The Holy Blues takes its title from remarks in Alvin Ailey’s journal in which he wrote, “My roots are also in the Gospel church, the Gospel churches of the south where I grew up…holy blues—paeans to joy, anthems to the human spirit.” This genre encompasses gospel music and the blues, the sacred and the secular. Both walk with us in times of trouble and strife, serving as passages to the divine.

The Holy Blues is inspired by the Ring Shout (the circular dance originating from Central and West Africa) and The Door of No Return (the final point of departure of enslaved Africans sent to America), which function as both metaphors and an account of the lived experience of past generations. Dionne Brand states in her book A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging, “This door is not mere physicality. It is a spiritual location. It is also perhaps a psychic destination. Since leaving was never voluntary, return was, and still may be, an intention, however deeply buried. There is, as it says, no way in; no return.”

The Holy Blues is a collaboration of ideas, experiences, and research. It marks the first partnership for Jawole Willa Jo Zollar with dancers Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Monteiro, both longtime members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.