CBS News - Alicia Graf Mack joins Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as artistic director
The famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has a new leader. Alicia Graf Mack is only the fourth artistic director of the groundbreaking dance company.
Alicia Graf Mack
EBONY - Celebrating EBONY'S 2025 Power 100 List and Gala
Uplifting Black voices, experiences, and successes have been at the core of EBONY’s legacy for 80 years. This year, as EBONY celebrates eight decades of dedication to the Black community, the 2025 Power 100 List continues that tradition by honoring Black artists, community crusaders, and leaders across industries.
Dance Magazine - Dancer, Educator, and Advocate Alicia Graf Mack Returns to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as Its Fourth Artistic Director
Last November, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater announced that Alicia Graf Mack would become its next artistic director. Graf Mack’s trajectory seems to have prepared her for this role. During a brilliant career as a dancer with both Dance Theatre of Harlem and Ailey, she acquired two academic degrees on the side, in history and arts management. After retiring from the stage, she went on to become the director of The Juilliard School’s Dance Division, where she has spent the last seven years thoughtfully expanding the august academy’s approach to dance training. Now, she will be returning to Ailey, where her term as artistic director begins on July 1. She will be only the fourth person to hold the position, after Ailey himself, his chosen successor, Judith Jamison, and the choreographer Robert Battle.
PBS - American Masters - Alicia Graf Mack on Honoring the Past and Future of Dance
Alicia Graf Mack has been entrusted with carrying the torch of ballet and modern dance into the future. As a dancer, she has battled through adversity to perform alongside artists like Beyoncé, John Legend and Andre 3000. As a teacher, she has helped bridge the past into the future, educating new generations of students.
The New York Times - Alvin Ailey Dance Chooses Alicia Graf Mack to Be Next Leader
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has chosen Alicia Graf Mack to be its next artistic director, it announced on Thursday. A former member of the company, Mack, 45, currently the director of the dance division at Juilliard, will take on her new role in July.
The New York Times - It’s About Connections’: Alicia Graf Mack Remakes Juilliard Dance
Mack, whom one student called an agent of change, wants to “create a place where people feel like themselves” — and a model for the professional world. When Alicia Graf Mack taught the final ballet class for students graduating in spring from the dance division of Juilliard, it was a gentle, valedictory session: a lot of laughter, inside jokes and memories, a few tears. She’s a warm, gracious teacher who sometimes calls herself Mama Mack, and she got a little teary herself.
Harper's Bazaar - Jon Batiste and Alicia Graf Mack Want the Truth
In 2018, Alicia Graf Mack joined the Juilliard School as director of the conservatory’s dance department, the first woman of color to lead the division. During her tenure, the school has done away with gendered ballet classes and expanded the canon of music taught in its history and theory courses to include more works by composers of color.
Dance Magazine - Alicia Graf Mack Named Director of Juilliard's Dance Division: "Dancers Are Thought Leaders"
July 1 marks an exciting new era for The Juilliard School. Vail Dance Festival director and former New York City Ballet principal Damian Woetzel steps into the role of president, and the dance division will also have a new leader: Alicia Graf Mack, 39, will take over from Taryn Kaschock Russell, acting artistic director for the current school year.
Cosmopolitan - Get That Life: How I Became a Professional Ballerina
Alicia Graf Mack became a professional ballerina at 17, had her face on the front of the Kennedy Center by 19, and thought her career was over at 21. She shares her story of bouncing back from catastrophic injury, living with arthritis as a dancer, and relentlessly following her dreams.
Baltimore Sun - Dancing star Alicia Graf Mack Comes Home to Celebrate Theatre's 30th
On paper, there are a number of reasons why Alicia Graf Mack shouldn't be a successful dancer. She's 6-foot-2 on her tiptoes, making it harder to find male partners tall enough for her. She's biracial, growing up in a time when African-American ballerinas are few. And she's suffered multiple injuries of the career ending variety.