Press Coverage

February 10, 2020

The Washington Post - Dancing With The Stars

Alvin Ailey company features six local children at the Kennedy Center in its signature work. The dancers emerged onto the blue-lit stage wearing all white. In rows of two - their hands clasped - they slid across the theater floor, threw their arms above their heads and twirled. In front of them, 2,000 people sat in red velvet seats at the Kennedy Center's Opera House. But the dancers remained poised - not even the raucous cheering that echoed through the theater could melt the stern looks from the dancers' faces.

February 6, 2020

The Washington Informer - Alvin Ailey Returns For New Season Of Choreographic Splendor

Hope Boykin, 20-Year Veteran of Dance Theatre, Prepares for Final Bows. The internationally-acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has returned to the District much to the delight of faithful fans and fittingly during Black History Month, with a mixture of classic favorites, new productions and exciting premiered on the Kennedy Center's Opera House stage for seven performances - now through Feb. 9.

February 6, 2020

The Washington Post - 'Ode' Feels Like Another Revelation For Ailey

Increasingly, issues ripped from the headlines and our national debates - including race, violence and brutal episodes from history - have come to the fore in the works Battle commissions. Consider Tuesday's local premiere of "Ode," a skillful and delicate treatment of gun violence and its disproportionate claim on black men. "Ode" is by Jamar Roberts, recently named the troupe's first resident choreographer. He's also a standout dancer in the company whose appealingly soft physicality masked his strength in "A Case of You," a romantic duet with the equally effortless Jacqueline Green that both dancers whirled through beautifully, elevating choreographer Judith Jamison's overly sugary concept.

February 2, 2020

Atlanta Journal Constitution - Two Takes On Topic Of Race Hit Two Stages

Two major dance companies take very different approaches to the topic of race in productions debuting on Atlanta stages this month.... Meanwhile, during a recent rehearsal at The Ailey Studios in New York, a white woman and a black man stood side by side facing opposite directions in a confined space. She took his hand, pulled away in taut counterbalance, then snapped like a rubber band to his other side, one leg sweeping open as she turned away from him. The duet depicts an imaged encounter that could have sparked the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - considered one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. It's the subject of Donald Byrd's "Greenwood," a new contemporary ballet slated for its Atlanta debut during Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Feb. 20-23 run at the Fox Theatre.

January 27, 2020

The New York Times - A Dance Class Just For Boys

Dahsir Hausif began dancing the way a lot of young boys do: "My mom jut dragged me to an audition one day," he says, "and I was like, O.K., I guess I'm doing this now." He was 6. At the time, he says, surfing was his main love. But that audition at the Ailey School in New York, from which the most talented of students go on to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and other famous dance companies, changes his life. What immediately pulled him in was its dedicated boys' program.

January 26, 2020

The CW Atlanta - Focus Atlanta: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Returns To The Fox Theatre

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to the fabulous Fox Theatre February 20-23.

January 24, 2020

Smithsonian Magazine - Trove Of Stunning Dance Photography Now Online

Modern dance impresario Alvin Ailey once asked photographer Jack Mitchell to shoot publicity images of his dancers for their next performance without even knowing the title of their new work. Seeing “choreography” in the images Mitchell produced, Ailey leapt into an ongoing professional relationship with Mitchell. “I think that speaks to the trust that they had in one another,” says Rhea Combs, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ailey “knew it would work out somehow, some way.” This partnership, which began in the 1960s, led to the production of more than 10,000 memorable images, and the museum has now made those photos available online.

January 22, 2020

Lonely Planet Magazine - 2 Days in 4 Ways: The Dancer

New York is a city of opportunities. People come here from all over the world to achieve their dreams and I love the diversity it creates: the sense of constant cultural exchange. Yannick Lebrun is a modern dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Originally from French Guiana, he moved to New York 15 years ago and lives in Washington Heights.

January 16, 2020

WABE - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Highlights The Importance Of History In Dance

When the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to Atlanta each year, it’s a joyous occasion like a family reunion, if your relatives happened to be brilliant dancers. The ensemble will perform at the Fox Theatre from Feb. 20-23. Ailey Artistic Director Robert Battle and choreographer Donald Byrd will speak at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights on Thursday, Jan. 16 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event, “Greenwood & Stories From The Soil: Reveal, Remember, Reconcile” is free and open to the public. Battle and Byrd joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to talk about the dance.

January 12, 2020

WABC - Here & Now: Ailey Extension Offers Affordable Dance Classes For People Of All Ages And Skill Levels

Sandra Bookman sits down with Director of Ailey Extension, Lisa Johnson-Willingham to discuss the Kids and Teens Sunday Dance Series and all classes offered through the Ailey Extension, bringing “real classes for real people.”