Auditorium Theatre 2019-2020 Trinity Irish Dance Company

20 | AUDITORIUM THEATRE 2019-20 | January 18 - March 8, 2020 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Auditorium for its annual engagement March 4-8! Among the exciting new works that the company brings to Chicago this year is company member Jamar Roberts’ Ode , a meditation on the beauty and fragility of life in a time of increasing gun violence. Roberts was recently named Ailey’s Resident Choreographer, making him the first person to ever hold this title in the company’s 60-year history. He was kind enough to speak to the Auditorium about his new work, his creative process, and some of his favorite Ailey memories. Congratulations on being named as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's first ever Resident Choreographer! How does it feel to be the first person in company history to take on this title? Thank you! To be the first person in the company’s history to take on the title of Resident Choreographer fills me with great gratitude. It’s such a rare opportunity and I am honored to be able to contribute to the legacy of the company in this way. Your new work for the company, Ode , touches on the beauty and fleetingness of life in an era of pervasive gun violence. Was there a specific occurrence that inspired you to create this work? The original inspiration for this work really started to take root a couple years ago when there was constant coverage in the media of innocent, unarmed black men being shot and killed by the police. Being a black man myself, I found this very disturbing and extremely heartbreaking. Ode : An Interview with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Jamar Roberts ANDREW ECCLES