DC Modern Luxury - Music in Motion
Alicia Graf Mack (@aliciagrafmack) remembers the first time she understood what it meant to be a dancer. She wasn't on a stage or in a studio, but in the living room of her childhood home in Columbia, Md.
Alicia Graf Mack (@aliciagrafmack) remembers the first time she understood what it meant to be a dancer. She wasn't on a stage or in a studio, but in the living room of her childhood home in Columbia, Md.
Talent and Vision: With a repertoire that features nearly 300 pieces by over 100 choreographers, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has graced stages in more than 70 nations across six continents and has been celebrated as a "Vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World" and Ailey did not disappoint the packed Kennedy Center Opera House audience during an extraordinary one-night-only gala performance, followed by an evening soiree at the Nations Gallery.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 25th annual Washington, DC Gala Benefit took center stage during the Company's week-long engagement at The Kennedy Center, celebrating Black History Month with an evening of artistry and impact. A standout on the DC social calendar, the gala drew nearly 500 guests and raised over $1.2 million to support Ailey's regional initiatives, including new productions, youth education programs and scholarships for local students to train at The Ailey School in New York City.
The annual DC Gala Benefit of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater coincided with the company's week-long residency at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
A class unto itself: Seeing a performance of Alvin Ailey is a transformative experience and the Benefit Dinner and After Party for the weeklong engagement of the Company was a great success.
Celebrating Talent and Beauty: Gala committee members and corporate sponsors including Southern Company joined 500 individual patrons to raise over $1 million to support the Alvin Ailey company's programs and scholarships for local students to attend The Ailey School in New York City.
Dedicated to D.C. : A few months after its performance at the Kennedy Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater held its Washington Gala at Wolf Trap and raised nearly $850,000 to benefit local programs and scholarships for area students to attend The Ailey School in New York City. Guests enjoyed drinks and dinner in heavenly spring weather. Artistic Director Robert Battle and Board Member/Event Chairwoman Sela Collins spoke to an audience of more than 200.
The covid-19 pandemic changed the creative strategies of many artists, particularly choreographers. How do you move dancers around a rehearsal studio when everyone has to stay six feet apart? The answer defines the two premieres presented by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on the company’s opening night at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday.
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.