Leadership

Featured News Releases

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Returns To BAM June 4-7, Culminating Inaugural Season Led By Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack

NEW YORK – MAY 14, 2026 – On the heels of a successful 20-city coast-to-coast tour, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, recognized as a “vital American cultural ambassador to the world,” culminates its 2025-26 season with a BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) engagement June 4–7. Under the leadership of Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack, the company’s fourth BAM season promises to be a celebration of joy, beauty, and the transformative power of dance.

Ailey Receives Major Gift From Board Chair Daria L. Wallach To Endow The Position Of Artistic Director

NEW YORK – February 4, 2026 — Bennett Rink, Executive Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, announced today that Daria L. Wallach, Chair of AILEY’s Board of Trustees, has made a landmark $10 million gift to endow the position of Artistic Director. In recognition of the historic importance of this contribution, leaders who hold the role will now be known as the Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Artistic Director.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Launches 20-City United States Tour From January 30 – May 10, 2026 During Inaugural Season Led By Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack

NEW YORK — January 30, 2026 — After an acclaimed holiday season in New York City, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – beloved as one of the world’s most popular dance companies – will grace stages across the United States during a 20-city coast-to-coast United States tour, starting January 30 in Washington, DC and continuing to cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles before culminating with a Mother’s Day performance in Newark on May 10.

Featured Press Coverage

TheChicagoTribune_AAADT_USTour26_Berkeley_AGM_Print_4.19.26

Chicago Tribune - Meet Alicia Graf Mack, Alvin Ailey's newest artistic director: 'Chicago feels very familiar; I like the energy'

Look through imagery of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and you'll see years of works of artistry that showcase Black bodies defying gravity with grace, power and deep emotion. Some of those pictures might be of Alicia Graf Mack in her tilted, lithe aerial side split. The former principal Ailey dancer (from 2005 to 2014) is now the dance company's new artistic director, only the fourth artistic director since the New York company's formation by its namesake in 1958.

Harper'sBazaar_AAADT_USTour_NowIssue_AGM_Feature_4.8.26

Harper's Bazaar - Alicia Graf Mack Knows Dance Is About Connecting the Past, Present, and Future

Dance rehearsal capturing a group of dancers engaged in choreography practice. How does anyone make art in this dizzying moment? In our Now issue, Bazaar speaks to 10 creative people—dancers, comedians, pop singers, writers—about what fuels their work in 2026. Alicia Graf Mack, a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was named the company’s artistic director in 2025. Founded in 1958 by Alvin Ailey to center Black life, history, and spirituality onstage, the company has long been one of the most influential institutions in the dance world. Graf Mack, a former director of the dance program at Juilliard with a background in arts administration, steps into the role at a pivotal moment for both the company and the culture at large, as cultural institutions face mounting political pressure, shifting support, and renewed questions around representation, access, and community.