Both City Center and its chief tenant, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, show new faces this season. Many New Yorkers live in tiny spaces, giving us a special appreciation for the grand lobbies and vaulted ceilings of the city's great theaters.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has signed its first multi-year agreement with City Center, according to officials of the two companies who were scheduled to announce that arrangement on Tuesday.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed at New York City Center since 1971, but the arrangement has not been formalized until now: Both parties will announce Tuesday that the troupe will become the venue's Principal Dance Company and will continue to perform its five-week winter season at City Center for the next 10 years.
Judith Jamison: Dance Legend. Judith was recently named the Artistic Director Emeritus for Alvin Ailey, a dance company she first joined in 1965.
For a dancer who seems to have all of the natural facility in the world, Alicia Graf Mack has had a surprisingly difficult career. She spent three years as a Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerina, until she was sidelined by injury. She then attended Columbia University and six years later found her way back to the stage, joining Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2005.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is on the brink of a major transition while at the top of its game, judging from its terrific opening this week at the Auditorium Theatre, where Wednesday marked the troupe's 140th performance at that venue.
Yes, absolutely, there was a great deal of pomp and circumstance (ball gowns, black ties, a red carpet and celebrities), because after all, it was time for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater annual spring gala at the world famous Apollo Theater to celebrate and support dance education under the Ailey umbrella.
Exceptionally high-profile dance activity is on tap in the coming days in Chicago. On May 18, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater opens its annual engagement at the Auditorium Theatre, with veteran artistic director Judith Jamison, who was Ailey's immediate heir, preparing to pass her weighty job on to choreographer Robert Battle as of July 1.
The air was filled with anticipation last Saturday afternoon as the near-capacity audience filed into the Academy of Music for the first of three weekend performances by the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Ever since Judith Jamison announced that she would end her 21-year tenure as artistic director of the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, anybody who is remotely moved by dance has looked forward to her final appearance in Philadelphia.