Press Coverage

February 5, 2026

WJLA ABC 7 - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to DC

As we celebrate Black History Month, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is making its annual visit to Washington, D.C. The troupe's new artistic director, Alicia Graf Mack, hails from the DMV and is excited to bring the art and performance of the troupe back to the area. "This is such a beautiful responsibility to hold in my hands. I grew up in this area, as you said, and I remember coming to performances in Baltimore and Washington, and having my dreams just enlarged and fulfilled," she said. The troupe is performing at the Warner Theater through Feb. 8

February 4, 2026

PBS News Hour - Alicia Graf Mack Reflects On Leading the Legendary Alvin Ailey Dance Company

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has just launched a 20-city U.S. tour under its new artistic director Alicia Graf Mack. She’s a renowned former Ailey dancer herself and an educator who is now fusing those roles to lead the modern dance troupe which started in 1958. Mack joins Geoff Bennett in the studio for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

February 1, 2026

Dance Europe - Miranda Quinn

The Ailey dancer, a Dancer of the Year nominee, shares her story with Joanna Priwiezencew.

January 30, 2026

The Washington Post - A dance Leader's Revelatory Journey

Alicia Graf Mack remembers when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater became her North Star. She was about 8 years old, growing up in Howard County, Maryland, when she saw a VHS tape of the solo "Cry," an Ailey classic.

January 28, 2026

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - She’s ready to move Alvin Ailey boldly forward

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, just hours after arriving in Atlanta, Alicia Graf Mack gathered with about 30 dancers from Spelman College for an Alvin Ailey master class. After greeting the students by name, Graf Mack began leading a series of movements, placing a hand on her chest and breathing in deeply. To a heavy drumbeat, the dancers fell into plies before lifting and lengthening the bodies upward. As they moved, Graf Mack reminded them the work of dance, even during warmup, is akin to storytelling. This moment of grounding, teaching and connecting is perhaps an early indication of what we can expect from Graf Mack in her role as the new artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which makes its annual appearance at the Fox Theatre from Feb 11-15.

January 26, 2026

The Washington Informer - Alvin Ailey Offers D.C. Audiences Inspiration Under a New Roof, Leadership, Presenter

Leaping in with bold changes — including performing under a new roof, leadership and presenter — Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to Washington, D.C. with innovations that honor the legacy of the company’s founder and namesake, while bringing audiences messages of hope and a little D.C. flair.

January 26, 2026

Broadway World - Interview: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER's Samantha Figgins Returning to a hometown stage.

DC native Samantha Figgins returns to the district for 11 performances with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Warner Theatre, the first stop on a 20 city US tour. While Figgins has performed with the company for many years, this visit home will include her first performances as a choreographer. I caught up with Figgins about her dancing, her choreographic debut The Holy Blues, and why she’s as energized as ever to bring dance to her hometown.

January 16, 2026

Out&About NYC - The Holy Blues Interview: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Montiero

“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.” These words written by Alvin Ailey were the impetus for The Holy Blues, a collaborative choreographic endeavor by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and emerging dancemakers Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Montiero.

January 1, 2026

Lighting & Sound America - Island Gods

Cuban-American choreographer Maija Garcia made her debut with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this fall with Jazz Island. Based on a folk tale from the book Black Gods, Green Islands, by actor-director-designer and all-around polymath Geoffrey Holder, it features Erzulie, Afro-Caribbean goddess of love, intervening in the affairs of young Bashiba, who is engaged, unhappily, to a young traveling man. Supplying the jazz in Jazz Island is a score by Trinidadian composer and trumpeter Etienne Charles

December 30, 2025

Blavity - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company Members On Expanding Its Legacy With Afro-Latino And Afro-Caribbean Dance

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s holiday season is underway at New York City Center through Jan. 4. This season marks more than just another year of the artistic phenomenon that uses dance as a catalyst for spiritual and cultural expression. It also marks the dawn of a new chapter under the guidance of Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack, whose inaugural season embraces both the company’s foundational Black roots and its evolving commitment to diversity, now including the Afro-Latino diaspora.