Alicia Graf Mack, the Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Artistic Director of AILEY, announces her debut children’s book, Introducing Rhythm, set for release on November 9 to kick off National Children’s Book Week (November 9–15). With full-color illustrations by artist Justin Campbell, Introducing Rhythm invites readers ages 4–12 into a joyful world of movement, music, and self-discovery.
Alicia Graf Mack, the Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Artistic Director of AILEY, has announced her debut children's book, Introducing Rhythm, set for release on November 9 to kick off National Children's Book Week (November 9–15). With full-color illustrations by artist Justin Campbell, Introducing Rhythm invites readers ages 4–12 into a joyful world of movement, music, and self-discovery.
Grammy Award winner SZA and award-winning filmmakers Tonya Lee and Spike Lee have been named honorary chairs for the Opening Night Gala (Dec. 2) kicking off the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2026-27 season. The company’s five-week holiday season at New York City Center runs through Jan. 3, 2027.
Alvin Ailey’s name is synonymous with dance. A documentary, Portrait of Ailey, has been produced and provides a much larger context for Ailey’s life. I was honored to moderate a panel discussion at the Center for Civil and Human Rights at a screening of the documentary. Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack joined me for a discussion about dance, Alvin Ailey, and the legacy she has been entrusted with. Mack shared how her love of dance came about, speaking about a videotape of Judith Jameson performing “Cry,” which let her know that she could be a dancer. With her parents' support, she began to learn “the language of dance.” She remembers seeing Alvin Ailey on stage and speaks about how all humans dance. She eventually joined the Alvin Ailey Dance Company under the tutelage of Judith Jameson.
Alicia Graf Mack (@aliciagrafmack) remembers the first time she understood what it meant to be a dancer. She wasn't on a stage or in a studio, but in the living room of her childhood home in Columbia, Md.
Talent and Vision: With a repertoire that features nearly 300 pieces by over 100 choreographers, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has graced stages in more than 70 nations across six continents and has been celebrated as a "Vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World" and Ailey did not disappoint the packed Kennedy Center Opera House audience during an extraordinary one-night-only gala performance, followed by an evening soiree at the Nations Gallery.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 25th annual Washington, DC Gala Benefit took center stage during the Company's week-long engagement at The Kennedy Center, celebrating Black History Month with an evening of artistry and impact. A standout on the DC social calendar, the gala drew nearly 500 guests and raised over $1.2 million to support Ailey's regional initiatives, including new productions, youth education programs and scholarships for local students to train at The Ailey School in New York City.
In 1949, as legend has it, Alvin Ailey, then a young gymnast, followed school buddy and fellow future dance icon Carmen de Lavallade to the famed Lester Horton “Dance Theater” on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It was a simple gesture that would lay the groundwork for the future of American concert dance. After Horton’s unexpected death, Ailey took over the Horton company for a while before starting the eponymous Alvin Ailey Company in New York, forming a beautiful, long and deeply intersectional lineage that incorporated dance, art, and innumerable interconnected histories culminating in the very first exhibit of the archival record of the Alvin Ailey Company, a show five years in the making and currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art.
The life and legacy of Judith Jamison were celebrated on December 4 in New York City when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater held an opening-night gala to kick off its season at New York City Center.
The world lost a great artist, but we did not lose her spirit,” said Phylicia Rashad of Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's late artistic director emerita. At last night's Opening Night Gala for the dance company, Rashad served as honorary co-chair alongside Gayle King and paid special tribute to Jamison: “Just as sure as if she was standing here, we feel Judith Jamison's strength and resolve, and we know what she would be saying. She would be saying ‘keep dancing, keep striving, keep teaching, keep reaching.’" And that, we certainly did.