Hymn | Ailey Pressroom

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn

Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison's stunning, Emmy Award-winning 1993 tribute to Alvin Ailey uses explosive, full company dances and quiet solos to illuminate Mr. Ailey's humanity and the dancers' unique qualities. A unique collaboration between two highly acclaimed talents from the worlds of dance and theater, Hymn features personal recollections from the dancers, collected and arranged by the multi-talented actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, along with a percussive score by Robert Ruggieri, to create a landmark work that's as intimately moving as it is awe-inspiring. In 1999, A Hymn for Alvin Ailey became a television special as part of PBS' "Great Performances: Dance in America" and received an Emmy award for Ms. Jamison's choreography.

Hymn Info Sheet

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Featured News Releases

June 25, 2026

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Announces Programming For New York City Center Season December 2, 2026 - January 3, 2027

NEW YORK — UPDATED AUGUST 20, 2026 — Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Center’s Principal Dance Company, returns to the theater’s mainstage December 2, 2026 through January 3, 2027 for a five-week holiday engagement. Led by Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack, the season promises the passionate artistry and technical brilliance that make an Ailey performance a singular experience. Audiences will be treated to premieres by contemporary choreographers Jamar Roberts, Yue Yin, and William Forsythe, alongside groundbreaking classics like Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, Judith Jamison’s Hymn, and Alvin Ailey timeless Revelations— the ultimate anthem to resilience and joy.

May 14, 2026

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.

Featured Press Coverage

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June 18, 2026

Fjord - Hymn to an Uncommon Man

OG Anunoby’s fingertip putback of Jalen Brunson’s Hail Mary three-pointer. Jordan Staal’s diving sniper goal. It’s playoff season, a time of year dominated by unbelievable, high-stakes athleticism across several sports (see also the French Open, the FIFA World Cup). It can be a hard time, consequently, for regular dance programming. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s quick summer season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music could compete with any sport finals in terms of physical prowess, but the stakes only felt high in one of the three pieces on offer. Luckily, that work was powerful enough to carry the load. That impactful dance was Judith Jamison’s “Hymn,” revived for the first time in 15 years. Generally, when ballets take extended naps in the repertory vault, there is a reason. Not in this case. Though “Hymn” certainly reflects its 1993 birth date—it is very much “Revelations” filtered through an early ’90s night club—it also feels timeless. Early reviewers said as much. In 1993, Clive Barnes wrote in the NY Post that “Hymn…emerges as the most thrilling piece of dance theatre I have seen all year…Beautifully performed, with power, reverence and love.” And in 1996, Jennifer Dunning wrote in the New York Times that “Hymn” was “an eloquent evocation of Ailey that is on its way to being another classic.”

NewYorkAmsterdamNews_AAADT_BAM2026_Feature_06.04.26

June 4, 2026

Amsterdam News - Ailey’s BAM season centers inspiring power of the human spirit

A sure sign of summer is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), June 4–7 this year, with a program that celebrates the transcendence of the human body and spirit with works that include Ailey’s timeless masterpiece, “Revelations,” the ultimate anthem to resilience and joy that has moved and uplifted fans for decades. Also included is Hymn, the Emmy-Award winning 1993 tribute to the company’s founder, choreographed by its legendary star and Ailey’s successor, the late Judith Jamison. Medhi Walerski’s “Blink of an Eye,” with its stunningly deft display of athleticism set to J.S. Bach’s compelling fast-paced violin sonatas and partita, rounds out the evening.