The in­ter­na­tion­al­ly ac­claimed Alvin Ai­ley II dance com­pa­ny will per­form at Queen’s Hall on Tues­day, Au­gust 26, with two shows pre­sent­ed by Plié for the Arts in part­ner­ship with the Na­tion­al Dance As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go and Sun­beam Com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

The com­pa­ny, found­ed in 1974 by chore­o­g­ra­ph­er Alvin Ai­ley, is known world­wide for its cel­e­brat­ed mod­ern dance work Rev­e­la­tions, which will be per­formed at both the 4 p.m. mati­nee and 8 p.m. gala. Un­der artis­tic di­rec­tor Francesca Harp­er, Ai­ley II com­bines ear­ly-ca­reer dancers with emerg­ing chore­o­g­ra­phers and con­tin­ues Ai­ley’s mis­sion of mak­ing dance ac­ces­si­ble to all.

Plié founder Marisa Be­nain said, “This is more than a per­for­mance, it’s a mo­ment in Caribbean cul­tur­al his­to­ry. We are ho­n­oured to part­ner with the Na­tion­al Dance As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go un­der the pa­tron­age of Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Uni­verse 1998, to make this dream a re­al­i­ty.”

As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Alette Liz Williams said the vis­it comes as the body marks its 45th an­niver­sary. “To­geth­er, we are en­sur­ing that our au­di­ences and artists ex­pe­ri­ence dance at its high­est lev­el. This vis­it is a defin­ing mo­ment for our na­tion­al dance com­mu­ni­ty and the As­so­ci­a­tion as we en­ter 45 years of ex­is­tence.”

While in Trinidad, Ai­ley II will al­so host a free mas­ter­class and work­shop on Au­gust 25 for lo­cal per­form­ers, in­clud­ing stu­dents of the Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies, St Au­gus­tine.

Shows dates and times: Tues­day 26th Au­gust, 4:00 p.m. Mati­nee and 8:00 p.m. Gala

Ed­i­tor's note: A pre­vi­ous ver­sion of this sto­ry said this is the first time the Alvin Ai­ley II dance com­pa­ny was per­form­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go. How­ev­er this is the first time Trinidad and To­ba­go is part of the Amal­ga­ma­tion Tour. The er­ror is re­gret­ted.