Cuban-American choreographer Maija Garcia made her debut with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this fall with "Jazz Island." Based on a folktale from the book "Black Gods, Green Islands," by actor-director-designer and all-around polymath Geoffery Holder, it features Erzulie, Afro-Caribbean goddess of love, intervening in the affairs of young Bashiba, who is engaged, unhappily, to a young traveling man. Supplying the jazz in "Jazz Island" is a score by Trinidadian composer and trumpeter Etienne Charles.
Artistic Director, Alicia Graf Mack speaks with Tamron Hall about the New York City Center Center season, from December 3 – January 4, 2026. Ailey dancers, Isabel Wallace-Green, Solomon Dumas, and Hannah Richardson perform “Wade in the Water,” from Alvin Ailey’s Revelations.
The goddess of love drifts in on waves and wind. When the choreographer Maija García was invited to make her first work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this was the first image that came to mind. Then, a colleague directed her to “Black Gods, Green Islands,” a collection of Afro-Caribbean folklore written by Geoffrey Holder, the Trinidad-born artist, actor and dancer. The final story, “Goddess,” opens with almost the same image as the one in García’s vision. Taking this as a sign, she chose “Goddess” to adapt into dance.
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.
The great dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Brooklyn-based Evidence dance company Ronald K. Brown has a familiar story that echoes generations of artists dating back to Alvin Ailey’s professional debut as a performer on the Brooklyn Academy of Music stage in 1957. His relationship to dance, his way into the artform that would define his life, begins with Ailey himself. “The story is that when I was in the second grade, I went on a school trip to see the American Dance Theater, and then I went home and I started making dances,” the Bed-Stuy product tells me on a Wednesday afternoon in late May. We are on the phone, but I am in a conference room in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on the far west side of midtown Manhattan. Brown skips ahead to the next crucial juncture in his Ailey lore, driving home the seismic, incalculable impact Ailey has had on the American modern dance landscape. “I was 21 years old and I was rehearsing at the Ailey school, and Mr. Ailey came and sat next to me and he asked, ‘Are you one of mine?’” And I said, ‘Mr. Ailey, I did not go to this school, but yes, I’m one of yours.’”
Dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater - Constance Stamatiou, Jacquelin Harris, and Samantha Figgins perform Cry in tribute to Judith Jamison on the Jennifer Hudson Show!
More than 35 years after his death, Alvin Ailey still has revelations to share. With its opening “I Been Buked” tableau of arms stretching up to heaven, the choreographer’s iconic ballet “Revelations” is arguably the most beloved and frequently performed work in the modern dance canon. It turns out that the 30-minute version of the ballet that concludes most Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) performances is only half of the story.
Since 1976, Atlanta has prided itself on being the second home to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Each February, the extraordinary dancers showcase thrilling new works and audience favorites at the Fox Theatre. This year’s performances are Feb. 12-16. Choreographer Hope Boykin and Alvin Ailey interim artistic director Matthew Rushing recently joined Lois Reitzes on “City Lights” to share more about this season’s offerings.
When Alvin Ailey's seminal dance work Revelations was first performed in 1960, it was about twice as long as the version that's now been seen by millions of people around the world. The company that bears the late choreographer's name is revisiting this history with a new piece set to fresh interpretations of the songs that were removed.
