Press Coverage

December 04, 2018

Newsweek - Alvin Ailey 60th Year Celebration: Judith Jamison, Robert Battle And More Honor The Legacy Of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

When Alvin Ailey set out to start his own dance company in New York City in 1958, he likely had no idea his passion and call to dance would result in a nearly 85,000-square-foot performance center bearing his name and thousands of students entering its doors day after day, while company dancers traveled to perform his choreography on stages around the globe. He certainly couldn't have known his effort to create a safe and esteemed place for dancers from all walks of life would extend well past his 1989 death, some 30 years.

December 03, 2018

Fordham News - Ailey/Fordham Alumnus Joins Alvin Ailey American Dance Company

When Christopher Wilson, FCLC ’17, found out that he had made the company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, he immediately called his mother, who screamed and dropped the phone. “It took, like, a good two minutes for her to come back to me, so I just sort of sat there, just listening to her, and I was also crying at the same time,” he said.

December 03, 2018

The New York Times - Asking Questions, With Ailey In Mind

For Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to have lasted 60 years is an unlikely feat. Even more extraordinary: Almost half that span has elapsed since the death of Alvin Ailey. How has the company survived? How has it persevered the spirit of its founder? At the start of its program at New York City Center on Friday, the troupe offered rote answers to those entwined questions in the form of "Becoming Ailey," an anniversary slide show of old photos and footage that tried to bring Ailey into the theater by projecting his image on a scrim.

December 02, 2018

The New York Times - Homage To Ailey As His Company Turns 60

As a master choreographer, Rennie Harris knows a thing or two about himself. He doesn't gravitate toward making works about a particular topic. And he doesn't plan his dances in advance. "The movement tells you what the piece is going to be," said Mr. Harris, a Philadelphia native who has deftly Brough hip-hop and street dance to the concert stage. "You close your eyes and see if you feel something. Maybe it's music - or maybe you've read something and a story starts to unfold in your head. That's what I often look for: That story. You create the movement and all of a sudden as they're doing it, you see the next movement."

December 01, 2018

New York 1 News - Spotlight NY: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Ruschell Boone looks at the history of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with current and former artistic directors Robert Battle and Judith Jamison. They also discuss the 60th season, which is having performances at New York City Center through December 30th.

November 30, 2018

New York 1 News - Spotlight NY: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Ruschell Boone looks at the history of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with current and former artistic directors Robert Battle and Judith Jamison. They also discuss the 60th season, which is having performances at New York City Center through December 30th.

November 28, 2018

New York Times - #SpeakingInDance: The Stage Is A Desert, And 'It's Like I'm Flying'

"My mind goes into imagination land," the dancer Jacqueline Green (left) said about performing a luminous solo from Alvin Ailey's "The Lark Ascending." "At the

November 28, 2018

New York Times - A 'Love Letter' To Alvin Ailey

The choreographer Ronald K. Brown stepped into a big studio at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and greeted the dancers with warm hugs. Then, almost without a word, he began to move, his feet and shoulders swaying to the beat, his upper body undulating slightly. "The Love," a Malian song with a slow, hypnotizing groove, was playing on the sound system. The dancers gathered in a semicircle around him, moving to the rhythm. Just like that, they were drawn into the spirit of the dance.

September 24, 2018

Wall Street Journal - Alvin Ailey's Muse Tells A Young Artist What It's Like To Dance In Her Shoes

The dance legend who inspired some of Alvin Ailey's most iconic choreography is guiding a rising star to follow her actual footsteps. Judith Jamison met Ailey in a stairwell after bombing an audition in 1965, when she was 22. But that first misstep leg to a 50-year career after Ailey invited her to join his new Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which was showcasing black modern dancers just as the civil rights movement was also hitting its stride.

September 09, 2018

BET - Black Girls Rock!

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Performances and Speeches at 2018 BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Watch Judith Jamison speak on the purpose of dance, Judith Jamison's acceptance speech and her own take on black girl magic, and Jacqueline Green perform Judith Jamison's iconic solo "Cry" featuring vocals by Yolanda Adams.

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