Press Coverage

July 02, 2021

The Face - Tremaine Emory On His Alvin Ailey Inspired Champion Collab

Tremaine Emory is no stranger to designer collaborations. As a consultant, the omni-talented artist has advised the likes of Kanye West and Frank Ocean and collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Levi’s and Stüssy. Now, the No Vacancy Inn co-founder and FACE family member has added yet another string to his bow: a super-slick collaboration with Champion. Due to launch in September, the Champion Tears collection takes influence from both the sportswear brand’s archives and one of the giants of 20th century dance: Alvin Ailey. Founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York – and one of the most important figures in honouring Black culture through dance – the whole thing is brought to life in a film by director, dancer and star of A24’s upcoming Zola, Taylour Paige.

June 26, 2021

The New York Times - At Ailey’s Gala, Different Kinds Of Hope

Uplift is what people expect from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. And so its no surprise that for its spring gala – this spring all springs – the company focused explicitly on themes of hope, promise and future. What’s pledged is delivered, with much of the rottenness that comes with reliability. But the Ailey company’s official hope doesn’t entirely eclipse a more troubled and therefore more trustworthy kind, supplied mostly by the troupe’s increasingly important resident choreographer, Jamar Roberts.

June 25, 2021

Town & Country - Inside The 2021 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Spring Gala

On Thursday, June 24, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater held its annual Ailey Spring Gala—this year a tribute to Washington, D.C. that drew guests including Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, and Congressman James E. Clyburn. The evening honored the late Congressman John Lewis and featured three premieres, including “Hope” by Ghrai DeVore-Stokes, “Promise” by Chalvar Monteiro, and “Future” by Kanji Segawa, as well as excerpts from In Memory, a film by Ailey resident choreographer Jamar Roberts and “For Four,” a filmed dance choreographed by artistic director Robert Battle.

June 23, 2021

Highsnobiety - Tremaine Emory Cries “Champion Tears” For Alvin Ailey

Tremaine Emory aims to incite reform from the inside out, utilizing platforms offered by giant conglomerates to recontextuali ze inequity and consider lingering effects of discrimination on Black America. Emory's latest move is in alignment with sportswear giant Champion, lionizing Alvin Ailey and his legendary Dance Theater in line with the forthcoming documentary film that explores Ailey's life and legacy.

June 17, 2021

Vulture: Alvin Ailey, Rita Moreno, And The Privacy Of Art

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival includes two documentaries about truly legendary performers. In many ways, the films echo each other: They’re both about children of the Depression, artists whose struggles against racial oppression made them “firsts” in their fields, artists who have won both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and are Kennedy Center Honorees. The films themselves shine like medals around the artists’ necks: Love — or worship — sits at the core of each project. (These are deferential, at times often promotional documents.) But Jamila Wignot’s Ailey and Mariem Pérez Riera’s Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It are alike in another way too. They both demonstrate the limitations of trying to explicate genius. Talking heads can honor Alvin Ailey’s choreography; they can pay tribute to Rita Moreno’s spirit of tungsten steel. But neither documentary can really draw us inside its object — Ailey because the man himself is gone (and hard to know when he lived); Rita because her stories have already been polished to a high diamond shine.

May 27, 2021

IndieWire - 'Ailey' Trailer: Neon's Hypnotic Documentary Portrait Of Dance Visionary Alvin Ailey

From “The Painter and the Thief” to “Apollo 11” and “Gunda,” Neon is proving to be a rich home to documentary film. The latest entry from the distributor is Jamila Wignot’s “Ailey,” a documentary about multi-hyphenate dancer, choreographer, director, and activist Alvin Ailey, who up until his death in 1989 inspired generations of dancers and founded the towering Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. “Ailey,” which first premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews, releases on July 23 in theaters.

April 30, 2021

NBC News Now - 'With Grit And Grace, We Survived': Performing Arts Students Adapt To Online Learning

For the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced performing arts students to adjust to online Zoom classes, putting many of the performances on hold. NBC News’ Isa Gutierrez spoke to teachers and students, including Ailey Extension Director Lisa Johnson-Willingham, about how they have adapted to learning and teaching remotely.

March 22, 2021

Dance Informa - Ailey Arts in Education & Community Programs Offers 'Revelations' Virtual Dance Workshop Series

Ailey Arts in Education & Community Programs has announced an inspiring new virtual series that expands available Remote Learning Activities for schools and organizations looking for alternatives to in-person dance classes and residencies, supplements to physical education offerings, or to provide an engaging extracurricular activity for students. Launching during Black History Month as Alvin Ailey’s signature American masterpiece Revelations marks six decades, Revelations Virtual Dance Workshop Series furthers Ailey’s mission of using dance to inspire, enlighten and entertain people of all backgrounds and ages.

February 25, 2021

FOX 5 New York - Good Day Celebrates Black History Month

The impact of COVID-19 has crippled the arts community, but art gives us the power to rejoice and has the power to unify. Robert Battle, the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater reminds us of the history of excellence in Black theater, and the healing power of the arts.

February 21, 2021

CBS New York - Black History Month: Robert Battle And The History Of Dance

CBS2's Dave Carlin sits down with the legendary Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Robert Battle.

The Ailey Organization