Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — Chicago run

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater wraps its Chicago weekend Sunday with a 3 p.m. performance at The Auditorium, the last of four shows staged April 24-26. (ailey.org) (auditoriumtheatre.org) The company’s Chicago stop is part of its first major season led by artistic director Alicia Graf Mack, a former Ailey dancer who took over as only the fourth artistic director in the company’s history. (choosechicago.com) (auditoriumtheatre.org) At The Auditorium, Ailey brought two separate programs to Chicago. Program A paired Medhi Walerski’s “Blink of an Eye,” Judith Jamison’s “A Case of You,” and Fredrick Earl Mosley’s “Embrace” with “Revelations.” (auditoriumtheatre.org) Program B, performed Saturday afternoon and again Sunday, featured Maija García’s “Jazz Island,” Matthew Neenan’s “Difference Between,” Jamar Roberts’ “Song of the Anchorite,” and “Revelations.” (ailey.org) (auditoriumtheatre.org) Ailey’s Chicago materials describe five premieres in this season’s repertory, while local promotional copy called the engagement a set of Chicago premieres and said the weekend included six new works. The overlap reflects how the company is mixing brand-new pieces with newer additions to repertory under Mack’s first season. (ailey.org) (chicagocrusader.com) The engagement also carried local weight because it was Ailey’s 57th appearance at The Auditorium, a long-running Chicago home for the company. Tickets for the Sunday performance were listed at $40 to $150 on Choose Chicago. (chicagocrusader.com) (choosechicago.com) The company’s roots run back to 1958, when Alvin Ailey founded the troupe during the civil rights era. Chicago promotional material frames that legacy around African American cultural expression and modern dance presented to broad audiences. (chicagocrusader.com) (choosechicago.com) “Revelations” remains the anchor at the end of both Chicago programs, keeping the company’s best-known work in place as Mack introduces newer choreography. Sunday’s matinee closes that handoff in Chicago. (ailey.org) (auditoriumtheatre.org)