This month would have been Alvin Ailey’s 91st birthday; the celebrated modern dance visionary died in 1989. Decades later, his choreography is as vibrant as ever and his company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater remains as innovative. Christopher Booker spoke with the company’s artistic director Robert Battle about Ailey’s legacy.
Artistic Director Emerita, Judith Jamison sits with Tamron Hall to discuss the AILEY Documentary, the 50th anniversary of Alvin Ailey’s beloved Cry, and the highly anticipated 2022 US Tour, kicking off Philadelphia.
After two decades, the acclaimed dancer has retired from the company where he made a huge splash in contemporary dance—but, as he explains to Vanity Fair, this is just the beginning. On a Monday afternoon in late November, Jamar Roberts, a longtime star of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, was standing in a studio at the company’s expansive, glass-walled school in midtown Manhattan. But instead of joining the group of barefoot and masked dancers as they rehearsed his piece “Holding Space,” Roberts wore cargo pants and kept on pair of black-and-white polka dot Converse. In August, the 39-year-old dancer announced his retirement from the company he’d been a part of since 2002. Now, he watched the rehearsal as choreographer.
What’s next? Our annual list of dancers, choreographers and companies on the verge of breaking through offers several answers to the question of where our field is headed. We’re betting we’ll be seeing—and hearing—more from these 25 artists not just this year, but for many more to come... 23-year-old Ashley Green picked up a 2021 Princess Grace Award last summer, and shortly thereafter moved across the country to join Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Our editor attended Ailey’s Opening Night Gala in NYC and This is a personal account about her experience: The night of the Alvin Ailey Opening Night Gala was not only a beautiful piece of nostalgia following their return to the stage after two years, but a reminder that COVID had completely ripped me from my sense of personal style. Though the invitation clearly read “gala,” I found myself consistently second, third, and fourth guessing my choices of outfits, fragrance, lip color, and shoes. Anyone who knows me personally can attest to the fact that casualwear is my best friend – mom jeans, an oversized tee and some kicks are typically my way to go. But don’t let the clean Air Forces fool you; I can put a piece together in a hot second.
The problem with being Alvin Ailey was being Alvin Ailey. “Sometimes your name becomes bigger than yourself,” says the dancer-choreographer Carmen de Lavallade of her late friend and colleague. “Alvin Ailey: Do you really know who that is, or what that is?” Jamila Wignot’s moving and poetic documentary portrait, “Ailey,” provides answers, while making clear that its subject had the same questions
Robert Battle once told an interviewer on PBS, “Something about movement, very early on for me, signified life.” As a youngster, it wasn’t likely that he would become a dancer; Battle’s legs were so bowed he had to wear braces at night. However, once he no longer needed them, he made up for lost time by dancing every chance he could. When he wasn’t dancing, he liked to don a bathrobe and pretend to preach, sharpening the oratorical skills that he now puts to regular use as artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Today, the warmth and charm of his pre-curtain speeches and interviews make not just Ailey but modern dance feel more accessible for all of us.
When you’re enjoying the easygoing, joke-telling manner of Robert Battle as the welcoming emcee of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, you might not realize there is a ferocious choreographer underneath all that charm. To celebrate his 10 years as artistic director, at New York City Center on Tuesday night the company presented seven works Battle’s created over the last 22 years. Each one held bold surprises—even for those of us familiar with his work.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to New York City Center with stage premieres by Robert Battle and Jamar Roberts and a stunning “Lazarus.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art honored its new acquisitions, including Ronald S. Lauder’s promised gift, at a black-tie gala on Dec. 7. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrated Robert Battle’s 10 years as artistic director at its opening night gala on Dec. 1, held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. And the New York Philharmonic held a concert and benefit dinner at Lincoln Center on Dec. 2.