When Judith Jamison joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965, there were 10 dancers in the company. Today, six decades after Ailey and a small group of black dancers gave their inaugural performance at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, his legacy now includes more than 250 original ballets, 30 dancers, a robust educational and training program, and sold-out performances all across the globe.
By Zadie Smith. When I was about 12, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater came to town and my mother took me to see them. It was a trip for just us two, and I was a little reluctant, suspecting some species of racial uplift, which I felt I could receive far more easily by staying in my room, listening to Movie Love and watching Cameo's "Word Up" video on repeat. I was suspicious of racial uplift in general. The way it always seemed to point in the same direction, toward the supposed "higher" arts: the theater but not the television, opera singers but not beatboxers, ballet dancers but not body-poppers. No Jamaican mother ever ran into a kid's bedroom, waving a cassette, crying: "Have you heard 'Push It'? It's by some brilliant young ladies from New York!" Yet I couldn't imagine anything on the legitimate stage meaning as much to me as Salt-N-Pepa's bump and grind.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Rehearsal Director and Guest Artist Matthew Rushing discusses his ties to the Los Angeles area, how he started dancing and the programming for Ailey’s engagement at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion April 3-7.
Liberty City native Robert Battle currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Battle spoke with NBC 6's Joan Strader about his childhood and his rise to the top.
(WSVN) - The famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is performing at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in South Florida. The company's artistic director grew up in Miami and while he's in town, he is taking time to step off the stage and into the classroom. Fox 7's Craig Stevens shows us how he's making "All The Right Moves." New York City may be where he lives, but Miami will forever be home for Robert Battle, the artistic director for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.
Dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey gathered a handful of modern black dancers in 1958 to perform with him at New York’s 92nd Street YM-YWHA. It was here that the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as Ailey’s vision for a more inclusive world of the art form, was born. Since then, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has grown to include 32 dancers who have gone on to perform more than 235 works for an estimated 25 million people across six continents. This season, the dance company celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Judith Jamison discusses Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s engagement at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre during the 60th anniversary, including the world premiere of Rennie Harris’ Lazarus.
Judith Jamison sits down with Sister Circle hosts Rashan Ali and Syleena Johnson to discuss Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s upcoming engagement at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta during the company’s 60th anniversary.
In this interview on "City Lights with Lois Reitzes" artistic director emerita Judith Jamison speaks about the company's 60 year legacy of transforming the ways that we express and understand ourselves and our culture through dance.
Artists, Activists, Policymakers - and a President - weigh in on how to live a fearless life in the Trump era.