and Dominic A. Roberts.

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2026 TOUR DATES

• September 22 — Nantucket, MA — Dreamland Film and Performing Arts Theatre
• September 24 — Westport, CT — Westport Country Playhouse
• September 25 — Morristown, NJ — Mayo Performing Arts Center
• September 30 — Manchester, NH — Dana Center – Koonz Theatre / St. Anselm College
• October 3 — Greenwich, CT — Berkley Theater / Greenwich Library
• October 6 — Lexington, VA — The Lenfest Center for the Arts / Washington & Lee University
• October 8 — Danville, VA — George Washington High School
• October 11 — Annapolis, MD — Maryland Hall
• October 14 — Charleston, WV — Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences
• October 15 — Marietta, OH — Peoples Bank Theatre
• October 18 — St. Bonaventure, NY — Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts / St. Bonaventure University
• October 21 — Princess Anne, MD — Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts / University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• October 27 — Des Moines, IA — Des Moines Civic Center
• October 29 — Fairfield, IA — Fairfield Arts & Convention Center

2027 TOUR DATES

• January 26 — Wenatchee, WA — Numerica Performing Arts Center
• February 1 — Port Angeles, WA — Field Arts & Events Hall
• February 4 — Kalispell, MT — Wachholz College Center
• February 6 — Gallatin Gateway, MT — Warren Miller Performing Arts Center
• February 12 — Colorado Springs, CO — Ent Center for the Arts / Colorado Springs Dance Theatre
• February 15 — Tulsa, OK — Tulsa Performing Arts Center
• February 16 — Oklahoma City, OK — OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center
• February 20 — Huntsville, AL — Mark C. Smith Concert Hall / Von Braun Center
• February 23 — Jacksonville, FL — Moran Theater / Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts

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