Kali Oliver has fond childhood memories of seeing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform at Playhouse Square.
“I could feel how special it was and how it was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” said Oliver, 26. “I knew that that’s what I wanted to do from a very young age.”
When the renowned dance company comes to Cleveland for three shows this weekend, Oliver won’t be in the audience. She’ll be one of the dancers onstage.
Cleveland is the first stop in the dance theater’s 2025 North American tour, which runs through early May.
For the Friday performance and the Saturday matinee, company members will perform “Sacred Songs,” a new piece from Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, and “Me, Myself and You,” a duet by former Ailey dancer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish. For its final show Saturday evening, they will perform Lar Lubovitch’s “Many Angels” and Ronald K. Brown’s “Grace.”
Each show will end with a performance of Ailey’s signature work, “Revelations.” Ailey debuted the piece in 1960, and its popularity has never waned. Consisting of three sections, the work incorporates gospel music, spirituals and the blues and is influenced by Ailey’s Christian upbringing in Texas and the writings of Langston Hughes and James Baldwin.
“Revelations” is particularly special for Oliver.
“When I was so young, I remember loving it so much and not being able to put words to why I loved it,” she said. “It’s such a relatable piece, and it takes you on such a spiritual journey.”
She continued, “I think that’s what makes Mr. Ailey so special and such a genius as a choreographer, because his work has really stood the test of time in that it doesn’t matter what your religion is, what your background is, where you’re coming from. ‘Revelations’ will move you because of how spiritually connected the dancers are to the movement and the music at the same time. That beautiful combination just creates a really sacred space every time.”
Oliver will also dance in “Sacred Songs.” The piece features original music from the 1960 debut of “Revelations.” The music was later omitted when “Revelations” was condensed to its current 36-minute form. For “Sacred Songs,” Oliver said Rushing and musical director Du’Bois A’Keen reimagined the original music and created a new dance around it.
Oliver described “Sacred Songs” as an “homage to the original Revelations.”
“He’s not recreating ‘Revelations,’ but it does take you on a spiritual journey, nonetheless, of a similar way: going through grief and hopelessness and then fighting and trying to find hope and joy,” she said.
Oliver started dancing as soon as she could walk, under the tutelage of her mom, Joli, a former dancer turned dance instructor. In third grade, Oliver began training at Nan Klinger Excellence in Dance in Cuyahoga Falls and stayed there until she graduated from St. Vincent St. Mary High School. During that time she also worked with the former Groundworks Dance Theater in Cleveland, spent five summers studying dance at the Chautauqua Institution and attended a summer intensive program at the Ailey School in New York in 2016.
Oliver studied jazz, tap and ballet, but ultimately decided on modern dance. She said the form offered her a new “way to express” herself and helped her feel more grounded as she danced.
“I have a very heavy ballet background, and that is what I originally thought my path might be. It never resonated with me the way modern dance did,” she said. “It seemed like a better vehicle for me to say what it is I needed to say and share what it is I needed to share.”
Oliver graduated from Fordham University with a degree in dance in 2021. She then spent three years dancing with Ailey II, which is for early-career dancers. In 2024, she became a member of the company.
For Oliver, performing in “Revelations” in her home state is a dream come full circle.
“It’s like a ritual in a way. And it’s very, very cleansing. It reminds me of why I do it,” she said of the piece. “It’s a great reminder of, this is how it started — and I’m doing it. This is the thing I’ve always wanted to do.”