WBGO's Doug Doyle chats with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's new Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack about the upcoming performances at NJPAC May 8-10.
The visionary and innovative Cuban-American dancer, director, and creator Maija Garcia is widely recognized for her outstanding and versatile multidisciplinary career in theater, film, television, music, and dance, among other areas. Recently appointed Director of the Capri Theater in Minneapolis, Garcia has collaborated with legendary figures such as Spike Lee and Bill T. Jones on acclaimed productions, including “Blackkklansman”, “CHI-RAQ”, Netflix’s “She’s Gotta Have It”, and the Tony Award-winning musical “FELA!”, presented on Broadway and internationally. With a focus on bringing history and culture to life through his projects, García now presents “Jazz Island”, his first work as part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater tour, which will arrive at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center from May 8 to 10.
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.
This year marks a century since the births of musical giants — including John Coltrane and the region’s own Miles Davis and Chuck Berry. And in a season where Dance St. Louis is celebrating its 60th anniversary, it feels fitting that the organization chose to honor St. Louis’ own Berry not with nostalgia, but with new creation. Ailey II’s St. Louis stop at the Touhill Performing Arts Center delivered a tribute engrained in legacy, but pulsing with the urgency of now. The centerpiece of the evening was Berry Dreamin’, a new work choreographed by Chalvar Monteiro and set to the unmistakable twang and fire of Chuck Berry’s catalog. The ballet, commissioned by Dance St. Louis as part of its milestone anniversary, unfolded like a stream of consciousness. It became a dreamscape where thoughts don’t arrive in straight lines but in bursts, loops, and flashes of color
When you think of dancing to Chuck Berry music, you may think duck walks or sock hops, but new choreography will have you seeing rock'n'roll originator and St. Louis native in a whole new light. This weekend, Ailey II will perform the world premiere of "Berry Dreamin,'" a contemporary work commissioned by Dance St. Louis for its 60th anniversary season to celebrate what would have been Chuck Berry's 100th birthday this year. Choreographed by Chalvar Monteiro, the piece draws on Berry's music and spirit while imagining a dreamlike world or memory, intimacy and human connection.
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.
Alicia Graf Mack, Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, on the beauty of spontaneity in Medhi Walerski’s Blink of an Eye, set to the solo violin sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach.
Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan talks with Alicia Graf Mack, new artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, about her new role and how she is being guided by her mentor Judith Jamison and the legend, Ailey himself. In her inaugural season, Graf Mack is leading a 20-city U.S. tour, which began in January and concludes in Newark, New Jersey, on May 10.
Christopher Taylor did not discover dance in a studio. He found it after school in a middle school gymnasium in Newark, N.J., when the Ailey education program came to his campus and showed him something he had never seen before. Black people moving in ways that stopped him cold. He was 11 years old, and his entire understanding of what dance could be shifted in an instant. More than a decade later, Taylor is a dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, wrapping up the company’s national tour at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the very stage where he once sat in the audience dreaming. Rolling out‘s Arts in Studio sat down with him to talk about the journey, the homecoming and what it means to carry a legacy.
If ever you find yourself in a space where people are uneasy with your presence, shine brighter! Stand in the power of all that you are. And do NOT apologize for it. How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.